Dateline: Texas. "They've Fracked Our Dams." *Update*

Back in 2010, there was a general feeling from our group in Westchester and individuals and groups in Dallas that there was something bizarre going on at the Joe Pool Lake Reservoir (a man-made Texas lake primarily used for flood control and recreation) in southwestern Dallas County, Texas.
 

Joe Pool Lake Dam and Spillway (December 27, 2010) 

The story about Joe Pool Lake mineral leases being flipped by Bernie Madoff in New York and elsewhere was already quite the buzz back then. Then something else began to brew in early 2011 that encouraged our group.  And then there was silence for awhile.

It was a very HOT and DRY Texas summer in 2011, Epic Drought and all.  Even so, according to our neighbors backing up to the Corn Valley drilling site, Chesapeake seemed to be conducting some kind of prepping activity there.  After seeing something curious come across our Twitter feed on June 24, 2011, we were flummoxed.  The heat had gotten to us.  We finally decided to submit an Open Records Request (ORR) to our City on July 25, 2011 seeking any correspondence with USACE and the City about the dam.  We received the results of that ORR on August 3, 2011.  The ORR contained a somewhat surprising letter dated February 25, 2011 to the City of Grand Prairie from USACE.  All the documents seemed disjointed, at best, which is often the case for Open Records Requests. Then, while we were trying to make some sense out of all of it...

On September 6, 2011, the City of Grand Prairie passed its own Moratorium on all drilling activities within 3,000 feet of Joe Pool Lake Dam.  And that seemed to stop the pending activity from Chesapeake in its tracks.  Fast forward to September 3, 2013 ~ USACE has continued their Moratorium to request that the City of Grand Prairie keep in force the city's Moratorium and recently requested they extend it for another year (through September 2014) to complete the nationwide study on this new "unconventional" drilling technology being conducted near their dams. As  result, Grand Prairie recently extended its own city-wide Moratorium for the 4th time as of September 3, 2013.*

Oh, and the new GIS Map viewer on the RRC Web site offers a lot more vivid detail than the older one does. We see that USACE-controlled Lake Benbrook Dam looks to be surrounded, with no way out, in our opinion. (We've added some labels to the Screen Shot.)  

Click to Enlarge the Screen Shot for this GIS Map:

Important documents we've referenced on the GIS Map (above):

Texas Resource Management Plan BLM Leasing (1996) by Westchester Gasette

Southwest District Policy USACE March 17, 2011 by Westchester Gasette

Enough for now. 

*Update*:  Stay tuned for an update to the current Moratorium. Of course, it's a doozy.

Shale Gas Drilling GREED in Grand Prairie, TX

Dumb as a Rock

Chesapeake

Link to Video

Link to Story

DAM (*Numerous UPDATES*)

***MORATORIUM***

Ordinance providing for a moratorium on the conducting of any natural gas drilling and fracturing activities within 3,000 feet of any dams and other water retention structures owned and/or operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Joe Pool Lake Dam and Spillway  (850 Feet from Chesapeake's Drilling and Fracking Activities)

Link to Grand Prairie, TX City Council September 6, 2011 Meeting w/Discussion About Moratorium Featuring Chesapeake Rep in Opposition.

File #: 11-1293 Version: 1 Name: Moratorium on Gas Drilling Activities

From:  Jim Cummings, Environmental Services Director

Ordinance providing for a moratorium on the conducting of any natural gas drilling and fracturing activities within 3,000 feet of any dams and other water retention structures owned and/or operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Recommended Action:  Approve

Analysis

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has expressed concerns regarding natural gas exploration activities within 3,000 feet of dams and other water retention structures. The USACE intends to study this issue in the coming months. A moratorium will provide time for the USACE to initiate engineering studies.

[...]

SECTION 4. That this ordinance shall take effect immediately from and after its passage and it is accordingly so ordained.

PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS, ON THIS THE 6TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2011.

(*UPDATE* February 19, 2015):  The Moratorium has been extended for the 2nd 4th 5th (maybe 6th) time and now through October 1, 2015 according to the Grand Prairie, TX City Council.  The study from USACE is not ready completed, but still under review. Stay tuned...and be sure to read our original blog post about this issue over 2  3 1/2 years ago when we first layed out the BIG picture.  Thank you. Click Here. 

(Another *UPDATE* July 30, 2015): Currently (as of July 30, 2015) a housing developer, Sandlin Homes, is selling NEW homes atop the former Corn Valley Drilling Site and FRAC Pond, unbelievable as it might seem.  So, the MORATORIUM on the Corn Valley Drilling Site appears to be MOOT with this drilling site gone and the one well plugged.  Or is it?

XTO's Lynn Unit (the one remaining ACTIVE drilling site within the 3,000 Ft. DAM Exclusion Zone in Grand Prairie, TX) currently has 3 wells in production.  USACE requested that the City of Grand Prairie add production to the Moratorium in September 2013.  However, the City of Grand Prairie declined that request!  So, Fracking Extraction (production) continues. (Click on this link to see production for one of the 3 wells (Well 3H) on the Railroad Commission Web site. Scroll to Page 6 at the top of the chart to see current overall total for one of the 3 wells ~ over 1.3 Million Cubic Feet since 2010.) 

We are not sure how passage of House Bill 40 affects this Municipal Moratorium that was implemented at the request of the United States Army Corps of Engineers as of September 6, 2011 and extended every year since.  ***Question: Does a request from a federal agency (USACE) regarding below surface activity TRUMP Texas House Bill 40?)***

New Barnes Assembly A Wells 1H, 2H and 4H (Just Permitted 1/31/11 by the RRC) for Chesapeake

The new ones are kinda short. This may explain some of that.

The longer one you see is API# 113-30193 (3H) ~ The one under Rule 37 Consideration right now ~Meaning: If you won't sign a lease, Chesapeake will just have the Railroad Commission conduct a Hearing at their (Chesapeake's) pleasure and make you travel to Austin on your own dime dollar and then most likely they'll just take your minerals, anyway, and FORCE you into the Pooled Unit with your neighbors and especially the large land owners. Large land owners who really need you so they can make most of the royalties, if any, for the Lease. Nice, huh?

Those pentagon (5-sided) shapes you see are apparently two (maybe three) Pad Sites Leaseholds converging at 4351 Matthew Road with currently 5 different wells permitted and/or drilled from potentially 4 separate leaseholds (that we know of) including...Barnes Assembly A, West Carpo, East Carpo and 2 "Future Wells."  There will be up to 11 wells drilled (at this time) from this location according to the Detail Map Below.  

Notice the Gas Gathering Pipeline (in green) that will get the gas out of there. What was once a beautiful and tranquil cow pasture is clearly now an industrial zone.

Oh, and there's Fish Creek, too ~ see it in bright BLUE on the Map.  A well-known old creek in southern Grand Prairie that runs right above all the drilling and horizontal, hydraulic fracturing that will be going on in that area in the immediate future.

And the latest  "Detail" of this area as currently shown on Railroad Commission Maps for these permits. (This seems to have changed over a short time.  Not sure what happened to Barnes Assembly B that used to show up. Maybe it sounded too much like Barnes Assembly A or maybe it's been put on the Chesapeake shelf for now.)

Ah, Chesapeake

3 More Wells for the Barnes Assembly A Pad Site Leasehold (4351 Matthew Road) were approved Monday for Chesapeake by our almost-defunct Texas Railroad Commission.  

Very interesting that these horizontal wells seem to be shorter in length than our well-known API #113-30193, which dips very deep into Trailwood.  Maybe they're more like shots-in-the-dark...or rather like a lot of Rule 37 "Waiver" Notifications arriving in the mail very soon for our Trailwood neighbors. Stealing property and/or paying very little for it seems to be all the rage.  

New Barnes Assembly A Permits ~ API #113-30216, #113-30217 and #113-30218.

By the way, we simply love going to Austin, taking off work, jeopardizing our lives in snow and ice (like 8 of us did Tuesday, February 1, 2011) for the API# 113-30193 Rule 37 "Waiver/Exception" Hearing. ) 

QUESTION:  Since all the activity related to the Barnett Shale is in the BARNETT SHALE,  why are all the citizens affected by Rule 37 Waivers required to travel to Austin to DEFEND their property rights??

Somebody really needs to answer that question in the TEXAS Legislature.

Thank You, Brett Shipp.

Link to the Story.

GREED. Play to the greed! It's all about the money. And that's really funny, since the average royalty payments over to our West are coming in at around $35 per month for the average resident. If at all. Ask Gary Hogan with the North Central Texas Communities Alliance. He'll be at City Hall tomorrow night. Just ask him what his royalty payments are over in the "heart" of the Barnett Shale.

Is $35 a month worth the loss of your property value, your health and the transformation of Grand Prairie residential communities into shale gas drilling industrial zones? It's already happening. Just ask your neighbors in Trailwood. Better yet, drive over to see it for yourself. Matthew Road between Bardin and Polo. You can't miss the industrial zone that used to be a cow pasture. It's so sad what they've done over there.

Come on down to the City Council Meeting at 6:30 PM. Be early if you can. We hear that Grand Prairie large landowners will be there to defend Chesapeake. We wonder if that will include our own City Councilman?? And be prepared to stay late. It should be very interesting. 

Come on down. Talk to the "small" group of Grand Prairie residents who have spent the last 7 months learning all they can about this shale gas drilling campaign in Grand Prairie, TX.  

Thank You.

Front Page of the Grand Prairie, TX City Web site. 

We requested that the Ordinance go online.  And there it is ~ a link to the *Proposed" newly revised Grand Prairie Shale Gas Drilling Ordinance. It will be voted on this Tuesday night, January 18th, by City Council at City Hall beginning at 6:30 PM ~ following the  Public Hearing.

Take a look and see. It's a far cry from what it was. It appears that the Ordinance is still not allowing for a Specific Use Permit through P&Z ~ a #1 priority for this Westchester Neighbor. 

Of course, we're glad to see the 1,000 foot setback for Protected Use Properties including homes, schools, churches. The current setback is 500 ft. The proposed Ordinance allows for a "variance" from the 1,000 foot setback to no less than 700 ft. if approved by City Council after a Public Hearing.  And there's a requirement that the Permit from a gas operator provide detailed information about all drilling equipment including pipeline construction. Take a look and see what you think. 

Correspondence sent by Chesapeake to lessors in Grand Prairie, TX (those who have signed leases allowing Chesapeake to extract the shale gas from under their property) requests that they attend the meeting in opposition to the proposed Shale Gas Drilling Ordinance.  AND that they not listen to the "activists" or the "protestors." (Laura Patton misspells the word in the correspondence.) Maybe "protestors" are different than protesters. Not sure.

I guess we'll see what happens Tuesday night.