City of Grand Prairie, TX Should HALT Extraction at the Lynn Unit *UPDATE*

 The Zone of Exclusion for the Joe Pool Lake Dam
Click on the Map to View the Details.
Map from the City of Grand Prairie, Texas 9.16.14 Agenda Packet
(Note: There are 3 Producing Shale Gas Wells on XTO's Lynn Unit.)

So, here's the latest.  During tonight's Grand Prairie, TX City Council Meeting (Tuesday, September 16, 2014 at 6:30 PM)  (Click on that link ~ go to the Consent Agenda, Item 29 on the Full Agenda Tab) the Council will extend the Moratorium on all Gas Drilling activities within 3,000 ft. of all water retention structures in the city limits through October 1, 2015. This Moratorium was first put in place on September 6, 2011 and has been extended every 6 months to a year since that time.

Apparently, USACE (United States Army Corps of Engineers) is not ready to release their National Study just yet.  These things take time and lots of review before they become public.  We have been told by district personnel for USACE that Joe Pool Lake Dam is the centerpiece of this study.

So, now we must ask this question:  What about the Lynn Unit?  If there is a Moratorium on ALL gas drilling activities, then why isn't there the same Moratorium on "Extraction" aka "Production"?  

The Corps asked the City of Grand Prairie, TX to halt production (extraction) as part of the Moratorium at the Lynn Unit one year ago.  And to our knowledge, production for the 3 XTO wells in production at this site has continued.  The City told the Corps that it was their call, not the city's call.

So, whose call is it, anyway?

In light of the 3 Earthquakes in North Texas since last week (in adjacent cities to Grand Prairie), 2 in Arlington, TX and 1 in Irving, TX ~  
<
Earthquake #1 in Arlington, TX on Sunday, September 7, 2014:

2.4M #Frackquake NO #InjectionWells in #Arlington #NTX http://t.co/2FVl5vbDoc Did You Feel It? http://t.co/qhXDJV0RRu pic.twitter.com/Qt2WGu5svS
— Westchester Gasette (@WCGasette) September 7, 2014

Earthquake #2 in Irving, TX on Thursday, September 11, 2014:

2.9 M earthquake in N. TX this morning just N. of Irving. http://t.co/6TBdnRpRqb #fracking
— TXsharon (@TXsharon) September 11, 2014

Earthquake #3 in Arlington, TX on Friday, Sept 12, 2014:

#Frackquake Friday! #Arlington @USGS #Earthquake. http://t.co/S5grd2nNPa @Fishcreek1269 @CityOfArlington #Fracking pic.twitter.com/DDMorR8rae
— Westchester Gasette (@WCGasette) September 13, 2014

 
Isn't it time to HALT all production within 3,000 ft. of the Joe Pool Lake Dam and within 3,000 Ft. of ALL Dams in North Texas with shale gas production in the zone?  

These EXCLUSION ZONES were established by the United States government via the Corps of Engineers' *New* Southwest District Policy released on March 17, 2011 and the much earlier 1996 Bureau of Land Management guidelines for oil and gas drilling activities near USACE-managed Dams. We have blogged about it extensively on the Westchester Gasette.

This is clearly one more Elephant in the Room.  But it's way past time to deal with this BIG one that can impact so many lives in one fell swoop. Extraction causes seismicity. Extraction causes earthquakes. Why risk this in such densely populated areas?

EARTH to City of Grand Prairie, TX:

Stop Production/Extraction on the 3 producing wells at the Lynn Unit. Thank You.

**UPDATE**: Read IMPORTANT Information regarding the Original Moratorium and the new Texas 
House Bill 40 Here:

210 West Camp Wisdom Road, Grand Prairie, TX (*Updated*)

It's been awhile since we blogged about this now "plugged Chesapeake well."  Over 3 Months later and there's still no housing construction activity on this now former drilling site that had been the source for so much controversy over the years.  

 Plugged 

Well #1H API #42-113-30195

Corn Valley A Lease

As you may recall, this private land (about 19 17 acres) was suddenly being promoted by a "Housing Developer" who hadn't really completed any MAJOR housing developments anywhere.  He had a "Yahoo" account for his business e-mail address.  Yee Haw!!  He was asking for a "Zoning Change" from "Retail/Commercial Development" to "Residential Development." After some debate, this "Zoning Change" was eventually approved by Grand Prairie's City Council on May 20, 2014.

Yes.  It's true. A gas drilling site was "Zoned" Retail Commercial at some point in the past.  It was never zoned "Industrial." So much for "Zoning."

For the recent background for this story, click here, here, and here.

Strangely, we had never seen any photographic evidence of the FRAC Job for the Corn Valley A Lease Well #1H from back in early 2011.  (Neighbors didn't obtain photographic evidence at that time.) And we questioned all of that a few months ago.  (See the blog posts linked to above.)

In the meantime, we discovered that the Grand Prairie, TX Interactive Aerial Google Map for the drilling site's address (210 W. Camp Wisdom Road) does show the site and the FRAC tanks in place for a FRAC Job.  (Plug in the Address and Check "Gas Wells" under General Info at the link. Then at the top scroll over to "Aerial View.") Wow. For a 3-day operation, this FRAC Job seems to have become a permanent fixture for this land and its history.  Good. 

 Click on the map to see the bigger picture (with added text and labels).

BUT is it for real, or is it Photoshopped? We think it's odd that we are seeing this FRAC Job operation on a current map. Odd and weird.  The Railroad Commission couldn't be certain this well had ever been hydraulically fractured as we blogged about it on April 10th.  The well had been shut in for 3 years without a sales (gas gathering) pipeline primarily because of the efforts of the Westchester Grand Prairie Community Alliance. (*Update* June 14, 2015: The RRC had no records of Well 1H being fracked because there was no state law requiring "Fracking Dates" until February 1, 2012...but we now believe this well was completed (fracked) in the last week of January 2011 and the RRC just hadn't ever seen a well completed and then plugged without production. Funny that.)

The Alliance had pointed out (in late 2011 and early 2012) that there was a "Moratorium" on ALL gas drilling activities within 3,000 FT of ALL water retention structures inside City Limits. We ALSO pointed out (during City Council Hearings) that adding a pipeline would be in "violation" of the city's own "Moratorium."  We were surprised by the city's attempts to get this pipeline hooked up...very surprised. Shocked, really. Good Grief!

The city also told us that there was all sorts of oversight while this well was finally being plugged just this past April 4, 2014. 

Paperwork (the Form W-3) was said to be completed/signed by the Railroad Commission while their inspector(s) was/were present and even Grand Prairie's Gas Well Inspector was said to be present for the operation conducted by Chesapeake.  

Seriously? There were city and/or state "witnesses" to the plugging operation as it actually happened over a 5-day period??  As the saying kinda goes,

"Fool me once, shame on you ~ fool me twice, shame on me."

We think there's been more than enough foolin' and downright goofin' with all of this. Amen.

Voilà!! Let's Just Cover it Up with NEW Homes!! *UPDATE*

Developing Story...(*Updated*)

Click on this Picture to see the BIG Picture. 


And, NOW Click on this PICTURE below to see the 
BIGGER Picture.

Just to follow-up on this story, the City Council Public Hearing on this "Zoning Change" from Retail (yes, a gas drilling site was zoned as "Retail" when any amount of common sense says it should have been "Zoned" as "Industrial") was conducted on April 15, 2014 and ended with a VOTE to Table. 

The SECOND Public Hearing on this Zoning Change will occur tonight, May 20th, 2014, 6:30 PM at Grand Prairie, TX City Hall.

Here's the Agenda for Tonight's Meeting (See Item 37 on Page 9 of the Agenda Below):

Grand Prairie, TX City Council Meeting Agenda 05-20-2014 (Includes April 15, 2014 Minutes) by Westchester Gasette

A Public Meeting was conducted on May 8th at the Betty Warmack Library on Bardin Road. 

We learned from that meeting:

• NO Soil or Groundwater Testing will be conducted for this land that was used for shale gas mining operations beginning in 2010.  "City staff" told us that the city would have to pay $60,000 for that and, of course, that's too much!!  

•  In addition, we were told at that meeting that Disclosure will NOT be required for any developer who builds new "Homes" or "Anything" on this damaged land.

Really??

It's not over, 'til it's over.  AND Just to make it perfectly clear, the Westchester Gasette is your source for reporting Barnett Shale bizarro, irresponsible and potentially deadly decision-making by North Texas city leaders and their city managers.

Amen.

*UPDATE*:  We now believe Corn Valley Well 1H was perfed and fracked beginning somewhere around January 27, 2011.  (RRC records refer to it as an "unperfed" completion since not all leases were obtained.)  Due to a death in our Westchester family and extremely cold weather conditions, attention was elsewhere and so no pictures were obtained during the time frame for this FRAC job. But we are assured that this well was completed even though the Kilgore District Office of the Railroad Commission of Texas has no record of it due to no rules/requirements for Completion (Perfing/Fracking) paperwork in place at that time. (Westchester Neighbor. June 15, 2015)

After a Lengthy Community Battle ~ Chesapeake "Officially" Leaving Westchester

Almost Gone
But Never Forgotten...

Grand Prairie, TX Shale Gas Drilling Status Report

Our Joe Pool Lake Dam and Spillway 
Appears to Be Watching Over (lower left) 
Chesapeake's Plugging of the
Corn Valley Drilling Site's Well 1H

 210 W. Camp Wisdom, Grand Prairie, Texas

April 1, 2014

From the moment Chesapeake's Landmen came to South Grand Prairie, TX (in Southwestern Dallas County) and began encouraging homeowners to sign over their mineral property (around 2007 and for as little as $150.00) most of us had no idea what our community was in for. 

Thank you, Westchester-Grand Prairie Community Alliance, for all the hard work over the past 4 years.  Recommending changes to the city's Gas Drilling Ordinance was a daunting task that we all worked  hard to accomplish.  We were motivated, in part, when Chesapeake dug out the monster FRAC Pond right behind Rosemary Reed's home and behind others' homes in the Westchester Valley neighborhood ~  without notice on a very HOT, August Saturday and Sunday in 2010.  

Since most all of our neighbors on Donnie Lane had refused to sign leases, that alone was an insult. The operation shook the homes and caused sheer TERROR for our Westchester Valley neighbors.  

We understand that two of our neighbors (with already compromised immune systems) died within weeks of the FRAC Job conducted 537 feet from their back fences in January 2011. With that in mind, there is very recent news that the Flower Mound, Texas cancer cluster needs another look by our state and country. Read and see that story here.

Of course, the amount of dirt and dust generated by the digging operation for the "Fresh Water" FRAC Pond, alone, would compromise very healthy immune systems.  May our Westchester neighbors rest in peace.

A community-wide meeting organized by WAHO and held at the Oaks Baptist Church drew hundreds of our South Grand Prairie, TX neighbors on July 19, 2010 with reps from environmental groups, the city, Chesapeake and even the Mayor of Dish, TX (Mayor Calvin Tillman). But none of this swayed Chesapeake whatsoever to reconsider what they were proposing at the southern entryway to our Westchester neighborhoods. 

By the way, we understand that a housing developer has already expressed plans to purchase the land from the church with the ever-changing name immediately next to the Corn Valley Drilling Site and build beautiful, new homes.  Yes, that's right. 

The fact that this same land at 210 W. Camp Wisdom sits 850 Ft. from the mighty Joe Pool Lake Dam and Spillway is also a concern.  As you might guess, we do have several issues with all of this and we will be discussing it here on the blog in more detail, soon.

As has always been the case, many of the specifics about neighborhood, unconventional drilling operations have never received proper discussion in our city or state's public square.  Recent man-made earthquakes in the Azle, TX area northwest of Fort Worth seem to have caused the Railroad Commission of Texas to go off its sturdy, old tracks.

For now, we are keeping a close watch on the "Plugging Operation." And we'll assume that Chesapeake is following the Railroad Commission of Texas Rules. Oh, click here for the Approved Cementers, as of April 3, 2014.  (Wow! That was just yesterday. )
 
Click here for the Texas Statewide Rule §3.14 for Plugging.  We are not aware of any Grand Prairie, TX specifics for "plugging" according to the GP Gas Drilling Ordinance. But we are always open to enlightenment. We do hope Chesapeake and the Cementers do it right.  We have every confidence they will!

Amen.

Shale Gas Industry Funds Grand Prairie, TX City Elections *UPDATE*

*ELECTIONS UPDATE Nov. 5th 8:00 PM Central* RUNOFF 
December 10, 2013 ~ City Council District 3

Kurt Johnson and Lila Thorn

YAY, Kurt!*
*Update December 10, 2013*
Lila Thorn Wins Runoff
Kurt Will Not Run in May. 
That's all folks.

Dateline. Grand Prairie, TX. November 3, 2013: 

News Flash. Let's talk. Has anyone else been wondering about those BIG, Beautiful Signs all around town and those BIG, beautiful, colorful Campaign Flyers in the Mail? Good Grief!!  This is a local election!!  Serious $money$ has been spent!! 

 Right click on this picture to enlarge it.

Another News Flash.  We've heard from several reliable sources that current Grand Prairie, TX Mayor Ron Jensen (who also happens to have Chesapeake shale gas wells on his property) was not endorsing any candidates running for these two races (City Council District 3 and City Council At-Large District 7).  Hmm...We don't think it's simply a coincidence that the same mail company that created first-time city council candidates Thorn and Copeland's flyers also created Mayor Jensen's flyers in the mayoral race last spring (see the picture above)...well, when they call it a SPECIAL Election, we now know what that means!  It's one big happy SPECIAL Family!!

Hopefully, you are still reading because there's a lot more.  We've also discovered that not only did shale gas industry executives from Newark E&P and Beacon E&P heavily fund the chosen candidates (Lila Thorn Total Donations from Oil and Gas reported thus far and from 9/26/13 through October 26, 2013 = $1,000.00 and Jeff Copeland Total Oil and Gas Donations as of 10/26/13 = $10,000.00) but these two candidates spent the BIG BUCKS they received from ALL their donations with a Dallas, TX printer Valentine Direct Marketing. 

(Note:  Click here to see who the Beacon/Newark shale gas guys are!)

Booker Industries shows on the Campaign Finance Reports (same address as Valentine Direct Marketing.  Click Here for the 2nd Address for Valentine).  We've linked to the latest finance reports for the two candidates below on Scribd. 

Lila Thorn: $5,625.44  $6,913.62 Advertising Expenses (including signs, flyers AND consulting) with Booker Industries (Valentine Direct Marketing) from 9-26-13 through 10-26-13:

Campaign Finance Report - Lila Thorn 9-26-13 through 10-26-13.pdf by Westchester Gasette

Jeff Copeland: $10,312.31 Advertising Expenses (including signs and mailings) with Booker Industries (Valentine Direct Marketing) from 9-26-13 through 10-26-13:

Campaign Finance Report - Jeff Copeland - 9-26-13 through 10-26-13.pdf by Westchester Gasette

We'd like to know how this kind of spending is good for Grand Prairie's Economic Development? Wow.  It sure looks as if local businesses lost out big time. Any candidate running against these two SPECIAL candidates (Ms. Thorn and Mr. Copeland) should have been forewarned that the oil and gas industry would make the campaign totally UNFAIR and highly profitable for a Dallas printing and mailing company.

If you haven't already early voted, we still hope you will vote Tuesday, November 5, 2013.  We suggest candidates who didn't receive the BIG BUCKS from shale gas operators hoping to gain favor and votes for expansion of their operations in Grand Prairie.

We have endorsed Kurt Johnson Place 3 and Charlie Womack for Place 7 At-Large.  These two men believe that residential drilling is wrong for our communities. We agree wholeheartedly. 

Please vote Tuesday, November 5, 2013 for Kurt and Charlie. 
Thank you!

APPLAUSE!! Happy 3rd Anniversary to the Westchester Gasette.

We launched the Westchester Gasette blog on September 8, 2010. It's been a very wild and often strange ride.

Click here to see our very first blog post exactly 3 years ago today.

It's simply a video about land farming elsewhere in North Texas created by Texas Sharon.  It features a very nice, soothing song. 

Thank you for joining us for this journey into gasland over these past 3 years. There's lots of water under that bridge.

Or rather (thankfully) lots of water remaining behind the Joe Pool Lake Dam.

Amen.

And the Winner Is ~ Mayor Dr. Bob Cluck is the Best of the Worst in North Texas!

We don't fully understand all the upset about bike trails by these Arlington, TX residents.   

But we do understand being upset by time limitations during Public Meetings.  

Any North Texas Mayor who proclaims, 
"I'll Smile If I Want To!"   
deserves the Prize and All the Kudos.

Therefore, Mayor Cluck is the Winner! Hands Down.

Beginning in the summer of 2011, it seems the Arlington, Texas City Council and especially the Mayor went off the tracks. Click on over to the Fishcreek Monitor to see some more of that derailment. In the world of public administration, this is probably a textbook version of what you don't want to happen. But it did. And it's a lesson in politics. People like to be heard no matter what their viewpoints. If politicians in America don't want to listen, maybe they need to do something else. Or move to another country.

If you haven't already voted early, be sure to vote this Saturday, May 11, 2013!  In Texas, it's now one of the few things we own that can't be taken by private industry via eminent domain.  

Hold on to it with your dear life. 

Vote!

Official Notice for the Grand Prairie, TX Municipal Elections:

Grand Prairie, TX Official Notice of Election by Weschester Gasette

Precinct Locations.  VOTE!

Grand Prairie, Texas Precinct Locations May 11, 2013 by Weschester Gasette

Amen.

City Council to Approve Padsite, Only??

Constructing a pad site that may never have drilling??
Seriously??!

 The Dorchester Levee, Grand Prairie, TX

Click Here for Page 183 of the Grand Prairie, TX Agenda Details for the January 15, 2013 Meeting:

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS ALLOWING FOR
PADSITE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION AT 2200 LOWER TARRANT
ROAD TO NEWARK E&P OPERATING, LLC.

Click Here for Page 191 of the Agenda Details:

 Attachment A Special Specifications

 – Newark E& P Operating, LLC. –

Race Partners Padsite 

1. Since this drill site is proposing to include horizontal drilling that crosses beneath the Dorchester Levee, the City is requiring third party geologic and geophysical review to ensure the integrity of the existing levee. The information below and third party review will be required prior to any drilling activity. The cost of this review will be the responsibility of the applicant. 

2. Prior to drilling, the applicant will provide any detail geologic, seismic and geophysical data and information in the subsurface of the vicinity of the well and laterals that will allow a third party evaluation of any subsurface fracture (e.g. faults and fractures and their potential for being reactivated and generating earthquakes) as part of this drill site. At a minimum this information shall consist of bore hole logs, hydraulic fracturing parameters, geologic and hydrologic characteristics of the rock above and below the fracture zone and seismic and geophysical survey data.

3. Prior to the initiation of any construction activities that are governed by federal floodplain regulations, the applicant shall provide the City copies of valid U.S. Corps of Engineer permits, a Corridor Development Certificate, and obtain a City of Grand Prairie Floodplain Development Permit that covers any planned activities.

Last we heard, there is a Moratorium in place on drilling operations within 3,000 feet of ALL water retention facilities owned and/or operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the City of Grand Prairie, TX.

Click Here to Read About that Moratorium.

However, it appears that the Dorchester Levee is owned by the City of Grand Prairie, TX??  So, we suppose it's OK to drill/frack under it?? Or to put down the concrete just in case!?? 

C-R-A-Z-Y and Dangerous!! Amen.

Click Here to Read About Dallas County, TX Levees and their "intense scrutiny."


And Click here to read about Earthquakes/Seismicity in the Gas Patch. They Are NOT a Myth!!!

Happy New Year!

Pending and Permitted Shale Gas Well Pad Sites Grand Prairie, TX (December 18, 2012) Grand Prairie, TX Shale Gas Pad Sites and Well Information Updates (12.18.2012)

To find the location for the documents above you need only go to the City of Grand Prairie, TX website.  Click on the tabs as shown below:

  Departments & Services/Services A-H/Gas Drilling.  Yes. That's it!  
And you can find it in alphabetical order between  
Garbage Collection and the  
Graffiti Hotline.  Click on over there and see for yourself. 
 It's a BIG Yee Haw!

City of Grand Prairie, TX Website

Happy Thanksgiving! *UPDATE*

Delicious Anti-freeze

  2860 West Camp Wisdom Road Grand Prairie, Texas November 18, 2012
Yummy Drilling Mud  Next to Church & Soccer Field at 2860 West Camp Wisdom Road     ~ And for Dessert ~

A Tasty UNodorized Gas Gathering 
(or Transmission) Pipeline!

(Early November 2012.  This gas pipeline is being prepped for burial beneath Oncor Power Line Easement running through the middle of  one of our local suburban neighborhoods. The description of the plans for these pipelines mention gas gathering 
And/Or TRANSMISSION pipelines. ) 

 More Turkey, Please!!

*Update* 

Whoops!!  Forgot the Gravy

The cranberries are in there, too!  

♥♥ Bon Appétit!! ♥♥

It's Real. He's Not. *UPDATE*...She's NOT Either.

Mrs. Harper-Brown is Convinced , Too.

  Oh, my. 

Linda Harper-Brown Fined on Ethics Charge

 Without a Lick-of-Proof ??

Goodness! Linda Harper-Brown's own "Conservatives" over there at Red State don't even like her.   

So, who really *LIKES* Linda Harper-Brown? 

 "Don't Look at Mooooooo!"

Vote Rosemary Robbins for TX HD105  November 6, 2012. Thank you!

TX House Rep Linda Harper-Brown Has a Party!

So, who would throw this Fancy Fundraising Party for  Mrs. H-Brown?
As you can see, her Tweet only gives last names of other current Republican House Reps in North TX, an Unnamed Longhorn that was Alive and "Over 200 Unnamed People." 

We hear from our friends in Irving, TX that Mrs. H-Brown loves nice things! Even if it's been questionable as to how she acquires them!

Apparently, from all accounts, the "Fancy Fundraising Party" was Friday from 1~3 PM at the Mansion on Turtle Creek!   Awesome!!  We had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for our lunch Friday!  It was Delish!

Anywho, we're just getting to know Mrs. H-Brown, but we also hear she simply Adores Luxury Cars, too, like this one:  

Click here to see a listing from an Events Calendar for the Big Fundraiser at the  magnificent Mansion! Looks like the Texas Civil Justice League was involved?

Wow!  This party makes us wonder since it was so far away from the suburbs of Grand Prairie and Irving and TX House District 105 voters!  And then there's this April 20, 2012 News Update ~ we wonder if the Texas Civil Justice League knows??!

TX State House Rep Linda Harper-Brown Fined $2,000 for Failing to Disclose Mercedes from State Contractor!!

What's a TX HD105 VOTER to do???

Unnamed Texas Longhorn (Alive)

Does Oprah Know?

Transcendental Meditation's Popularity Surges After Oprah's Recent TV Show

[Clint Eastwood] “I’ve been using it for almost 40 years now. I think that it’s a great tool for anyone to have.”

Frac Job, Argyle, TX ~ March 11, 2011

Help. Please.