May 5
2010

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May 5, 2010

“Gas Companies Are Picking the Pockets of the Citizens of Pennsylvania”

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There have been a lot of my friends in the industry who have found it necessary to begin aggressive personal attacks on me.  Several industry publications, such as the Powell Barnett Shale Newsletter have had articles and editorials stating that I am pretty much everything but a nice person.  This activity is not new; however, the intensity has been elevated and it has gotten much more personal.  This tells me that I must be making an impact, or they would not attack me personally. This also tells me that they have given up on attacking the message, now they are only attacking the man.

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Obviously, anyone who would bother to read the Powell Newsletter knows that it is industry funded.  As everyone also knows by now, I do not accept compensation or travel expenses for my presentations, and unfortunately those at the Powell Newsletter can’t say the same.  They are in all reality a paid cheerleader for the natural gas industry, join me Gene…rah rah rah…gooooo… Chesapeake.

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Frankly, if the industry wants to truly be successful they would embrace the ideas that I bring forward, which is doing business in a respectful and responsible manner.  I find that in every presentation I give, there are always a few who show up that have read the propaganda and are looking for a fight.  However, after listening to my message it is apparent that I am not some anti-drilling wacko and the picture that has been painted of me is inaccurate, and it is always nice to hear that they agree with my points before they leave.

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Everyone knows that the industry has an ugly baby, except for the industry themselves.  I know it must be difficult to admit your baby is ugly, but like they say about alcoholics, you must first admit you have a problem before you can move on.  Instead this industry continues to deny their baby is ugly.

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There is really no doubt for anyone who has accomplished even a small amount of research that there is certainly a downside to this industry.  If this downside is not mitigated in some manner we will be looking at a mess that will need to be cleaned up down the road when all of these companies are long gone.  As history has shown us, these companies are typically nowhere to be found when it comes time to clean up the mess.  That cleanup project is left for the citizens and taxpayers, not the companies who made billions making the mess.  The industry will outsource this cost to the hard working American people, just as they try to do for all of their costs.

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The industry wants us to believe that they are a fledgling industry who cannot afford to take simple measures needed to make the shale plays a win-win situation.  I think that most of us know that this industry spends billions lobbying to prevent them from being mandated to do it right.  Therefore, they could and should do this process more responsibly and respectfully.

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They are picking the pockets of the citizens of Pennsylvania, who will be paying for the mistakes made by their elected officials for many years to come.  This state is one of two that have oil and gas activities, and do not have a severance tax for the minerals.  They pay this tax in every other state, and will gladly pay it in Pennsylvania, but continue to lobby for the outsourcing of their costs to the taxpayers.  This could be billions when it is all said and done, but as it stands, the billions will come from hard working Pennsylvania taxpayers.

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Every location that has natural gas exploration in Pennsylvania has something in common, and that is destroyed roads.  Instead of being the good neighbor we keep hearing about, they outsource the cost of the road repair to the taxpayers.  However, these small communities simply can’t afford to pay the hundreds of thousands of dollars in road repairs; therefore, the citizens in these areas drive on destroyed roads, worse than I have ever seen.  If the natural gas industry wanted to improve their image, they should embrace a severance tax in Pennsylvania, instead of chasing me around the country.

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As the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico shows, we are one wrong move from a catastrophic event.  As any good Texan does, I really enjoy my gulf shrimp.  Unfortunately, thanks to the reckless actions of this industry, it will likely be several years before I can enjoy it again.  That is not the bad part though; the bad part is that something similar will happen here before this is over.  It is only a matter of time before we have that catastrophic event somewhere in one the shale plays.  However, in the shale plays they have put this hazardous activity in school yards and neighborhoods.  So guess what is going to happen when the catastrophe happens here?  There will be a lot of dead people.

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The last editorial written by Gene the “propaganda machine” Powell himself, was entitled “All Hat and No Cattle” (http://www.barnettshalenews.com/documents/2010/TillmanEditorialAllHat4-27-2010.pdf).  I must admit that I do not have any cattle.  However, I would like to have cattle, but I am afraid they would die or abort their calves, like they do in the small town of Clearville, PA, home of Clearville Gas Storage.  In this area the hard working Americans have to purchase their own filtration system to take the high levels of arsenic out of their well water.  Most of the surface and ground water has been contaminated by this reckless industry in Clearville, PA.

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As one of my new friends in Pennsylvania said, I am the new villain for the industry extremists.  They rally around the Powell Newsletter, which gives me an entire section of every issue.  Whatever happens, they blame me for their problems.  If a large landowner refuses to sign a one sided lease, it will be my fault.  If a community demands that the industry be responsible, it is that Calvin Dewayne Tillman’s fault.  When people rally around the idea of a fair and equitable severance tax…yep, you guessed it…Calvin’s fault.  It has nothing to do with the industry that has contaminated dozens of private water wells in Pennsylvania, and is destroyed air quality and property values wherever they have been, leaving a path of destruction in their wake.  It has nothing to do with the industry that outsources its cost to the taxpayers, while its executives make hundreds of millions dollars in bonuses.  Nope, those things have no influence on public perception.  It is only that mayor of DISH; Calvin Dewayne Tillman, that causes all of this grief for the natural gas industry.

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If the industry would be responsible and respectful, instead of searching out a new way to attack me, they would be much better off.  However, it appears the more they attack me, the more people come to see what the big deal is.  As bad as they hate it, every presentation that I give is to a packed house.  Furthermore, I find dozens more who want me to speak in their town.  People want to know the truth through eyes of someone that has lived it, not a paid cheerleader.  I truly wish the industry would do the smart thing and let me help them become responsible and respectful.  However, they are going to continue to be the irresponsible bully, blaming me for all of their problems.

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Mr. Powell is right on another matter; I have no shortage of arrogance against this industry.  Maybe it was my Oklahoma raising, or the fact that my parents would not allow me to stand by while a bully ran over those too passive to defend themselves, but I am not afraid of this industry and certainly will not be deterred by their personal attacks.  Frankly, seeing this fear that has been struck in these industry extremists keeps me going, when my energy has run out.  You should see the looks on their faces, when I walk over and shake their hand.  So I hope Mr. Powell and the extremists keep “Poking the Bear”, regurgitating the same propaganda, because in the end, that may be what forces them to be respectful and responsible, and hopefully those companies that choose not to will perish.  God bless.

Calvin Tillman
Mayor, DISH, TX
(940) 453-3640

“Those who say it can not be done, should get out of the way of those that are doing it”

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May 1
2010

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Trackback  •  Posted in Bad Neighbors, Community Effects, Cost Externalization, Mean Energy  


Apr 19
2010

Shreveport Times (Louisiana) report:

Chesapeake, Schlumberger fined $22,000 each in cows’ deaths

By Vickie Welborn • vwelborn@gannett.com • March 25, 2010

KEITHVILLE – Chesapeake Energy Corp. and its contractor Schlumberger Technology Corp. each must pay $22,000 for violating state law in connection with the deaths almost a year ago of 17 cows at a natural gas well site.

Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality mailed identical letters spelling out the settlement agreement with both companies on Tuesday. Each was informed that it must advertise the agreement and invite public comment.

Both companies deny the material discharged from the natural gas well site killed the cows, deny violations were committed and neither makes an admission of liability, according to the settlement document signed by LDEQ Assistant Secretary Paul D. Miller. Included in each fine is $1,300 in enforcement costs.

In a joint statement from Chesapeake’s Kevin McCotter and Schlumberger’s Stephen T. Harris, both companies acknowledged today entering into a proposed settlement agreement.

. . . . .

Citizens noticed the dying cows April 28 in a pasture owned by Cecil and Tyler Williams on state Highway 169 near the corner of Keatchie-Marshall Road in south Caddo Parish. Witnesses reported hearing them bellowing and seeing them bleeding before they fell over dead.

At the time, Schlumberger, as a contractor of Chesapeake, was performing routine fracturing of the natural gas well. LDEQ determined during its investigation that fluid leaked from the well pad then ran into an adjacent pasture after a rain.

Read full story at:

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20100325/NEWS01/100325018/Chesapeake-Schlumberger-fined-22-000-each-in-cows-deaths

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Mar 21
2010

The following text is taken in its entirety, with permission, from the blog at StarTelegraph

_______________________

http://startelegraph.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-in.html

Monday, March 15, 2010

What in the…????

We have gotten tons of emails asking what the latest is on the Carter Avenue Pipeline. Well, the scandal has taken yet another turn.

Texas Lone Star had a representative in the courtroom during Steve Doeung’s hearing, our representative, along with the other Carter Avenue supporters packed in the courtroom heard Judge Sprinkle say, repeatedly, WHEN he signed the order, Steve would have 30 days to appeal or file a motion to dismiss. Judge Sprinkle also said Steve would be notified when this took place.

We’re told, that this morning Steve went to the courthouse to file yet another petition to try and save his home. Unfortunately, Judge Sprinkle’s Clerk approached Steve and told him that the order was signed on Tuesday, March 9th and THE CASE WAS CLOSED. We beg your pardon? Steve was not allowed to file anything and told they couldn’t help him there. WHO can? And WHERE?

If the order was signed, taking away a taxpayers property, and giving it to a corporation, WHY was the taxpayer not notified (AGAIN)? This reminds us of the antics in the courtroom when the attorneys presented Steve with the paperwork against him, that he hasn’t ever seen, even though it was from last year. WHERE is the justice?

If Steve’s councilwoman, Kathleen Hicks is working hard (“my continuing effort to ensure that a Chesapeake gas pipeline does not go down Carter Avenue.”) and there is an alternative route in play, WHY do they need to move forward with taking Steve’s property? ASK HER. TODAY.

Somebody call Senator Davis too, please. She was the one being vocal about them “backing away from the suit”. We all need her help.

If all of these things are taking place – WHERE IS THE NEWS? You know, the unbiased media? Someone should ask them too.

Posted by The Star-Telegraph at Monday, March 15, 2010
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‘Label’ links will take you to the blog at StarTelegraph to learn more.  And please do – Steve is all of us.

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Mar 17
2010

Citizens for Healthy Communities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  March 17, 2010

March 19th Chemung Economic Forum Comes Under Fire
Chemung County Chamber of Commerce’s March 19th Economic Forum on natural gas drilling in the Southern Tier, to be moderated by Chemung County Executive Thomas Santulli, is being criticized for prohibiting the public and including presentations dominated by the gas industry and its supporters.  Although the Forum, scheduled for Friday, March 19 at 7:30 am at the Holiday Inn-Riverview in Elmira, was advertised as open to the public, many people who called for reservations to the event were turned down.

“When I called on March 3, I was told that the Forum was sold out,” said David Walczak of Bath, “but others who called for tickets to the breakfast were told that the event was only open to members of the Chamber.”

The scheduled speakers at the forum are heavily biased toward the gas industry.  They are natural gas industry officials from Chesapeake Energy Corp and Schlumberger, Inc., a representative of the Pennsylvania College of Technology who has spoken out extensively in support of hydraulic fracturing drilling of the Marcellus Shale and someone from Cornell University.

“If the Economic Forum was merely a private Chamber of Commerce meeting, they would certainly have every right to exclude non-members,” said Mark Schlechter, a resident of Steuben County, ”but the participation of the County Executive, and possibly other elected officials, turns the Forum into a public event.  The actions of the Chamber and the County Executive in excluding concerned members of the community raise questions about what will be discussed at the Forum and, more importantly, what decisions will be made by our elected leaders about gas drilling in our region.”

There is currently a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, known as “fracking”, in New York State due to concerns about the environmental and economic effects of the drilling and plans to build a Schlumberger gas drilling service facility in Horseheads are on hold pending a State Supreme Court ruling on the issue.  A number of organizations have formed in area counties to raise public awareness of the hazards of injecting and storing millions of gallons of toxic-laced water into the ground and of the numerous examples of water contamination, air pollution and noise and odor complaints in other states where fracking has occurred.

“If public policy is to be set through closed forums such as the one moderated by our County Executive, then the public has a right to know what is being said and which elected officials are in attendance,” said Patricia Ladley, a Chemung County resident. ”This issue is too important to the health and economic well-being of our communities for us to be excluded.”

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Mar 12
2010

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Texas Pipeline Association, backed by Chesapeake, goes after small town to exhaust its budget

Since publishing the results of an air study, performed by Wolf Eagle Environmental, that showed that compressor stations are seriously degrading air quality in Dish, the town has been subjected to threats of legal action from the Texas Pipeline Association.  An e-mail reveals that Chesapeake Energy (chk.com) is behind the TPA’s efforts to exhaust Dish’s small budget:

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From: Grover Campbell [mailto:grover.campbell@chk.com]
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 6:30 PM
To: Bryn Meredith
Subject: RE: Response Letter to TPA

Celina,

I’ll try to look this over Monday and give you a list of what might be missing. Mostly I was hoping to get any mail or email correspondence between the Mayor and Wolf Eagle…guess that hasn’t happened?

Grover

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Celina Romero is a lawyer representing the TPA;  she signed the letter threatening Dish with legal action if the town does not release more documents to the TPA.  According to the mayor, the only documents not released relate to private health issues of Dish residents, information to which the TPA is not entitled.

OK, fast forward – Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake, sues small town to exhaust its budget:

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Mar 12
2010

Why is this man inside this pipe?

It’s because he wants us to know the size of the natural gas pipeline Chesapeake wants to put under his front yard, feet from his house on Carter Avenue in Fort Worth, Texas.

It’s because he doesn’t
want his kids to have to
play a few feet above
Chesapeake’s pipeline.

For being a concerned
father & good neighbor,
what has he gotten?

Dragged into court against
Chesapeake, that’s what.

And if that wasn’t enough,
hassled by the city of
Fort Worth.

He can’t afford an
attorney, so he’s had to
take on the suit
(and the suits)
by himself.

He’s doing a great job, but he needs our help.

The judge presiding over his case could sign the order any day that would grant Chesapeake the “right” to proceed with its plans  to endanger this family and all their neighbors.

So it’s time to e-mail or snail mail the judge to let him know that we know that even though something may be legal (like a giant rich corporation using eminent domain to stick a hazardous pipeline through a modest residential neighborhood where people aren’t really in any position to defend themselves), that doesn’t make it moral, or just.

Read more here:  Jammin’ Mole writes about Carter Avenue

and here: Durango Texas writes about Steve Doeung

and finally (or better yet, first) here: Please send e-mail to judge

These kids should not have to play over a pipeline
that’s a disaster waiting to happen

On a cold morning in March, Steve & family on the courthouse steps, seeking justice

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Mar 11
2010

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Trackback  •  Posted in Fighting Back, Mean Energy, Natural Gas Industry Lies  


Mar 8
2010

Wheeling, WV  Wheeling News-Register story, 3/8/2010

http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/535302.html?nav=511

SILVER HILL – As Chesapeake Appalachia prepares to drill for Marcellus Shale natural gas in Oglebay Park, Wetzel County resident Raymond Renaud says those living near the proposed drilling sites may get far more than they bargained for.

Renaud, whose residence lies about a mile from a Chesapeake drilling well in the Silver Hill area, isn’t talking about money. He’s talking about the impact he and other members of the Wetzel County Action Group have seen on the surrounding area and residents’ way of life since Chesapeake began drilling there about three years ago.

“Our first concern is the traffic, by far,” said Renaud. “The situation has become quite dangerous.”

The winding roads leading to the drilling sites, he noted, are simply not designed for large trucks to travel safely.

“Our infrastructure does not support the activity. Our roads are such that a tractor-trailer simply cannot maintain his lane around our turns,” Renaud said.

He added that Chesapeake has been cooperative in taking steps to minimize the danger to residents, including putting escort vehicles in front of tractor-trailers and providing security vehicles to observe traffic conditions.

“Without those steps, we would have had countless fatalities,” said Renaud. Still, he estimated three to four accidents per day occur in the Silver Hill area involving gas drilling vehicles “going into a skid, sliding across the center line and off the road.”

Renaud said Brock Ridge and County Road 89, two major access roads for Silver Hill residents, “have taken a major beating” as they’re not designed to bear the load of so many large trucks. He said to Chesapeake’s credit, the company repaved both roads at its own expense – but the repairs haven’t held.

“They finished in the late fall, and Brock Ridge is completely destroyed,” said Renaud. “Their new paving job is gone. It’s a mud road.

“We’re talking about massive road failure. … We’re talking about some pretty massive effects. If your road totally disappears, that’s a pretty massive effect,” he continued. And during the winter, said Renaud, those roads are blocked by oversized vehicles multiple times each day.

“Locals who used to drive Brock Ridge now go out of their way and use other roads,” he said, noting he’s also a member of the Wetzel County Emergency Medical Service. “It’s normally a 14-minute trip, and I was an hour and a half getting to the Silver Hill Fire Department.”

Photo credit: Ed Wade, Wetzel County Action Group

Water pollution also is a concern, Renaud noted. He said in snowy weather, the company lays down “tremendous volumes” of cinders so its trucks can gain traction. When the snow melts, the cinders mix with the water, creating “a lava flow of cinders going into the creeks,” Renaud claims.

“The worst part about this, when it dries up, you’re inhaling tremendous volumes of cinder dust. The summer irritant for us is dust. … People have to power wash their homes,” he said.

Another worry stems from an industry process called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracing,” in which million of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are blasted into each well to break up the tightly compacted shale. Once the rock is fractured, some of the water – estimates range from 15 percent to 40 percent – comes back up the well. When it does, it can be five times saltier than seawater and laden with dissolved solids such as sulfates and chlorides, which conventional sewage and drinking water treatment plants are not equipped to remove.

Chesapeake officials have maintained they “aggressively implement best practices to reduce the possibility of leaks, spills and discharges” with regard to fracing.

Another industry practice, called flaring, occurs when drilling companies burn off surplus combustible vapors.

“They literally burn it out of the stack. Our concern is, we don’t know how toxic that gas is,” said Renaud. “If you live downwind or in a hollow, it’s a gagging odor. … It’s just not very pleasant.”

Renaud believes all these factors are adding up to plummeting property values for landowners near natural gas drilling sites.

“I moved here in the ’70s,” he said. “I moved to get away from the city, to live in a nice rural atmosphere, and now I live in an industrial zone. ”

If you live on a rural road and experience 40 trucks going by your house a day, you would have a hard time selling your house. … These people are now trying to get Chesapeake to buy their property because they can’t recover what they paid for the property. Mortgages outstanding are greater than the value of the property today,” Renaud claimed.

Renaud is calling on government officials to step in and help “exploit the Marcellus Shale in a way that benefits the citizens of Wetzel County and West Virginia.”

“I really don’t fault the gas development companies, because if they went out of their way to satisfy what we’re asking for, it’s going to increase their costs,” he said. “They wouldn’t be able to compete. It’s an industrywide thing. To me, this is a social issue that requires local, state and federal government.”

Please go to the story to see reader comments section

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Feb 28
2010

From Don Young:

. Steve Doeung:

I got people

Indeed he does.

Something like a tsunami of outrage

is rolling over Fort Worth

in support of Steve Doeung

and the thousands like him

who have been bullied

by lawless gas drillers who are trying

to ram dangerous NG pipelines

AND extraction operations

into our neighborhoods.

Steve sent out a message in a bottle

last year that has finally been discovered

by a once-sleeping public.

His next court hearing is

this Thursday morning.

You need to be there.

The alarm bell is ringing.

Momentum is growing.

Apathy is yielding to action.

People are angry and ready to fight back,

not just for Steve but what his case stands for.

The multi-headed enemy is clearly defined:

ChesapeakeEnergyMayorMikeMoncriefExxonMobilTXRRCSarahFullenwider
TCEQJulieWilsonXTOKenBarrFWChamberOfCommerceENRONo&gApathy
AubreyMcClendonDevonEnergyIgnoranceGreedRangeResourcesQuicksilverEnergy
BusinessAsUsualAddYourOwn___________Etc.,Etc.,AdNauseam.

If you’ve had enough abuse from gas drillers and their enablers,
come join Steve’s People on the courthouse steps.

What: CARO (Carter Avenue Rescue Operation)
When: Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Time: 7:30 am
Where: Tarrant County Courthouse steps,
100 W. Weatherford St., downtown Fort Worth

Read more on this topic here:

CARO Facebook page

Star Telegraph

Durango Texas

Cheap Tricks & Costly Truths

Bluedaze: Drilling Reform for Texas

NCTCA

Stop the Drilling (Flower Mound)

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Sep 16
2009

From
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Gas-lease_offer__lsquo_excites_rsquo__area_group_09-16-2009.html

Gas-lease offer ‘excites’ area group

After ’08 deal dies, Wyoming County Landowners expect Chesapeake Energy deal

“We knew that we wanted a company that could afford to buy 37,000 acres … that could not only buy us, but drill us,” Lines-Burgess [landowners' coalition secretary] said. “In order to do that, we knew we had to go for the cream of the crop.”

Cattle dead next to hydraulic fracturing job on Chesapeake natural gas well:

__________________________________

From The Shreveport Times:

The ’stuff’ killed the cows, sheriff says
Prator questions whether drilling company has reported incident.

By Vickie Welborn •  June 25, 2009

That’s Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator’s assessment of what contributed to the deaths of 17 cows in late April near a natural gas drilling location south of Spring Ridge.

Until now, none of the state agencies involved in the ongoing inquiry into the incident has stated what caused the cattle to drop dead in Skipper Williams Jr.’s pasture on state Highway 169.

The deaths were reported at some point after a liquid leaked from the well, which was in the completion process, and pooled into a low area accessible to the cows. The substance later was determined to contain elevated chlorides, oil, grease and some organic compounds.

But no state agency took responsibility for testing the animals. Results from a necropsy performed by Williams’ private veterinarian are unavailable.

On Wednesday, Prator gathered representatives of his and Caddo District Attorney Charles Scott’s offices, the Caddo Commission, state police and the state Environmental Quality, Natural Resources and Agriculture and Forestry departments in one room to review all the reports connected to the incident.

“We went over for an hour exactly what everybody’s response was, and everybody’s response and cooperation was really good,” the sheriff said. “We responded to the scene well. When everyone found out about it we all worked together very well.

“We have determined — although no one agency except me will say this — by piecing everything together, there was a spill from the site that ran off of the site and that was ingested by the cows and that’s what caused the cows to die.”

State veterinarian Michael Barrington confirmed the cows’ deaths were neither natural nor caused by disease, a release from Prator’s office states.
. . . . .
Still undetermined is whether the spill was reported and, if so, whether it was reported in a timely manner. “We contend it should have been reported. And the timeliness of it we’re investigating,” Prator said.
. . . . .
State police, the sheriff’s office and Environmental Quality still are looking into the timeliness of the reporting. Findings of the sheriff’s office and state police will be turned over to Scott for review. Environmental Quality will move its report through its channels.

Environmental Quality was notified via its hotline when Chesapeake Energy learned of the dead cattle. And over the next 72 hours, the company worked with Schlumberger, the sheriff’s office and other agencies involved to investigate the incident, McCotter said.
. . . . .
“While Chesapeake, Schlumberger and others have conducted water and soil analysis, Chesapeake and Schlumberger have not had access to the cattle owners’ necropsy and toxicology reports and have, therefore, been unable to draw any conclusions as to the cause of the cattle deaths,” McCotter said.
. . . . .
“If at the time it happened proper notification had been made, there are chances cows would still be alive right now,” the sheriff said. “In this case, this was cows. How unfortunate. But what if it was children?”

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For complete story, see: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20090625/NEWS01/906250326/0/L/The–stuff–killed-the-cows–sheriff-says

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For an important post on gas drilling’s effects on livestock and farmers, see also:
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/amall/oil_and_gas_impacts_on_livesto.html

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Sep 16
2009

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From
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Gas-lease_offer__lsquo_excites_rsquo__area_group_09-16-2009.html

Gas-lease offer ‘excites’ area group

After ’08 deal dies, Wyoming County Landowners expect Chesapeake Energy deal.

“We knew that we wanted a company that could afford to buy 37,000 acres … that could not only buy us, but drill us.” – landowners’ group secretary

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/masochism

Noun:
masochism

1. the enjoyment of receiving pain

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Sep 2
2009

… and what if the well had ignited?

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports:

Trucks and other equipment worth about $8 million were destroyed late Tuesday in an explosive fire at a natural gas drilling site northwest of Joshua, officials said.

The fire started in one of the eight Kenworth trucks parked at the site operated by Chesapeake Energy in the 3200 block of County Road 913, said Gerald Mohr, emergency management coordinator for Johnson County.

Mohr said no one was hurt, but the flames were intense.

“It was a pretty good fire that generated a good bit of heat,” he said. “We had quite a few tankers hauling water.”

No natural gas contributed to the fire, which was reported at about 11:15 p.m., said Lt. Tim Jones, Johnson County Sheriff’s spokesman.

“It was all equipment and no gas,” he said. “There wasn’t a blowout or anything like that.”

Flames, however, spread to the other trucks, which were parked very close to each other, Mohr said.

The vehicles were destroyed along with pumps, blenders and other equipment used in the process of hydraulic fracturing of a gas well.

Members from several Johnson County fire departments battled flames for about four hours at the drilling site. The area is about a half-mile west of the intersection of Farm Road 1902 and CR 913, which is also called Caddo School Road.

Firefighters came from Joshua, Briar Oaks, Mid North, Godley, Bono, Burleson, Cleburne and Tarrant County, Jones said.

A lot of them were needed to haul water and operate long-distance nozzles and aerial ladder trucks, Mohr said.

He said that the blaze had to be fought at a distance to protect the firefighters, but not because it was a natural gas drilling site.

“There were trucks in there with diesel tanks on them,” he said. “All those trucks have two or three fuel tanks on them. “We had a couple explosions.”

The fire’s cause was being investigated Wednesday, said Jerri Robbins, Chesapeake spokeswoman.

“A contractor was finishing hydraulic fracturing operations when one of the blender trucks caught on fire,” she said.

She added that “it is likely that tires on the trucks made a sound like an explosion as they were burning, not the diesel tanks.”

The equipment was operated by Denton-based Liberty Pressure Pumping which. Jones said, reported that the estimated cost of the equipment lost was $8,310,000.

Officials for that company could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/1581059.html

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Sep 2
2009

http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/dockets/D-2009-20-1.htm

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NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON CHESAPEAKE APPALACHIA, LLC
PROPOSED SURFACE WATER WITHDRAWAL PROJECT

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC or “Commission”) will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 on revised proposed Docket No. D-2009-20-1 for Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC (also, “Chesapeake”).  The hearing will be held at the PPL Corporation Wallenpaupack Environmental Learning Center, 126 PPL Drive, Hawley, Pennsylvania 18428-0122 (link to PPL’s web site for driving directions).  The hearing will begin at 10:00 a.m. and will continue until all those who wish to speak have had an opportunity to do so.  No other Commission business will be conducted at the September 23, 2009 hearing.

Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC  applied to the Commission for approval of a surface water withdrawal project to supply a maximum of 29.99 mg/30 days of water for the applicant’s exploration and development of natural gas wells in the State of New York and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Surface water is proposed to be withdrawn from the West Branch of the Delaware River at a location known as the Cutrone Site in Buckingham Township, Wayne County, Pennsylvania.  The project is located in the Delaware River Watershed within the drainage area of the section of the non-tidal Delaware River known as the Upper Delaware, which is designated as Special Protection Waters.

The Commission held a public hearing on an initial draft of Docket D-2009-20-1 at its business meeting of July 15, 2009 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It heard testimony on the draft docket from approximately 40 witnesses on that date.  Voluminous written comment was submitted on or before the July 15 hearing.  In light of the high level of public interest in the project, the Commission took no action on the docket on July 15, and on that date it extended the written comment period through July 29, 2009.  Approximately 1,200 written comments (excluding petitions) were received on the docket by the close of the comment period. After review and consideration of these comments, the Commission and staff are developing a revised draft docket, which will be posted on the Commission’s web site, http://www.drbc.net, on or before the close of business on Friday, September 11, 2009. Public comment is requested on those aspects of the docket that have been substantively modified. A list of these aspects will be provided on the Commission’s web site at the time the revised draft is posted.

Additional public records relating to the draft Chesapeake docket are available for review consistent with Article 8 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (RPP) governing public access to records and information. The RPP are also available on the Commission’s web site.

Individuals in need of an accommodation as provided for in the Americans with Disabilities Act who wish to attend the hearing should contact the commission secretary directly at 609-883-9500 ext. 203 or through the Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) at 711, to discuss how the Commission can accommodate your needs.

Please note: The earliest occasion on which the commission may act on the draft docket is at its next business meeting, scheduled for October 22.

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