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.

America's Nightmare?

 Click on this map to enlarge it and see the details.

In case you missed it, we wrote about DRHorton's retention of minerals for their properties last year.  Click here to read about that.

In recent weeks, we have discovered that our Grand Prairie, TX Gas Drilling Ordinance doesn't address the issue of homes being built dangerously close to gas drilling sites AFTER a drilling site is already established.  

Denton Drilling Blog has been writing about this somewhat confusing issue as well.  (Denton, TX currently has a 1,200 Ft. protected use setback, by the way.  Many residents had wanted it to be 1,500 Ft. with the latest revision to their Gas Drilling Ordinance in January 2013.) Read about that here.

Our current Grand Prairie, TX Gas Drilling Ordinance addresses protected use setbacks for already established protected uses...including homes, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, businesses, day care centers. That protected use setback is 700 Feet with a variance of 500 Feet in certain cases that must be approved by City Council. (Our group and city staff had advocated for a 1,000 Ft. setback back in 2011, but unfortunately our City Council decided upon the 700 Ft. setback.) A 1,000 Ft. setback for parks is the current rule (with stipulations).

Grand Prairie, TX Gas Drilling Ordinance (as of January 18, 2011) by Westchester Gasette

Here's a Chart available to everyone on the Grand Prairie, TX Web Site and prepared by the Environmental Services Department.  It shows the new provisions enacted when the Revised Gas Drilling Ordinance was voted in on January 18, 2011.  We like the detail it shows for new permits vs. old permits.

The Dangerous Loophole 

The Howell Pad Site is situated several miles north of our Westchester community on Great Southwest Parkway near Jefferson/Abram St.  Surprisingly, the home builder, DRHorton, is not in violation of any current protected use setback requirements (as specified in our current Gas Drilling Ordinance) even though the new homes are dangerously close to the pad site (see the map above). (FYI:  Just for the record, we have learned that the minerals for this particular new DRHorton development were retained by past land owners, not DRHorton. Mineral property is such a tricky business.)

According to our current city Gas Drilling Ordinance, it appears that DRHorton or any developer can build homes  in Grand Prairie as close as they wish to drilling sites when the pad site already exists.  Or maybe they are working off of the 200 Ft. State of Texas protective setback requirement for oil wells in densely populated areas ~ a statewide requirement established long before horizontal drilling?  Not sure.

One would think "America's Builder" would have a stronger sense of ethics about it.  We just don't understand why they don't. And why they didn't ask the city? But wait...this would have been a zoning issue to do with a new housing development, so it must have been presented to the Grand Prairie Planning and Zoning Commission.  Surely P&Z would have seen the problem. Maybe Consent Agenda? We will check on that...

Important: If a drilling rig were up, then people might be more aware. But there has not been a rig up since 2011 according to the Grand Prairie Gas Drilling Status Report (Page 6).

But most people will have no idea what to expect with future drilling operations. This is an URGENT matter that must be addressed by our cities in North Texas.  

What are we doing to our communities and to the families that only want to live the American dream of owning a home? We must address this Critical Issue. NOW. 

Chairman Smitherman Tweets Bag of Deer Pellets Made in West, TX

Editor's Comment:  

We have no idea how tweeting a picture of a bag of deer pellets to the "Central Texas Sportsman" is supposed to provide any kind of comfort and help to fellow Texans in West, TX ~  following the catastrophic explosion that killed at least 14 first responders on Wednesday night. 

Here's the Tweet that Chairman Smitherman probably won't be making. 

Be sure to click on the Reuters link to read the story.

MT Wow! Texas fertilizer company didn't heed disclosure rules before blast reut.rs/14EjPlA via @reuters @fishcreek1269 @gardencatlady
— Westchester Gasette (@WCGasette) April 20, 2013

 
Amen.

Thanks to GFLakeGasWatch, gardencatlady and Fishcreek Neighbor for tweeting about this with us today. We appreciate their concern and many others who retweeted and replied.  All of us want answers to what happened in West, TX.

TX House District 105 Candidate Linda Harper-Brown Rudely Dismisses Democrats AND Republicans in Her OWN District

Twitter Update from Linda Harper-Brown Campaign

WOW! Looks like Mrs. Linda Harper-Brown has the SAME problem with representing only HER people as presidential candidate Mitt Romney has with only caring for HIS people! 


It's a terrible trend in politics. And really leaves a very BAD TASTE in our mouth.

Amen.

P.S.  In case you missed it...this is the same Mrs. Linda Harper-Brown who simply loves our Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman! We wonder about his ability to separate "regulation from politics" based on his Facebook page. It's one big biased political firestorm over there!!

And here's a sampling of Mrs. Harper-Brown's people who must feel the same way she does  since they're all members in good standing of the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute (TXCCRI).  We have to wonder about their research. 

Mrs. Linda Harper-Brown reminds us that Grand Prairie, TX business owners are "nice people" in her tweet.  Well, yes. We agree.  

But truly, Mrs. Linda Harper-Brown, you really do need to apologize to all the Democrats AND Republicans in Grand Prairie, TX who also happen to be business owners since you clearly don't give one twit tweet about any of them!!

Amen.