This comes from a regular reader who lives right next to a landfarm where toxic drilling waste is being spread on our prime Texas Blackland farmland. Operators are in charge to their own testing to confirm the toxins levels are not exceeding the permitted levels. Knowing that any waste containing toxin levels too high for the landfarm requires special handling at the expense of the operator, how often to you supposed they report excessive toxin levles? That plan didn’t work out so well for Arkansas where a recent study showed contaminated sources and farmland.
More on this particular landfarm coming later this week.
No, the Texas Railroad Commission does not regulate Trains, Planes and Automobiles; it regulates the GREED for the Texas Oil and Gas Industry!!
In the last few years in North Texas we have seen the BOOM of the BARNETT SHALE GAS FIELDS. We have all seen the TV ads by Tommy Lee Jones and Chesapeake Oil & T. Boone Pickens, telling us how great the benefits of Natural Gas are for the Texas economy.
What they haven’t told you about is the devastation the Barnett Shale has done and is doing to the Texas Environment!!
If you don’t have a Gas Well yet, then take a drive in Wise, Tarrant, Johnson or Hill Counties in the rural areas–not Ft. Worth, they have regulated the drilling somewhat, but in the country. You might have seen the drilling rigs up for 6 to 8 weeks, but look at the completed wells! You will recognize them by what looks like storage tanks in the fields surrounded by a fence. Listen to the NOISE the compressors make. Notice the PONDS of Drilling Sludge. Those big Tanker Trucks you see, that are speeding and destroying your streets and roads, Notice they have big HWP permit numbers! HWP, “HAZARDOUS WASTE PERMITS”. The TV ads tell us we are SAFE, NOT TO WORRY! Why do these trucks have these PERMITS?
Notice the PIPELINES being laid. Notice where fences have been cut, trees torn down, and the pipe above ground, (that can be tampered with by anyone who chooses to do so) and ask a Property Owner if they were threatened with Eminent Domain? Ask them how their Peace and Quiet has been disturbed and if they would Sign a Lease now with what they have learned? Ask the towns people of Dish, Texas what they think about the pipelines!
Notice what seems to be Large Storage Tanks, sometimes as many as 10 sitting together. These are Water reclamations farms or where they inject the Drilling Salt Water back into the ground from those trucks you see.
Ask the people in Grandview what happened to their Water Wells and their animals!
Notice the Compressor Stations and the Noise and Visual effect it has on Property Owners close to them!
They tell us not to worry about what is called “NORM”(Normal Occurring Radioactive Material) being pumped out of these wells, that it won’t hurt us. Again notice the trucks hauling this waste with the HWP Permits!
Go see a “LANDFARM or MUDFARM”, this is where they dump all the Toxic Sludge from the pits at the drilling sites. These farms require Commercial Permits, however they can take 100 acres and divide it into 30, 3 acre cells and get what is called a “MINOR PERMIT”, they say they don’t have to Notify the Adjacent Landowners to issue a MINOR PERMIT! My home is 50 feet from a 100 acre Landfarm across the road!
Ask a mineral owner who is in a Gas Pool, how long it took to receive their first Royalty Check. Was it within 120 days from the first on line sale? Are they being paid the correct amount according to the “RULES”?
Ask a SURFACE OWNER who doesn’t have the mineral rights, what happened to their Property and what were their rights?
Check on what has happened to Property Values around these sites. Would you want to live next to one of them?
As a property owner and mineral owner, I have found out that the “TEXAS RAILROAD COMMISSION” REGULATES the PROPERTY OWNERS and NOT THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY!
When you complain to the TRRC in Austin, you are told you have to contact the DISTRICT OFFICE. DISTRICT 5 in Kilgore controls the DFW area. When you tell them that the Gas Companies are violating the rules, they tell you that they know what they are doing and don’t concern yourself.
When you complain to the Federal EPA in Dallas, they contact the “TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY” and they are told that the TCEQ DOES NOT HAVE JURISDICTION OVER THE TEXAS RAILROAD COMMISSION!
When you complain to the “TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL” they forwarded your complaint to the TEXAS RAILROAD COMMISSION.
When you complain to your State Senator, he contacts the TCEQ and is told to contact the TEXAS RAILROAD COMMISSION and by the way, he is chairman of Environmental Quality!
Yes fellow TEXANS, we are being “RAILROADED” by our own TEXAS RAILROAD COMMISSION!!
4/26/09
Dick Ross
Itasca, Texas
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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How true–How true, Dick Ross! Been there done that and got identical results. It's a ture "system" that is against us the ordinary citizens–and is being played by the RRC. Also when you file a complaint with the TCEQ, it is more or less confidential–however, if it involves O&G they forward it to the RRC and complaints filed at the RRC ARE NOT CONFIDENTIAL!! The RRC will collude and cooperate with the operater AGAINST YOU–check me out! Your are also absolutely correct about the politicians–also been there done that! Keep up the good work about informing people of our "SYSTEM". You are NOT an isolated case.
Thank you, Mr. Ross. I live in the Marcellus Shale area (PA and NY). Your experiences are so helpful to us here- at least those who will listen. We have avid pro-gas drilling people here who can hardly wait for the wells to be drilled. But there are others, like myself, that are aware of the harm that comes with the industry. Thank you for your warning.
The word “RAILROAD” is not in it’s name by accident!
Sir:We have been contacted regarding spreading drilling mud on our ranchland near Karnes City, which is adjacent to the SHL of a horizontal bore through our property at 13500feet. The owner of the land with the SHL turned them down, so they approached us, with the largest lease tract nearby. We are all in the Sprencel/Peck unit, being handled by Marathon(formerly Hilcorp). I asked them for a copy of the mud program, but have not received anything except facile assurances of safety. I am concerned about contamination of land and waterways by heavy metals, salts, and other findings from the bit. I can’t see appreciable gain of adding clay to clay soil, but appreciable risk of contaminates. Can you tell me anything about drilling mud from the Eagle Ford Shell, and what are the potential hazards of spreading it on ranchland?