What The Frack Is Going On With My Water On Fire Tonight?

This morning Miss Sarah R sent me a link to an amusing YouTube musical video about America's fracking epidemic.

I get an email when someone makes a comment about one of my YouTube videos. This morning I got a comment about the video I made about the Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale fracking operation by the Tandy Hills and Carter Avenue.

Lately I've noticed that the comments about that video have not been of the Chesapeake Energy shill sort, telling me I'm a moronic, clueless idiot. Instead, for some time now, more of the comments are of the feeling the pain of the fracking sort.

The YouTube video below is also of the feeling the pain of fracking sort....

Up Early On Cinco De Mayo Thinking About Not Going To Fort Worth's Mayfest

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the world I can see the 5th day of May has dawned with a bright blue sky.

Looking at my computer temperature monitoring device I can see it is a relatively chilly 55 degrees out there, heading to a possible high of 84 today.

May 5 marks the start of Fort Worth's Mayfest. I have never gone to this festival. Mayfest runs through Sunday. There is an admission fee, with it costing $8 for adults.

I have no idea what is so special about Mayfest that warrants an $8 admission fee. There are over 40 arts & crafts booths, 7 music/entertainment stages, food and rides.

I have no idea what the rides are. Carnival? I'm getting my Mayfest info off the Mayfest website.

Mayfest takes place in Trinity Park, on the west bank of the Trinity River. If you want to buy anything other than your admission ticket, Mayfest uses the coupon method, rather than the direct use of American currency.

I never ran into a festival of this sort charging an admission fee until I moved to Texas. The first time was a festival in Grapevine. Was it Grapefest? I don't remember. What I do remember is me and my fellow Washingtonians were appalled at how lame it was and the fact an admission fee was charged for something so lame.

Fort Worth's extremely well done, recently completed, Main Streets Arts Festival, does not charge an admission fee. Neither does the Prairie Fest. The Parker County Peach Festival charges an admission fee. I've gone two or three times and don't mind paying to get into that humongous, one day, festival.

It looks like the primary sponsor of Mayfest is Chesapeake Energy. I'm making that assumption based on Chesapeake Energy being prominently featured on each page of the Mayfest website.

I don't think I'll be going to Mayfest.

Happy Cinco de Mayo. I'm making tacos for lunch.

Up Early The 4th Day Of May Mostly Thinking About Chesapeake Energy's Dirty Dealings In The Barnett Shale

Taking a real close look through the bars of my patio prison cell, this 4th morning of May, at the steaming hot tub.

I usually don't get in the steaming hot tub.

But, yesterday I spent too much time in its nearby cousin and got way too cold. I should have warmed myself up in the hot tub after getting out of the ice tub.

Change of subject from getting cold to locals getting hot over Chesapeake Energy disingenuousness.

This morning the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, in an article titled "Chesapeake Energy to make fixes on wells after Arlington gas leak" finally got around to mentioning a Chesapeake Energy gas pad incident that occurred in Arlington in early April.

Last week I opined that the fact of the lack of this incident being reported was a scandal, among other scandals. I'd first heard of the incident from Kim Feil, who verbalized her frustration and the frustration of those who had been affected by the incident, because they could get no answers as to what had been hissed into the air they breathe.

It the Star-Telegram article most of it is devoted to the Chesapeake spin. However, towards the end of the article it is acknowledged that those who were affected by the "incident" aren't buying Chesapeake's fox in the henhouse explanation about what killed the chickens.

And, in the section of the article that does acknowledge that there are those who do not believe Chesapeake, there is one line that stands alone, saying...

The report does contradict what Chesapeake previously reported to the council.

So, what did Chesapeake originally tell the council? Chesapeake's employee, Tony Rutigliano told the Arlington city council that "the safety devices worked as expected and no one was in danger." And that the released gas dissipated quickly.

What Chesapeake originally claimed is rendered very ironic by the first paragraph in this morning's Star-Telegram article about the "incident".......

ARLINGTON -- Chesapeake Energy will make safety improvements to its 1,800 natural gas wells across the Barnett Shale after equipment failures at a southeast Arlington site released a small amount of gas during a power outage last month, officials said Tuesday.

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

The Shadow Of The Skinny Dipping Thin Man Wondering Why The Fort Worth Police Did Not Help The Paradise Center

The Shadow of the Skinny Dipping Thin Man sort of indicates I am up way before the sun this fine Tuesday morning in Texas.

It was only 50 degrees when I stepped outside to retrieve my swimming suit. The water will be quite a bit warmer than the air when I go swimming this morning. This creates the illusion it is a heated pool.

I read no mention made of any Chesapeake Energy drilling site gas leaking in Arlington in any of the local newspapers online. Does this mean there was no 911 call with no one requiring medical treatment?

Or is this just one more example of how badly this area is served by local news sources? I highly doubt that the information I was sent yesterday was false about Monday's storm causing a major Chesapeake Energy malfunction.

I also did not read in the local news anything about the Paradise Center finally taking possession of the POD storage unit in which MHMR had supposedly placed the Paradise Center's possessions, with the Paradise Center discovering, yesterday, that the POD did not contain all their possessions. Which had MHMR allowing Paradise Center people back in to their former home for the first time since the illegal eviction, in order to recover the remainder of their possessions.

Why weren't the police called when MHMR kicked the Paradise Center out of their building without following any sort of due process? Why weren't the police called when MHMR would not let the Paradise Center retrieve their possessions?

Yes, I know, it's not the Fort Worth Way to call the police and expect any sort of policing regarding this type of crime.

Residents Gassed During Last Night's Storm In Southeast Arlington Texas

I got a surprising "URGENT" email message a few minutes ago. I did not know we had a Chesapeake Energy natural gas drilling site incident last night......

Jane Lynn has asked me to contact the media (she has no electricity) about last night's events at this site so that they will be present to over this story tomorrow night when council will be in the hot seat while deciding to permit another six wells tomorrow night at this site.  Anybody else reading this that can attend this meeting is urged to ask council NOT to permit anymore wells until we have a handle on how to prevent such releases in close proximity to people.

She called me this morning to tell me that she was treated by 911. Around 2 am last night, during the storm with lighting and winds, there was this transformer sound just prior to losing electricity. After opening her windows, an extremely loud "rocketship/high compression sound" was heard.  911 was already aware of the problem and said Chesapeake was in route to the Fulson site.  The husband drove by the site and confirmed that gas was escaping. He described the smell as the innertube smell from a bicycle. 

Raw, unprocessed, natural gas contains benzene (a known carcinogen). Fumes from the uncontrolled site quickly filled her home by the time she ran to close all the windows. 

Limiting the public's exposure to drilling (storm/wildfire/human) accidents is within our city council's control by enforcing adequate setback, however, Jane Lynn lives at least two blocks north of the site and suffered dizziness and heart pounding. 

Paramedics arrived and tried to calm her (assessing that she was having a panic attack). The paramedic commented that this was a highly regulated industry and that west Texas always has that "smell" and that she was "safe".  Someone needs to tell the uninformed paramedic that this is mostly a self regulated industry (TCEQ's Permit By Rule) and that toxic BTEX is present in those raw gases.

After the paramedics left, she had uncontrolled coughing. This morning she tells me she is suffering with heart palpitations and is missing work from the trauma of the exposure.

Based on the details I've gathered, the proposed one mile setback from schools by the Ft Worth League of Neighborhood to FISD should also be applied to drilling in all businesses and neighborhoods in urban AND rural areas.  Certainly 600 feet is not adequate and council has been allowing variances even to that distance!

1. Our fire departments need to be equipped with suma canisters. Spectrometers so can take air samples upon dispatch so we do not have to wait up to 12 hours later when TCEQ arrives. 
2. Our paramedics should have the opportunity to draw blood and or urine when they respond to drilling effluent exposures to test for BTEX exposure.
3. Our city should have a gas drilling official on duty on weekends and in the middle of the night to receive calls from citizens needing to report events.

The public needs to have a way to know what their exposure has been after one of these "incidents" so that they and our city council members can make informed decisions about living/permitting drilling in our towns.

How ironic that yesterday Jane Lynn spoke with a neighbor suffering unexplained health issues since this site has come into their neighborhood.

This is only one of many neighbors that are having health (heart/nosebleeds) and evacuation issues.  A 70 year old woman goes to Walmart and walks around for the day when there is activity/fumes coming off that site...FYI.

Living in fear and with the unknown here in the Barnett Shale is what the Arlington TX experience has become for many.

An XTO Energy Gas Site Blows Frac While I See My First Tandy Wildflower Of The Year & Contemplate Taking A Trip To TRIP

The arrival of the first wildflowers coloring up the Tandy Hills was a good indication today that spring is almost here.

Only 15 days until we can say goodbye to the worst winter I've experienced in all the years of my Texas exile.

Yesterday I blogged about a potential gas leak at an XTO Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Operation next to Pappy Elkins Lake in Dalworthington Gardens.

Today, the source of the potential gas leak information, Kim, followed up with what she's found out about what happened at the XTO site next to a lake and apartments and Veterans Park, in Arlington....

Last night, the Dalworington Gardens XTO site had a failed valve and loudly blew (radioactive?) frac sand all in the air near an apt. complex and never called the incident in to the RRC. Since I called this in (thanks to an email tip), the RRC rep called me back and told me that the choke valve leaked into their cellar and blew frac sand out of the well. XTO shut in the well and made the repair. While there was "wash out" in the area, no chlorides or effluents came off the pad into Pappy Elkins Lake. I do not know if any evacuations of the nearby apartments were attempted.  Also unknown is if any people were exposed to any gas or other effluents that the frac sand was under pressure from. 

On a different incident, the drilling spill at Lake Arlington last summer was reported by the Star Telegram as a small water spill, but a report I received today states that at least 95 barrels of produced water was recovered. The five barrels is what they estimate made its way into the lake which is the drinking source for over 500,000 souls.

My next door Chesapeake Energy drilling site has erupted with loud noises a couple times, loud popping noises. I did not know about the Lake Arlington spill. Lake Arlington is fairly close to my abode.

Change of subject. Back to the Tandy Hills. In the picture we are looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth. As you can see it was a bit overcast in the noon time frame. It has since brightened up a bit.

I may be taking a TRIP to the west side of beautiful downtown Fort Worth in a couple hours.

Thousands Of Grackles Are Massing In Anticipation Of The Upcoming Super Bowl

In the picture you are seeing just a few of the Grackles that have taken up residence at my neighborhood Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam's Club.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of the birds, all over the buildings, on vehicles. And standing all over the parking lot.

The Grackles have been hanging out in this location for weeks now. They seem to be getting very comfortable with their surroundings and are not as easily startled as they were a few weeks ago.

If you've ever watched The Birds, the whole scene is very Hitchcockian.

I read this morning. Or was it yesterday? That an attempt is being made to move the Grackles from their various locations, due to some people thinking this is yet one more local embarrassment in need of being hidden from the upcoming Super Bowl.

This particular Grackle infested Wal-Mart is just a few miles to the west of the Dallas Cowboy Stadium where the Super Bowl will take place. You can see the Cowboy Stadium from this location.

Across the street from the Cowboy Stadium is one of the nicest Wal-Marts I've ever seen. With the Grackles being such Wal-Mart fans I wonder if they have taken over that Wal-Mart yet? Or, are they waiting for the Super Bowl to make their move? They seem to be very smart birds. Smart birds are not Jerry Jones fans.

Maybe the Grackles are planning to fly into the stadium, en masse, through the open end zone doors. That would be poetic.

Efforts to move the Grackles have proven to be fairly futile in the past. Methinks the locals should embrace their Grackle Colonies and turn them into yet one more tourist attraction for the visiting football fans.

I'm having a bad reaction to the efforts to spruce up this place because of the Super Bowl.

I have known a slob or two who only cleans up their clutter on the rare occasions that company is expected.

That is how this local Super Bowl cleanup strikes me.

Really embarrassing.

A sloppy place picking up its clutter because company is arriving in town.

Shouldn't the litter be picked up all the time?

And I think I've already mentioned that there is no way to control where the Super Bowl visitors might be driving.

Rather than take I-30 into Fort Worth or Dallas, they might choose Division or Lancaster.

Division goes through some real eye-popping scenery in Dallas, while Fort Worth tops Dallas with Lancaster, Berry and Rosedale.

What if a visitor gets lost in the Fort Worth Stockyards zone and meanders around the neighborhood to the west? That won't leave a good impression.

Speaking of the Stockyards. Is the New Isis Theater being spruced up for the Super Bowl? It has been boarded up since I first laid eyes on it over 11 years ago. It is in the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District. I've been told a number of times that the New Isis is in the process of being restored.

But, unless it has been fixed up, without me knowing about it, the New Isis is still an Old Eyesore, that would be really easy to at least make look better from the outside.

Switching the subject back to the Texas Grackle Invasion. The Wikipedia article about these birds was amusing. And has a Texas connection.

From Wikipedia.....

Unlike many birds, the grackle benefits from the expansion of human populations due to its resourceful and opportunistic nature. The common grackle population has greatly increased in the Austin, Texas, area in recent years and is regarded as nuisance by some, due to aggressive behavior. Common grackles are considered a serious threat to crops by some, and notoriously difficult to exterminate and usually require the use of hawks or similar large birds of prey.

With just a few word changes the above paragraph could be an accurate description of Chesapeake Energy and its fellow gas drillers.

Hiking Through The New Tandy Canyon Looking At A New View Of The Envy Of The Nation While Thinking About Guarding Donuts & Gas Drilling

Today when I accessed the Tandy Hills via the View Street Trail I was pleasantly surprised to see a cool new Tandy Hills feature. With that feature being a canyon of cut brush rising from both sides of the trail.

And then when you exit the canyon you are treated to a new view of the stunning skyline of the beautiful downtown of the city that is currently the Envy of the Nation.

An awful lot of brush was bashed to expose this new view of downtown Fort Worth that you see here, looking across Texas prairie freshly rendered back to its pristine state free of invasive plant species.

Yesterday I mentioned that I did not remember the last time I worked as hard as I did this past Saturday. I did not say what it was I was working hard at. And then today someone calling him or herself Anonymous asked, "Does being in charge of dozens of donuts count as hard work, Mr. Tandy Hills Hiker?"

Well, in answer to that Anonymous question, yes being in charge of dozens of donuts can count as hard work.

An hour or so later, after my arrival on the Tandy Hills, as I headed back to View Street, I heard motorized racket. When I saw what was making the racket I was appalled to see a bulldozer dismantling the cool new Tandy Brush Canyon and depositing it piece by piece into a dump truck.

If you look closely at the picture of the bulldozer, above the bulldozer you will see the latest addition to the scenery you can view from the Tandy Hills. A Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Rig looking as if it is sitting on top of a Tandy Hill.

Looking At Chesapeake Energy Water Pipelines Today At Tarrant County College

I was heading east on Harwood today, driving past Tarrant County College. I don't know if this TCC campus is in Hurst or North Richland Hills.

Or both.

The Mid-Cities of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex all run together.

I was stopped at a light on Harwood and looked to my left to see the pipeline construction contraption you see in the picture, with 3 pipes going over an entry to the college grounds. There was another of these construction contraptions at the entry further east.

The three pipes lead to a pond located at the southeast end of the campus, at the intersection of Harwood and Precinct Line Road, at a diagonal across from the ALDI Food Market.

From the pond the three pipes run to a Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Gas Drilling Pad at the southwestern end of the TCC campus. It looks to me as if this is part of the college campus land.

Which had me curious. Did TCC strike a deal with Chesapeake? Is that how permission is granted to run the three pipes across TCC land to a pond that also appears to be on TCC land?

Is that water coming out of the pond metered and paid for?

The Chesapeake Energy Drill Pad Site was a beehive of activity today, crammed full of trucks and equipment.

I assume the well is being re-fracked. Or maybe it is a virgin well and is getting fracked for the very first time.

I always find it quite interesting when I see one of these operations. Seeing one always seems to cause me to wonder how permission is granted to do things like block entry to a college in order to build a pipeline tunnel contraption.

I assume money must be exchanged somehow, somewhere to someone.

Up Early In Texas Thinking About Marcellus Shale Gas Drillers Disposing Of Fracking Fluids In Pennsylvania Rivers

It is the early morning of the 4th day of 2011 in North Texas. It is currently 10 degrees above freezing.

It was some fluke of the ISO setting on my camera that rendered the dark pre-dawn sky an un-sky-like shade of blue.

That shade of blue is sort of the unnatural shade of blue that Chesapeake Energy Hydraulic Fracturing Water Ponds are colored.

Speaking of which, the Chesapeake pond at the northeast corner of Cooks Lane and Brentwood Stair has been drawn low of late. I thought that water was the final resting place of fracking fluid that has already done its fracking, not fracking fluid waiting to do its fracking.

As long as we are on this fracking subject, I read a disturbing article in this morning's Seattle Post-Intelligencer about disturbing fracking fluid practices of the Marcellus Shale gas drillers in Pennsylvania.

Apparently the Pennsylvania gas drillers have been disposing of their fracking fluids via the simple disposal method of dumping the liquid in Pennsylvania rivers.

I have read nary a word of this in the newspapers local to me in Texas. Do the local newspapers not want to give the local frackers any ideas?

And how do we know the local frackers are not surreptitiously disposing of their contaminated water in Texas rivers like the Trinity?

If the gas drillers are getting away with polluting Pennsylvania rivers, with those rivers in what I would think must be a more environmentally enlightened part of America than Texas, well, one can't help but wonder what those gas drillers might be getting away with in Texas, what with the Texas regulating agencies all co-opted by gas industry infiltration.

And with the state of Texas at odds with the federal agencies, like the EPA, who's job it is to see that bad stuff is not done to the air and water of America.

Is any testing done of the Trinity River to see if any nasty fracking fluids are floating towards the Gulf of Mexico? If not, why not?

It is so bizarre to me that over the past 30 years, or so, billions of federal dollars have been spent cleaning up Superfund sites. Those being dangerously polluted parts of America. And then to allow some industry to inject dangerous chemicals into underground storage, underground, where aquifers live, well, it just seems sort of obvious that at least one of those areas of injection, will become a Superfund site of the future that likely will dwarf the Superfund sites of the past.

Fracking and the gas drillers and the nasty stuff they spew into the air I breathe has been on my mind the past couple days due to myself having what seems like an allergic reaction to something. I am not an allergic type person.

But. For instance.

Last night I had a bizarre bout of sneezing, followed by watery, itchy eyes. I was unable to read. This morning all is fine. I live very close to a Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale gas pad. As in it is less than 1000 feet distant.

Today I am going to get myself some over the counter anti-histamines. I hope drugging myself helps.

A Carter Avenue Holiday Card

That is Elizabeth Doeung and her dad, Steve, on Christmas Eve a year ago, surrounded by flags and snow on Fort Worth's infamous Carter Avenue.

Steve, with some help from Elizabeth, this morning, sent me the nicest Christmas card I've gotten this year.

So, I thought I'd share Steve's E-card, (for those reading this who are not so lucky as to be living in The Shale, the CHK to which Steve refers is Chesapeake Energy. TxDOT is Texas Department of Transportation)......

Dear Band of Bloggers,

You already know how I feel about you and what you mean to me.  So you are the first to receive this clumsy attempt at an e-card (with some help from little Elizabeth, of course). Love you all for who you are, what you stand for, and what you do--that reflect the essence of this season and the best of what those flags represent.

It looks like CHK started to dig trenches for the 8-inch diameter gathering line along TxDOT's right-of-way last week. Apparently, TxDOT has determined that 8 inches of high pressure is the maximum risk they will allow in their wide easement along the freeway. However, my mayor and city government obviously saw no problem with one or more pipelines 2X the size and pressure (thus threat, danger, and damages) under front yards along a residential street. All that aside, this is better for them than the previous two years of very bad PR and no pipeline/million$ in profit.

I asked Santa to bring Durango a new bike, Elsie something to occupy her spare time, and Joely a less stressful new year...and a nice hunk :>) I have a gift for each of you but am waiting for the right opportunity to give it. I hope to do it before we move, not immediate but hopefully soon/when feasible.

Merry Christmas and holidays wishes to all our friends and neighbors--both near and far--from the exhausted but thankful survivors of the Barnett Shale "Alamo". 

Thank you for helping us be the "miraculous" Victors after a two year long (and costly) battle. May the new year bring you health and happiness

May there be more Victors and less victims of the Exploiters of the Shale.

Your co-resister of Tyranny,

Y. Steve Doeung and family

Is George's Specialty Foods Back In Operation After Successfully Battling Chesapeake Energy?

Well. I saw this morning via an ad in FW Weekly that George's Specialty Foods is back after being closed to deal with some eminent domain abuse issues brought to George's Specialty Foods courtesy of one of the world's biggest abusers of eminent domain, Chesapeake Energy

I do not know what the outcome was, or if there was an outcome, in this particular eminent domain abuse case.

If this particular case of eminent domain abuse was covered in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I missed it.

I'm guessing that in Star-Telegram world it is not newsworthy when a local business closes in order to defend itself against having its property taken so a pipeline can be run through their property carrying non-odorized natural gas.

Can someone tell me what the outcome was regarding this particular case of eminent domain abuse? Or what the current status is?

My Chesapeake Energy Neighbor Is Shining Bright Tonight With Grackles

I don't know what is going on across the street from my abode at my friendly neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Drilling Pad Site.

The previous 2 or 3 times, when activity has gone into overdrive at this site, it did not involve bright lights, powered by a generator, next to an RV, parked outside the entry gate, with a sign that says "PLEASE STOP AND SIGN IN."

Who is coming to this Chesapeake site and why do they need to stop and sign in?

It is being an eerie evening this evening in Texas. I left here a little after 5. The sun setting put on a pretty good light show. I stopped to get gas and then headed to Wal-Mart. I have never seen so many Grackles. The sky was dark with Grackles. Grackles were lined up on all flat edges in view.

Very Hitchcockian.

The weirdest Grackle formations were lines of the birds sitting on top of the poles that hold red lights. Each time I'd get out my camera to take a picture the light would turn green. I decided a Grackle picture was not meant to be.

Back to my Chesapeake neighbor. I wonder what is going to be slinking in tonight under cover of darkness? I hope it is not noisy. Or explosive. Or both.

My Next Door Neighbor The Evil Chesapeake Energy Empire Has Returned With Bright Lights

This morning, when I exited my abode to head to the Tandy Hills, I was surprised that my next door neighbor, Chesapeake Energy, was being busy at the Chesapeake Barnett Shale Drilling Operation that is a stone's throw, or two, from where I try to sleep.

As you can see, a drilling rig has been installed. Again.

And, for some reason a big RV like rig is sitting outside the entry gate. With a big bank of lights sitting next to it. With a burly looking woman attending to the trailer by the bank of lights.

Could this be a TV crew? Could the burly woman be a German? You know how burly those German women can be. Gar the Texan used to be married to a really burly one. I think he had her deported when she got too burly.

I digress.

So, is this part of the German ARD TV Crew that is in Fort Worth this week to gather info about the Barnett Shale notorieties?

What do they need bright lights at night for?

I fear I am heading for some noisy aggravation in the coming days and nights.

Total change of subject. 

Speaking of Gar the Texan. Just seconds ago I was appalled to read on his blog of his worst case ever of The Vapors. With this case of The Vapors sending Gar the Texan to a Wichita Falls Emergency Room, where the emergency was so serious he was immediately hospitalized so that drastic measures could be taken to get The Vapors under control.

Back to the previous subject, that being the return of Chesapeake Energy to my next door neighbor. Anyone know what the Evil Empire is up to on Bridgewood Drive? That requires heavy duty night lighting? And a big RV? And a burly German woman?

CSI Investigates A Chesapeake-ish Fracking Operation In Nevada That Is Killing People

A few weeks ago I discovered video on demand on my AT & T U-verse DVR. This enabled me to watch  CSI this afternoon while I consumed lunch.

I would have thought I would have already heard mention made of this particular CSI episode, it being Episode 8 of Season 11. Titled "FRACKED"

This episode of CSI aired November 11.

That is a screen cap from the episode, from a sort of tutorial a CSI guy watched to wise himself up to the evils of hydraulic fracturing.

This episode of CSI was not the first time CSI has used a Fort Worth crime for story fodder.

Years ago CSI used the incident where a Fort Worth women left a man to die, stuck in her windshield, in her garage. Which actually sort of took place in my neighborhood. High crime, dangerous place to live that it is.

In the CSI Fracked episode, people in a little town outside Las Vegas are dying from real bad cancers. As well as their animals. A couple guys turn up dead. Clues lead the CSI guys to a farmer who is also dying. The farmer knows it is the Chesapeake alias that killed his wife, killed his animals and is now killing him. The farmer does not quite know what the chemical stew is that the Chesapeake alias has caused to be in his water, but he knows it is explosive.

So, before the CSI guys can bring the guy in, he drops a match in his well, causing it to kaboom, toasting him.

One of the CSI guys, a CSI guy who an Erin Brockovich type newspaper lady, also dying from the Chesapeake alias cancer, had clued him into the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, turned on one of the now dead farmer's faucets and proceeded to light it on fire, like something you'd see in GASLAND.

Eventually the clues lead the CSI guys to the heart of darkness, that being the location of the Chesapeake alias's operation in the valley it is killing. There they find one of those "Evaporation Ponds" that Chesapeake Energy has installed in various locations on Fort Worth's landscape.

The first guy who had been murdered, got wonked on the head while trying to get a sample of the water in the pond, then was left in the pond til he drowned, and then moved to another pond where kids were skinnydipping. The next guy to get murdered was a Chesapeake alias inspector who was trying to do the right thing. Then the unseen Aubrey McClendon alias ordered one of his flaks to kill the whistleblower and then he ordered another flak to kill the whistleblower's killer.

I tell you, those people up in DISH think they have it bad with Chesapeake Energy and the other Barnett Shale Drillers. Apparently it is much worse in Nevada. And just like here in Fort Worth, the powers that be, the regulating agencies, the government, the people who are supposed to look out for the welfare of the people, look the other way, even when the crime is direct murder and murder by poisoning a water supply.

Anyway, this was an interesting episode of CSI, using Fort Worth and its environs for story fodder again.