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)

Vapors, Storage Tanks, Static Electricity = Catastrophic Explosion.

This photo provided by Nathan Hergert shows a fire burning at an oil and gas drilling site near Greeley, Colo., on Tuesday, March 4, 2014. Static electricity is being blamed for the massive explosion and fire at the oil and gas drilling site north of Greeley that injured two workers. 
(AP Photo/Nathan Hergert)

Oil-and-Gas Explosion North of Greeley, Colorado Results in Two Minor Injuries 

By Monte Whaley The Denver Post Posted: 03/04/2014 10:44:09 AM MST 

Fire crews used a foam retardant to mostly extinguish a massive fire at an oil-and-gas-drilling site north of Greeley on Monday night. 

An explosion that could have been started by static electricity rocked neighbors out of their beds at about 11:20 p.m. Monday. 

The resulting fire was seen for miles. "We were getting ready for bed, and the whole house shook," said Liz Hegert, a resident in the area, told the Greeley Tribune.

The fire came from a drilling site about 2 miles east of Lucerne near Weld County Roads 27 and 70. The Eaton Fire Protection District as well as crews from Windsor-Severance Fire Protection District and the city of Greeley responded. 

 [...] 

The exact cause of the blaze has yet to be determined, he said. But it could have started as workers were pulling a water/oil mixture out of storage tanks on site to take to a separator.  Static electricity may have set off the vapors. 

 "That is a distinct possibility," Kane said.

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!

Steve Lipsky's Water is On Fire from Recent Fracking ~ RRC Says, "No, It's Not!"

Featured in the Debut of  Josh Fox's "Gasland 2" on HBO Earlier Tonight.  It will run at various times all week. 
Watch carefully, as Steve Lipsky's water catches on fire.  

Thank you to WFAA's Award-Winning Journalist 

Brett Shipp 

for this important report earlier this year.

Click Here to read all about the Imminent and Substantial Endangerment Order issued by the EPA for this methane contaminated water well in the backyard of the Lipsky's. (December 7, 2010.)

The Bubble Has Landed

fishcreek1269 LANDMEN played a MAJOR ROLE in the #BarnettShale using aggressive tactics. @brett_shipp crooksandliars.com/karoli/when-ga…
— Westchester Gasette (@WCGasette) February 20, 2013

Click here to Read All About the Shale Bubble

Sunset ~ South Grand Prairie, TX

November 2012*
*Click Here for  the important story "Made in Taiwan" on the Fishcreek Monitor.

And this one, too.  

100 Years of Shale Gas? Think Again.

Deborah Rogers

Now, click here to see a story on Bluedaze about shale gas royalties.

Ms. Rogers writes for the Energy Policy Forum.

Here's a little background on Ms. Rogers. We thank her for explaining it all so well.

Fracked Well Goes Wild

Thar She Blows.

Texas Railroad Commission of Texas shows a permit (click here) for a well on the Pate Unit near Cresson, TX.  See the comments here on BlueDaze for a discussion about the well's location.

The Pate Foundation appears to be one of the lessors (mineral owners) on the Pate Unit. The Pate Foundation's philosophy is:

The Pate Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. Our Mission is to advocate for and develop affordable housing communities, increase the access to four year educational institutions for the lower income communities we serve, effectively enhancing the quality of life for all.

Chesapeake Energy: The Next Enron?

Click Here to View the Video

The Power of the Whistleblower

The Story.

"The Problem with the fracking is all the unknowns."

 ~ The Whistleblower

Interesting development today.  Chesapeake will just back away from all of it, for now. What a great idea.

The Disaster Explained

Note: The video is no longer available. Darn it. It was good.

Thank you, David Braun.

**And Bluedaze**