TCU DailySkiff Exposes Chesapeake Energy for Environmental Injustice

A recent opinion piece in TCU’s DailySkiff exposed Chesapeake Energy for environmental injustice and manipulative business practices. In Energy companies not sensitive to concerns of low-income families, Katie Martinez describes how Chesapeake listened to the wealthy residents living in the TCU area and leveraged one well there against four wells in a poor neighborhood.

Chesapeake said it will not withdraw its application for the well at TCU unless the city approves the new “Meerkat to Seminary” plan which includes four new sites including some in very close proximity to homes, the Trinity River Trails and school campuses including the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Rosemont 6th Grade School on McCart Avenue.

You can read Martinez’s op-ed here.

Bravo to the TCU Skiff and Katie Martinez for exposing the ugly truth of environmental injustice. No one wants a noisy, smelly, dangerous gas well in their backyard and it’s much easier to look the other way breathing a sigh of relief because you dodged the bullet—the same bullet that struck the heart of the poor and powerless.

In a time when America has suffered because journalists and media were not willing to tackle the tough subjects and the powerful corporations, It is a relief to know that TCU is teaching real journalism and supporting students in pursuit of the truth even when it’s hard.

Environmental injustice is nothing new in Texas.