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:

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.

City of Arlington, TX on a Serious Mission?

So, WHAT's the Big Emergency??

(Note: The above video may not play using some phones ~ so be sure to open the video from your PC or your MAC.)

Dateline June 5, 2012.  Arlington, TX 
Arlington City Council Meeting 6:30 PM 

Interesting. Apparently, this portion of the Agenda (as shown in the above video clip) is a Public Hearing to define the "drill zone" for the "so-called" (Mayor's words) Eden Southwest Drill Site because prior to these Modifications to the *Gas Drilling Ordinance* (XTO's Walter Dueease's words) no operator was required to define the drill zone in their plans. Oops.

After a quick discussion, the Mayor asks about the homes outside 600 feet of the drilling zone. Outside?  600 Feet?  Mr. Dueease tells the Mayor that they don't usually count that!!  Oh, well.  Yes. What?  Then the Mayor and Mr. Dueease go back and forth about it for several more rounds! (Be sure to watch it.) The Mayor seems to confuse Mr. Dueease, (we know he confused us) but then neither one of them would acknowledge any confusion whatsoever.  

Kind of like when men get lost...you know how that works...they never ask directions!!  Yeah, that kind of situation.  So, neither one of these two men ever asked the other one to please explain it better ~ the train wreck in full motion right before our eyes, and wow, it's get out the popcorn time!! LOL!!

And for such a serious matter being voted on ~ and it must be because it was designated as an "Emergency" ~ then Councilwoman Sheri Capehart jumps in and asks Mr. Dueease (not to confuse, but "just for clarification purposes"??) if he is alright with doing this First Reading on an Emergency Basis?  Mr. Dueease, who seems to have the knack for changing gears quickly and who certainly knows how to be brief and to the point without showing any outward signs of braggadocio, replies succinctly and with firm conviction,

 "Yes, Ma'am."

So, after watching all of this, we really do have to ask this important question...and we're serious, too:

 "WHO'S on First"?

**Update** You won't want to miss Mr. Dueease's featured role in the Temporary FRAC Pond saga on the Fish Creek Monitor. Click here.

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.

Range Resources: It's So Ugly.

We here at the Westchester Gasette don't know that much about Range Resources.  We have enough on our plate, really.  But we do know that this is important to mention.   As you may  or may not recall, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an Emergency Order back on December 7, 2010:

[...]

EPA has issued an imminent and substantial endangerment order under Section 1431 of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Parker County is located west of Fort Worth, Texas.

In late August, EPA received a citizen's complaint regarding concerns with a private drinking water well. During the inspector’s follow-up inquiry, EPA learned that the homeowner had previously complained to the Texas Railroad Commission as well as the company, but their concerns were not adequately addressed by the State or the company.  EPA then conducted an on-site inspection of the private drinking water well with the homeowner and a neighboring residence, and returned to collect both water and gas samples.

These samples were sent to an EPA certified laboratory for analysis. The data was received in late November 2010 and was carefully reviewed by EPA scientists. The EPA scientists have conducted isotopic fingerprint analysis and concluded the source of the drinking water well contamination to closely match that from Range Resources’ natural gas production well.

EPA has asked the company to conduct a full scale investigation.  (emphasis added.)

[...]

(Read all the details here.)

OK. So, one thing we do know.  We do know that the shale gas industry has a history of applying certain kinds of pressure (aka bullying and aka threatening lawsuits) when they fear they may not get their way with our City Staffs, City Councils and Planning Commissions. Most of this has been done behind closed doors...but sometimes we have the opportunity to see it in public. And it can be so arrogant and so ugly. 

So, get ready because here's an example. It's the Sr. VP ~ General Counsel of Range Resources speaking to the Southlake Planning and Zoning Committee in late 2010 ~ on behalf of XTO ~ with what turns out to be a reckless pronouncement:

(Disclaimer:  It may shock you...so be prepared for a physical jolt. Oh, and try to overlook the braggadocio, too.  We only ask that you try.)

And now, we have this same Range Resources attorney issuing yet another screed.  This time on behalf of his own company.  Read about it here.

And then, let's talk. :-)

Dam. Again. **Important Update**

We have just discovered something crazy.   So, you may ask, what else is new??

The Background: 2010

Chesapeake's Corn Valley Pad Site was administratively permitted by the City of Grand Prairie in the summer of 2010 with very little fanfare ~ even though it was clearly within the 3,000 foot Zone of Exclusion ~ as  defined by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) ~ with their (click on the link) 1996 publication:  Texas Resource Management Plan and Record of Decision.  This publication defines the Rules going forward for oil and gas drilling activity near the dams and lakes under United States Army Corps of Engineers' jurisdiction.

Two Years Earlier: 2008

On July 15, 2008, Shale gas operator XTO said the following to Grand Prairie, TX City Council (during a Public Hearing about XTO's Lynn Unit):

"...The Corps of Engineers is aware of this activity based on an agreement with the Bureau of Land Management on this property."

~ Walter Dueease, XTO, July 15, 2008

  
So, as it turns out, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is actually a "Lessor" of XTO's Lynn Unit (located just to the west of the Corn Valley Pad Site and to the northwest of the Joe Pool Lake Dam) ~ with 43+acres of land! The statement in the Minutes of this meeting (Pages 8-10) did not make that fact clear at all.

Unfortunately, this information had escaped us until now.  (A City without a Specific Use Permit for shale gas drilling or Public Hearings via P&Z is a City headed to Shale Gas He**...)  But let us not digress...

The United States of America owns land within the Lynn Unit and signed a mineral lease with XTO sometime in 2007 or early 2008. Three wells appear to be completed and/or in production at this time.  A total of 5 have been permitted as far as we can tell.

The Deal

Here's the deal. The Bureau of Land Management violated its own Rules when it leased those 43+ acres for shale gas drilling.

It all got rolling when the Grand Prairie, TX City Council approved the setback variance for the Lynn Unit during that July 15, 2008 Public Hearing after Walter Dueease with XTO assured the Council that all was well (Link to the July 15, 2008 GP City Council Meeting, Pages 8-10). 

Apparently, neither any Bureau of Land Management personnel or US Army Corps of Engineer personnel were present or spoke during that City Council Public Hearing.  The City Council Minutes reflect only that Mr. Dueease told the Council that USACE was aware of this pad site since the BLM had land there...but there was never any discussion or mention of the Exclusion Zone or that the BLM was a "lessor," for this Unit. 

And now, because of those actions, thousands of people's lives are in peril if there were to be a catastrophic failure of the Joe Pool Lake Dam. Thank you, Commander Muraski of the Fort Worth District of USACE, for your warning.

Our country needs to get its sh** together.

Texas Railroad Commission/XTO PLAT of the area near XTO's Lynn Unit.

The Lynn Unit Plat

(Above) The Lynn Unit Plat (showing the 5 largest lessors).

The Industry Standard P-12 Certificate of Pooling Authority (provides the list of lessors in the "pooled" unit).

(Above) A Service List for a Rule 37 (used when property owners have not signed a lease and the industry needs them)...that's very curious. (**Update 9.26.12: Curious only since the BLM is clearly showing on the P-12 above and this "Certificate of Service" is provided to the Railroad Commission to "prove" that unleased property owners have been notified.)

(Above) The Grand Prairie, TX Shale Gas Drilling Status Report for September 7, 2011.  It shows all activity from the beginning for every well including city permit dates, drilling dates, fracking dates and dates for sales from specific sites.

Larger view of the Grand Prairie, TX Shale Gas Status Report (above) showing July 15, 2008 as the date that the Lynn Unit was voted on by City Council. It also shows that Wells 1H, 2H and 3H are "completed" and were/are "in production."

So, why did the BLM violate its own rules?  Can we possibly say this?

"The BLM looks at it more as a business-driven process," Otto said. "It's not like I have Vice President Cheney calling me up and saying you need to get this done. But there definitely is that unspoken pressure…mostly from the companies, to develop their resources as they'd like to see fit…to get things done and get them done pretty fast." [emphasis added.]

Also, as of March 17, 2011, there's a new document. We're just not clear why this was necessary, since they "reference" the 1996 document right there on Page 1:

Department of the Army, Southwestern Division, Corps of Engineers, District Policy, Pamphlet No. 1110-2-1156, March 17, 2011

We told ya this was crazy. 

**IMPORTANT UPDATE**:   Below is the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Map depicting the Exclusion Zone. This map and additional documents were provided to the City of Grand Prairie, TX during meetings with USACE in early 2011. Documents were received on August 3, 2011 via FOI Request  by the Westchester-Grand Prairie Community Alliance and were important to this report.  

Important Note: Color Emphasis and Labels were added to this Black and White Map for clarity.



Link to Further Information about Exclusion Zone 2 ~ Another XTO Site and A New Blog Post on the Westchester Gasette

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?)***