An Explosive Arlington Chesapeake Energy Event During Thunderstorm Is Not Being Reported

Way back on Saturday, January 23, 2010, my next door neighbor, a Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas drilling site, started making real odd explosive noises, like loud pops.

After a couple hours of hearing this I walked over to my neighbor's to take pictures and video. Just as I arrived so did the white Chesapeake Energy pickup you see in the picture.

The pickup arrived at a high rate of speed, which sort of told me that whatever was happening, that was causing the popping, was serious.

I never did learn what this particular Chesapeake malfunction was. Or if any real danger was involved. But I did blog about the incident.

Moving forward more than a year. Earlier this month I heard from a lady in Arlington, Kim Feil, who told me about a Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas drilling site incident which occurred in the wee hours of April 11, 2011.

Kim Feil has been trying to get answers about what happened that night, answers from TCEQ, answers from Chesapeake Energy, answers from the Texas Railroad Commission.

So far, no real answers.

So, this morning Kim Feil sent out the following....

Dear Media, during a power loss in the storm of April 11, two TCEQ investigations are ongoing to determine why emission events occurred in the same time frame.

Please inform the public of the added risk in the gas patch with storms.

Regarding the Chesapeake, Fulson site at 5720 S Watson in SE Arlington:

On  4/11/2011 early am, the emission events have been noted as follows..... (this before I have the 911 records that have gone past my 10 day open records request).

2:30 am   (approx per Mr Loredo) spewing sound awakens neighbors
3:00         Mr. Lordeo calls 911
3:15         (per records dept) Jane Lynn's first call to 911 did not result in the dispatch of the fire department-yet was told Chk would be contacted
3:30         Councilman Rivera contacted by Jane Lynn
3:34         Fire Dept dispatched (19 minutes after Jane's first call)
3:40         Jane Lynn's second call to 911 when being sickened with fumes that filled her home. Also by that time Loredo reports the fire truck was driving around the neighborhood and pointed their light on the Chesapeake contact sign
3:50         Emission sound stopped when the Chesapeake rep went onto the padsite
4:18         Fire truck back in service

In speaking with Mr O'Quinn from Railroad Commission,  a rep visited the site on 4/14 and noted that dry gas was released when the burst plate on the separator broke apart (as designed) to release pressure.  When I told him of the reported witnesses duration of the sound being almost 1 1/2 hours, Mr. O'Quinn said that long time frame would not be the sound of depressure in a relief valve (which is a short duration sound).  This indicates to me that the well did NOT AUTO SHUT ITSELF DOWN as was reported by Arl Fire Chief Don Crowson.

So it is suspect that there was actually a failure of the computer in the automatic well shut down that explains the duration of the venting of raw, unodorized, natural gasses from approx 2:30-3:50 am which is an hour and twenty minutes.

If the well auto shut itself down, then the Chesapeake rep would not have needed to go onto the site to make the sound "go away".

Then two evenings later Chesapeake rep, Tony Rutigliano, was applying for six more wells at this site. He honestly tried to tell council that he was not sure of the events.  Generalizations of emission behaviors and questionable information about the system being closed looped and about how the auto well shut in worked, as designed, made for the need to have this tabled and investigated, however, council approved the new wells by one vote.

As I see this, the only safety feature that worked as designed was the burst plate on the separator to relieve pressure.  But if the well itself was not shut in, then gasses flowing for almost an hour and a half was a failed attempt in preventing natural gas effluents from entering the airshed and our atmosphere.

In speaking with Mr. Mallick from TCEQ, the investigation is still in process and he could only say that the reports of the emission durations matched the same time frame as the XTO/Dalworthington Gardens's event that night during the storm.  Both have been reported to have lasted around an hour and twenty minutes.

I am reporting this to the best of my ability from the sources I have received information from.

Sincerely,
Kim Feil

Walking In Village Creek Natural Gas Historic Area In Arlington This Afternoon With Elsie Hotpepper

In the picture you are looking at Village Creek in the Village Creek Natural Historic Area in Arlington, some time after 4 this afternoon.

In the picture you can see the creek, a patch of pink evening primrose wildflowers and a yellow cord.

Cords of various colors are strung all over the Natural Area.

Somehow manmade cords don't seem all that natural to me, sort of out of place in a Natural Area.

Maybe the correct name for this park zone should be Village Creek Natural Gas Historic Area.

Because that is what the multi-colored cords are for. Doing seismic testing of the Barnett Shale to see if the Village Creek Natural Historic Area is a good drilling zone.

All the Indians murdered in this area, murdered by the incoming Texans, must be rolling over in their collective graves at what their village has become. First a park. And now a gas drilling site.

I must leave you now to do the bidding of the ever demanding Elsie Hotpepper, who is being particularly hot today.

Arkansas Is Shaken By Earthquakes Around Shale Drilling Operations

Formerly mostly earthquake-free Arkansas has been doing some shaking of late.

This shaking coming after letting Chesapeake Energy, and others, poke a lot of holes in the Arkansas Fayetteville Shale.

It seems each time the earth quakes in these areas getting drilled it's like a mystery whether or not there is a correlation.

Steve Horton, an earthquake specialist at the University of Memphis and hydrologic technician with the U.S. Geological Survey, is worried by a correlation between the Arkansas earthquake swarm and a side effect of the drilling: the disposal of wastewater in injection wells.

"Ninety percent of these earthquakes, that have happened since 2009, have been within 6 kilometers of these salt water disposal wells. The timing is too coincidental to ignore," Horton said.

The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 4.7-magnitude quake at 11 p.m. Sunday, centered just northeast of Greenbrier, about 40 miles north of Little Rock. It was the largest of more than 800 quakes to strike the area since September in what is now being called the Guy-Greenbrier earthquake swarm.

Despite earthquakes shaking in pretty much all the areas where shale drilling and fracturing is taking place, there are still legions of drillers being the cause deniers.

From an article about the Arkansas quakes, "Scientists are slow to draw conclusions on any subject, and despite years of speculation, there is still little consensus about whether the practice is contributing to the quakes."

The same lack of consensus regarding drilling caused quakes exists here in Texas.

In 2009, the small town of Cleburne, Texas, experienced the first recorded earthquake in Cleburne's 140-year history, quickly followed by another four shortly afterwards. Many experiencing the shaking quickly concluded the Barnett Shale drilling was causing it.

"I think John Q. Public thinks there is a correlation with drilling," Cleburne Mayor, Ted Reynolds, said. "We haven't had a quake in recorded history, and all the sudden you drill and there are earthquakes."

Yeah, it really is a big puzzle and mystery as to what is causing all the earthquakes where, previously, the earth stood fairly still.

The Germans Are Coming To Fort Worth & Want To Talk To You About Your Barnett Shale Experience

According to Don Young, Germans will be invading North Texas next week in the form of reporters and photographers from ARD German Television and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

They are looking for people to tell their story about the Barnett Shale.

I don't have a story about the Barnett Shale, that I know of.

Well, there was the time I was almost killed by Express Energy. Was that the name? It's been a long time since I had bad encounters with white pickup trucks.

Anyway, below is the message from Don Young in its entirety, along with the email address to facilitate contacting DY.

Do you have a story to tell about living on top of the Barnett Shale?

Reporters and photographers from ARD German Television AND the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will be in Fort Worth early next week.

They are looking for compelling stories from the Barnett Shale.

If you would like to be interviewed please send me your contact info and time of availability, ASAP.

Thanks-

Don