Devon Energy put up a gas drilling rig 213 feet from Mike and Annette Daniel’s house. They had only lived in “their paradise” four months when they joined Shelley in Barnett Shale Hell.
their paradise quickly morphed into hell.
We couldn’t use our pool or jacuzzi because the first thing the drilling company did was prune the trees along our fence line on the access road so their trucks could come in, Annette said. Instead of privacy, we had 50
hardhats looking at us.Nights, the lights from the drilling rig flashed directly into their bedroom, she said, forcing them to put up additional blinds. But sleep was hard to come by anyway because of the noise. And things weren’t much better in themorning.
I sat and counted 70 trucks coming onto that site one day. And they tell me it will get worse once the fracing starts. You can’t even breathe the air here some days for all the diesel and dust they churn up.
When it rains the runoff from the pad flows into their yard carrying the drilling chemicals. It’s killed their plants.
I’m not going to recount all the issues, but it gets worse…
Devon Energy spokesman said they blah, blah, values…blah, blah, good neighbors…blah, blah, restore property…blah, blah, blah…
Hogwash, said Knapp, who has never been offered a written agreement of any kind from Devon. The only thing they told me was that in 60 or 70 years, when the wells go dry, they’ll clean it up. But they never consulted me about anything and refused to give me or my lawyer anything on paper. So they can say what they want, but that’s not what happened here.
Devon didn’t even pay them for the 3 acres they took for the drilling pad. They only paid surface damages, but that’s typical of Devon. They are known as one of the very worst operators to deal with where I live.
This is a tragic story that is all too familiar.
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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You make it sound like they should have paid them, even though they obviously didn’t have to. If Devon is so awful to deal with why isn’t your blog filled with complaints/negative reports? As far as safety issues, I guess you missed this positive comment from Jim Popp in the ST blog?
“Don’t anyone accuse me of being a left wing liberal tree hugger either, because I am not!! ALL my life, until very recently from dealing with O&G in Texas and the RRC on a commercial injection well problem, I’ve been a Republican Conservative. I’m still a Conservative, but found that the Repubs don’t give a flip about any of us peons! In fact, our present elected Republican officials at all levels will work against the people who elected them when given a choice between O&G money and their constituants.
I’m ALL in favor of energy independence for our country, BUT I want the O&G Industry to do it in a RESPONSIBLE WAY, with safe guards in place to protect the citizens, now and for future generations to come. It would be fairly easy to do too, however most O&G companies just want to keep ALL that profit money and don’t want to spend any of it on badly needed safeguards, industry wide. An exception to this would be Devon Energy, and they should be applauded for their efforts”.
Posted by: Jim Popp | May 28, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Hi neighbor,
How would you like to be in the position of the people in the article? I bet you would be squealing like a stuck hog.
Jim Popp is known for misspeaking. =) Devon is not well thought of by land owners in Wise County.
If you want to see what I’ve written previously, search for Devon.
Could it be that Devon is not well thought of because they are the biggest operator? Who has a good reputation in your eyes?
Isn’t Chesapeake larger than Devon?
Devon is not well thought of because of the way they treat the mineral owners who are also surface owners. Go to the coffee shops. Go play dominoes. Open your ears if you really want to know the answers to your questions. I suspect that you may be hindered by Sinclair’s Law:
“If a man’s livelihood depends on their not understanding something, you can pretty much bank on their not understanding it.”
Chesapeake is a bigger company, Devon is bigger in the Barnett Shale & Wise County.
I wanted your opinion on who is a better company! I shouldn’t have to go to Sweetie Pies to hear what you think. From what I read on this blog & in the ST I would think that you hate all oil companies equally.
I think oil companies exist ONLY to make profit and that they are completely amoral. They do not care about parks, United Way and such things; they only use those as tools to fool the citizenry. Therefore, in order to protect our environment and the resources that we cannot live without–air and water–we need the strictest regulations possible.
I expose the oil and gas companies. I blame the TRRC and other regulating entities.
However, I am not fooled by your asking because I know that you really don’t care what I think.