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Read about Rancho Los Malulos on this blog

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Elizabeth has now been subpoenaed by Chevron
for publicizing their poor performance.

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Who’da thunk God had a thing for the occasional massive oil spill?
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Texas Governor Rick Perry:
“Gulf oil spill an act of God”

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or maybe it’s just that in Texas, Halliburton *is* God.

That would explain a lot, actually.

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I am not sure what planet Mr. Triebe is from, natural gas is odorless, until an odorant is added to it. The Town of Dish has had the odorizing units removed from these sites located here because they were so noxious. Tell him to come back to town and breathe deeper. Six people have died of cancer surrounding this site in the last 2 years.

Public school funding is a battle in every state election in Texas, because our school property taxes are the highest taxes that we pay here. Mr. Triebe needs to buy a home here and get some of his free schoolin’, at tax paying time.

I have raised 5 children here, ages 19 to 29, all but the one U.S. Marine fighting in Afghanistan, have attended college. No one in Denton is giving away free college to the youth of the Barnett Shale.

The average locomotive for a freight train has a 1,250 horse power engine, can you hear one of those, Mr. Triebe? The compressors in the Town of Dish are as much as 3,550 horse power. And there are 11 of them. Are you stone deaf?

We have documented daily sound readings of 80 to 125 db. 85 db is the level of a gas lawn mower at full throttle. 110 db is front row at a rock concert. 120 db is the human pain threshold.

The issue with a gas pipeline buried across your property is once this 24 or 36 inch pipeline is buried there, you can not do anything with the property for 25 to 50 feet either side of it. You cannot build or develop the land in any way, No buildings, No structures. No roadways. And no one is going to buy it from you,either. Of course if it leaks all of your worries will be over, permanently.

I grew up in the oil field. My father has been honored as an oil field pioneer. The oil and gas business is a dirty, filthy and loud business.

There are some new drilling rigs designed to be quieter and somewhat less of a pain, but those are one in a million, at this time.

I am not against the oil and gas industry, exactly the opposite! I am against the way some operators are performing in the industry. We have had some operators come to town and work very hard to work with us. And I am proud of them for their efforts. And we have others that are trying to kill us and our children, for their profit.

Sincerely,

Bill Sciscoe
Town Commissioner, Dish Texas

Dear Mr. Graves,

I received a copy of your article, “DISH, Texas Is Not So ‘Despicable,’ Colchester Town Council Is Told” from un-naturalgas.org.

I am a retired Ch. E. and physicist who lives in Fort Worth, TX. I am also a well informed student of the gas industry and horizontal drilling. Mr. Triebe’s story contains a number of errors.

* He didn’t stay in a motel in downtown Fort Worth, because there are none in downtown Fort Worth. If he will provide the name of the HOTEL he stayed in I will check to see if there is a drill site nearby.
* Actually, the source of most of the pollution in DISH (about 30 miles up the road) is the megacomplex of compressor stations, as well as pipelines, metering stations, gathering lines and gas wells–not just gas wells in DISH.
* There is no new development “across the road” from DISH.
* I’ve been to DISH several times, and you can hear the compressors and smell the petroleum odor there. No one, including the TCEQ, disputes the emissions there. The contaminants have been found in the air, the well water, and in residents’ urine and blood. No one disputes it.
* Someone told Mr. Triebe a lie about school taxes and college tuition. Was he being shown around by the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council director, Ed Ireland, Ph. D. (formerly of Enron)?

You’ll probably hear from others in this area who have read your article today. I hope so.

Jerry Lobdill
Fort Worth, TX

As I start my second tour of the Marcellus Shale, there has been a great deal of conversation surrounding my first trip to the area.   During this trip I spoke at 12 events to around 2, 000 people.  I felt that it was a great success and, and helped the citizens of this area learn about what they are about to experience when the natural gas boom begins.  I noticed at several events that there were those in attendance who were not interested in what I had to say.  They were present only to find an angle to dispute what I was saying.  Their minds were already made up and did not wish to be confused with the facts.

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Some have blamed the problems that we have faced in DISH on me personally.  And though I do bear some responsibility, most of the gas exploration activities took place prior to the town being formed, and certainly prior to me becoming mayor.   Also, we must not forget that with the compressor sites the local municipalities have very little control over their actions.  But that perspective really misses the point.  The point is that we were only told of the good things of the natural gas boom, not the negative side effects.  I was hopeful to let the folks of the Marcellus know that there was more to this than what the landman and PR department tell you about.

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We have obstacles in DISH, but frankly we are much better off than many communities in the Barnett Shale, because I have fought for the rights of my citizens.  There are many communities that have bad air and water; we are the only ones that know it and are doing something about it.  We are united as a community and are making the most of a bad situation.  In the end, I may be forced to move my family out of this area, but I am making every decision as though we will live here forever.

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My competence to speak on the matter has also been brought up as well.  The main basis for this was that I had not taken to the time to read the 800 page document drafted by the State of New York’s environmental authorities.  Frankly, I find it very unlikely that anyone has read the 800 page document.  Some may have skimmed through it, but I am doubtful that anyone has read it.  Certainly, if they are not interested in what has happened under similar circumstances in other areas, they are not interested in reading 800 pages of regulations.

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There have also been those who have claimed to actually visit the town of DISH.  They are claiming that DISH is some sort of paradise here in the Lonestar state.  I am actually proud that they would say this about my community.  I have spent most of my free time for the last five years trying to save DISH.  I have gotten all five companies that have compressors, to install noise abatement, paint the facilities with neutral colors and install vegetation.  This facility looks nicer than those that are installed in other areas of the Barnett Shale.  However, even with these precautions, I am doubtful anyone would truly consider this a paradise, or want it in their backyard.  Again, we are making the best of a bad situation.

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Although the facility does have vast improvements over other facilities, the things you can’t see, hear or smell are the major problems.  Our air quality has been destroyed, and it is now confirmed that we are being exposed to the toxins in our air, and it is present in our water.  If the unsightliness of the site were all we had to worry about, we may be able to live with it.  However, if you cannot breathe the air, or drink the water, you pretty much live in a wasteland.

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There has been some new schools built when the natural gas prices were high and they had to raise taxes when the prices dropped.  I am not aware of any program that gives children in the area free college tuition.  All of my neighbor’s kids have gone through that phase and got no help for living in this area.  He is a mineral owner as well, so I am not sure who is telling Mr Triebe that.  I wish we could get them to clean the mess up, not worried about tuition.  If the kids are dying of leukemia, there isn’t going to be a need for college.

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What this argument really comes down to is money.  If money were not involved, everyone in the Marcellus would be saying…slow down.  It is those dollar signs that have people’s minds made up, and refusing to be confused with the facts.  They are taking the words of someone who gets paid to sell them on this idea, over a logical point of view that simply says…“take your time and do it right.”  I have never said don’t do it, only don’t do it unless you do it right.  This industry make enough money to do this right, however, as long there are those who will accept the status quo, they will not change.  If those who criticize me would in turn support my views, they may actually get reasonable drilling someday.  However, if they continue down the path that they are going, they will be saying that crazy mayor from Texas was right.  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”

In the March 24, 2010 issue of the Walton Reporter, published in Walton, NY, a report on the March meeting of the Colchester town board read as follows, in part:

Harry “Sonny” Triebe Sr., the owner of Sonny and Son Stone Company in Downsville told the Colchester Town council last week that he recently attended a convention in Texas and paid a visit to DISH, Texas, where the Barnett shale formation is being tapped for natural gas.  Triebe said his interest in the Texas community was piqued after the DISH mayor spoke about natural gas development at a recent meeting at Downsville Central School.

Mayor Calvin Tillman had been in the Southern Tier region to alert residents of the pitfalls that development of the Marcellus shale formation may result in and to provide recommendations and proposed regulations for dealing with developers.

Triebe, who is the brother-in-law of Colchester Supervisor Robert Homovich, said Tillman had said property values had gone down and DISH residents were unable to sell their homes.  “There’s a new development on the other side of the road from DISH,” Triebe said.  “He told us there was no building going on, that the market was despicable, that people couldn’t sell their homes.”

Triebe said the residents he spoke to said the value of their homes had gone down due to the placement of compressor stations and pipelines in their backyards, but, “The thing that makes these people unhappy is that they bought these homes five years ago, and this stuff went in three years ago, and the developer knew it was going to happen and didn’t tell them.”

Triebe also said he found no evidence of a smell emanating from the gas wells.  “We traveled all the way around DISH, Texas and I didn’t smell a thing, ” he said.  He said he also stopped his car alongside a compressor station, and “I didn’t hear a thing.”

Triebe also showed a picture of installed gas lines.  “(Tillman) showed us a picture of pipes all over the guy’s yard, does this look like a mess to you?”

Triebe also criticized Tillman for what he didn’t tell the concerned residents at the Downsville meeting.

“I found out that they pay no school taxes,” Triebe said, “and in the three-county area, their kids can go to college in Denton for the first year for free, and it’s all because of this gas drilling and the Barnett shale.”

Triebe said the motel he stayed at in downtown Fort Worth had a drilling rig in the backyard, as well.  “If you closed the window in the room we were in, you heard nothing,” he added.

On April 17, 2010, Calvin Tillman, mayor of Dish, Texas, and Texas citizen & landowner Tim Ruggiero address an audience in Clearville, PA as part of Tillman’s return visit to NY & PA, 4/15-19

Must-see:  Spectra Energy Watch’s blog  -  “Two Texans Share Shale Gas Experience”

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The continuous air monitor is now up and running in DISH.  It is now available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  I am thrilled of this development, and this is a real victory for the citizens of this community.  You may see the data at the link below, and please spread the word.

Calvin Tillman
Mayor, DISH, TX

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

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

Monday, March 15, 2010

What in the…????

Posted by The Star-Telegraph at Monday, March 15, 2010

From the Star-Telegram, January 14, 2010:

In D-FW, ‘sobering’ asthma numbers

Look at a third-grade class or a youth soccer game, and start counting.

“One, two, three, asthma; one, two, three, asthma,” said Larry Tubb, senior vice president for system planning at Cook Children’s Health Care System. “That’s sobering.”

It represents a growing health problem in North Texas, where 1 in 4 children ages 8 and 9 has the lung disease. The state average for 5- to 9-year-olds is 7.1 percent; the national average for all children is 9.4 percent.

-end of article excerpt-

Now, why would the Dallas-Fort Worth area have a childhood asthma incidence that’s more than 2.5 times the national average?

]]> http://un-naturalgas.org/weblog/2010/03/25-incidence-of-childhood-asthma-in-north-texas-wonder-why/feed/ 0 http://un-naturalgas.org/weblog/2009/10/air-quality-or-the-lack-thereof-in-the-barnett-shale/ http://un-naturalgas.org/weblog/2009/10/air-quality-or-the-lack-thereof-in-the-barnett-shale/#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:43:32 +0000 clearwater http://un-naturalgas.org/weblog/?p=1521 From Calvin Tillman, Mayor, DISH, Texas,  recent media reports on air quality:

Cancer-causing toxin found in air near gas facilities

State says more tests needed to assess cancer risk

Scientists call for more Dish air studies

Food for thought:

• Is this what we want here?
• On what basis doe the DEC’s draft Supplemental Generic Impact Statement base its claim that air quality isn’t going to be much of an issue in NYS?
• Natural gas accounts for about 24% of electricity generation in the US. What’s our individual responsibility to people living with the effects of natural gas extraction and transmission, no matter where it’s happening?

It’s past time for a real change.

September 26, 2009

Dear Dr. Pierpont,

I would like to thank you for making time to read this. Also, for your excellent work on WTS. It is so similar to VAD Vibroacoustic Disease caused by low frequency noise. Initially identified in the aeronautical field, by military pilots and aircrew. I am sure you are aware of Vieques, Puerto Rico studies. The Navy bought the end of this small island for artillery practice. Poor people lived at the other end of the island. They have since suffered high cancer rates, heart problems, internal problems, and low birth weights.

I live in Texas, the state with the most gas wells (95,000+). The gas from the wells is piped to compressor stations. Our county has 130 or more compressor stations. The low frequency noise travels up to 5 miles radius, thereby overlapping.

Our director, Charles Morgan, has been diagnosed with VAD by a Dr. Wright in Indiana. Feel so bad for him. Sometimes he drives 150 miles just to sleep. His eardrums have burst twice. He has very bad headaches and burning in his veins.

We have tried all means to get to get Noise Law (1982) given to states re-enacted, to no avail. We have tried to get school districts to have a noise assessment. We have been to Austin to see Representatives and Senators. We are not trying to stop big oil & gas, just get them to give up some of those billions in profit and do the responsible thing by enclosing, or using noise abatement, on these compressor stations. Yes, even the rural ones. To protect us and the wildlife.

Could I be so bold to ask if you could do a paper or write something on this subject you know so much about? Please help us! I wear earphones and take [redacted] medicine, and can’t afford to move away.

Enclosed please find our brochure. Thank you again for your time.

Sincerely

Sharon Ward, Secretary
Fairfield, TX 75840

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What kind of system allows an industry to run amok and ruin peoples’ lives and health?

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In an August 26 article titled, “The Big Takeover,” the Fort Worth Weekly writes:

“Perhaps the most chilling images, however, for the tens of thousands of North Texans who now live near gas wells and their attendant gathering stations, compressors, and pipelines were those captured in a short YouTube video put together by [Don] Young and [Sharon] Wilson from footage taken by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The state agency film was made as part of an ongoing TCEQ program to identify hydrocarbons escaping into the air from gas wells and other industrial sites around the state. Young learned of the filming program and requested and obtained copies.

“The footage that he received was shot at well sites in Johnson and Parker counties from a helicopter equipped with a specialized infrared video camera, called a HAWK, that can film emissions invisible to the eye. The HAWK camera, according to TCEQ spokesperson Lisa Wheeler, photographs “hydrocarbon emissions” but cannot specify which poisonous hydrocarbons are escaping or determine the quantity.

“The film shows what looks like great plumes of smoke — the otherwise invisible hydrocarbons — escaping from wells being drilled and also from storage tanks, water separators, and pipelines. TCEQ has not released information that would identify the specific well sites and companies involved.”

Full story at Fort Worth Weekly

The video with TCEQ’s infrared camera footage:

Dr Theo Colborn comments

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ExxonMobil, thanks for giving us another example of just how nasty the O&G industry is.  We knew you had it in ya.

Judge, thanks for giving us yet more proof of how the system works, as if we needed any.

Big, big (sincere) thanks to these bloggers for their teamwork in getting her story out:

http://www.shaleshock.org/blogger-gagged-by-exxon-mobil/

http://dearsusquehanna.blogspot.com/2009/09/extra-extra-texas-blogger-down.html

http://drillingsantafe.blogspot.com/2009/09/exxonmobil-free-mrs-burns.html

http://splashdownpa.blogspot.com/2009/09/blogger-gagged-by-xom.html

http://lizjbucar.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/blogger-gagged-by-exxon-mobil-court/

http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/shale/2009/09/exxon_silences_blogger.aspx

http://txsharon.blogspot.com/2009/08/did-this-blogger-expose-exxon-mobil_31.html

http://www.mcblogger.com/archives/2009/09/exxonmobil_goin.html

In her own words:

http://rancholoslosmalulos.blogspot.com/

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http://rancholoslosmalulos.blogspot.com/

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