Regarding the USACE Ruling

(Scroll down to Page 25 ~ Page 28 on the Document)

Joe Pool Lake Dam 

Appeals Court Reverses Katrina Decision

(Reuters) - (September 25, 2012) A U.S. appeals court has reversed itself (yesterday September 24, 2012) and found that the Army Corps of Engineers cannot be held liable in property owners' lawsuits over flood damage during Hurricane Katrina. More than 400 property owners had filed lawsuits following the August 2005 hurricane, many targeting the Corps of Engineers.  

The plaintiffs had alleged the Corps of Engineers delayed armoring the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet shipping channel against flood damage due to incorrect scientific decisions rather than public policy considerations. In an unusual move, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Monday withdrew its earlier ruling in March that had been in the plaintiffs' favor. 

Monday's ruling came after the federal government sought review of the panel's earlier decision by the full appeals court. Judge Jerry Smith, writing for the court, said the Corps of Engineers is immune from being held liable for property damage under the so-called "discretionary function exception" to the Federal Tort Claims Act, which governs litigation against the U.S. government. 

The exception bars lawsuits against the government for conduct arising from statutes and regulations that don't require an agency's action but involve its discretion. [emphasis added.]

A Little Background and More:  In 1996 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) decided, "No leasing of federal land for drilling activities within a 3,000 foot buffer zone of Joe Pool Lake Dam."  NSO (No Surface Occupancy) and ND (No Drilling) (See Page 25 in the above document.)   

So, in 2010, Chesapeake Energy drilled and fracked within 850 FT. of the Joe Pool Lake Dam and Spillway! OOPS.  USACE later tells our community, "We didn't know Chesapeake planned to do this."  Hmmmm...Is this 1) USACE using their discretion to NOT KNOW; 2) USACE not knowing their own regulations;  and/or 3) Chesapeake Energy using the City of Grand Prairie, TX, a church with an ever-changing name, homeowners who have no idea what's going on, AND the United States Army Corps of Engineers ~ Was/Is this Chesapeake using all these parties to make it appear well and good to do as they Da** well please??

That Jury is clearly still out (far out) on this one.  Meanwhile, let's refresh our memories and re-read our story from September 25, 2011 (exactly one year ago today, ironically ) about all the myriad possibilities. Amen.
 
Dam

Baldwin Hills Dam Failure in 1963 **Update**

It was never going to fail.

"In 1951, when it was built in Los Angeles, the Baldwin Hills Dam was hailed as a $10 Million Dollar State-of-the-Art Engineering Masterwork."

According to the above video. shown on Australian TV in 2010, it started with a pencil-thin crack. Watch the video. The History Channel has done a magnificent job of detailing what happened on December 14, 1963 in Baldwin Hills ~ while our country was still recovering from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

5 people died. 65 homes were destroyed.

600 oil wells were located in the Inglewood Oil Field on the eastern edge of the Dam. And not only that, as the investigators discovered at the time, the oil was being extracted from these oil wells using a method of extraction that involved injecting water into the ground around the well at very high pressure. Back then, it was called, "pressurized extraction."

Investigators concluded that seismic activity was the "hidden factor"  in this dam's failure.  This was 1963.  In 2012, seismic activity has been an everyday occurrence around North Texas.  

Even yesterday (June 23, 2012), there was another recorded earthquake near Cleburne, Texas ~ the 3rd one in North Texas since June 5th.

Dam. Dam. and Dam.

Moratorium on our Joe Pool Lake Dam. Amen.

Click here to read the March 28, 2012 story from the Fort Worth Star Telegram about "Improvements to the Dam." (There's a mistake in the story ~ the City of GP's Moratorium is through January 2013 and will be extended as warranted.)

**Update**: From the comments

Click here to see a current community blog from Baldwin Hills. These pictures are horrific.

Regarding the Corn Valley Drilling Site

Force Majeure (developing story...stay tuned)

Joe Pool Lake Dam and Spillway 

**Click here:  Definition of Force Majeure**

An oil and gas lease generally [but not always] includes a force majeure clause. Such agreement relieves the lessee from liability for breach, if the party's performance is impeded as the result of a natural cause that could not have been anticipated or prevented.

This Act of God must completely prevent performance and must be unanticipated. Courts often construe this clause very strictly and rarely enforce it. For example, a tornado preventing performance in Oklahoma would not trigger the force majeure clause, since tornadoes are a common occurrence in Oklahoma.[emphasis added]

Bureau of Land Management: Texas Resource Management Plan

Joe Pool Lake Dam Exclusion Zone 1

Chesapeake Drilled and Fracked 850 Feet from Joe Pool Lake Dam ~ What?

United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Says, "Hold your Drill Bore, Chesapeake,"...Westchester Gasette Says:  "Force Majeure? Good Grief."

Shout out to TexRock just because you spend so much time on our blog.