Gas Drilling Meeting

[admin]

Submitted by the Argyle-Bartonville Community Alliance:

Tonight at the Hilltop Elementary School PTA meeting, in the school's cafeteria, the ABCAlliance will be doing a presentation on natural gas exploration in our area and how it impacts our community, including drilling near the Argyle schools. This meeting is open to the public you do not have to be a PTA member to attend.

The meeting starts at 6:30 with PTA agenda items until 7:00. Our presentation will begin at 7 p.m. Comment cards will be provided so questions or concerns can be addressed. There will be three main areas for tonight’s presentation: background, concerns and action plan.

1050 Harrison Lane
Argyle, Texas 76226

[Uther]

Someone should perform some air quality monitoring at that meeting. I'm pretty sure the level of methane (amongst others), might raise a few red flags.

Also, set up some monitoring apparatus in the parking area.

[JKTex]

Someone should perform some air quality monitoring at that meeting. I'm pretty sure the level of methane (amongst others), might raise a few red flags.

Also, set up some monitoring apparatus in the parking area.

No kidding. I think if I was an Argyle parent, I'd me a little curious why the PTA was getting involved in this, especially letting a "special interest" that doens't have the best track record, present anything at a PTA meeting.

[Pipeline]

I think the meeting was on Thursday, the 17th? Since I missed it I won't have to go, to "investigate", and dredge up some "concerns".

[Pipeline]

An aside.
Why is the ABCA still insisting, on their blog, that Bartonville water is contaminated, when on this forum, it was posted by Bartonville Water, through independent testing, that their water is fine? Who is this group trying to scare? Al? (seems to be working). I've yet to see one shred of evidence by this group, or any other, that the Barnett Shale drilling or fraccing, is going to kill us all. Including Al (I want a book deal) Armendarez or the EPA.

[sandy brake]

The EPA has tagged this area for investigation. The Republicans want to stop funding to the EPA. Something smells very bad and it ain’t methane from the Argyle PTA.

[JKTex]

Ya, I just noticed a smell roll in.....smells like foil hats and synthetic fear.

[admin]

At the Hilltop Elementary School PTA meeting, in the school's cafeteria, the ABCAlliance will be doing a presentation on natural gas exploration in our area and how it impacts our community, including drilling near the Argyle schools.

Follow up letter to parents from PTA:

Did you miss our last PTA meeting?
If you did, you missed some very important information!
Please read this and educate yourself about gas drilling in Argyle.

Here are some important things you need to know about the industrial processes near our homes and schools.

Within Argyle town limits, 22 gas wells have been drilled. The Town Council has permitted another 61 wells, which are yet to be drilled. Texas Railroad Commission records also show 15 wells and 4 compressors in Argyle’s extra-territorial jurisdiction. In Bartonville, both in town and in the ETJ, there are 37 wells and 5 compressors, with 3 more compressors under construction.

In other words, the industrialization has just begun. Wells planned by the Hillwood Co. are the closest to our schools. Scientists recently recommended to Fort Worth ISD that natural gas facilities be at least 1 mile from schools in order to reduce the health impacts of certain emissions (see complete list at www.abcalliance.org). Many facilities in Argyle are within half that distance of our schools, with Argyle Intermediate School within 1,500 feet of the Jenkins well (which has not yet been drilled or fracked.) AIS is also at lower elevation from the Jenkins well which implies that potentially contaminated air will possibly settle there and at the football and baseball fields. A natural gas processing plant on Jeter Road also is within one mile of most of our schools.

The hydraulic fracturing of shale in order to produce natural gas has come under fire since it was exempted from the Safe Water Drinking Act in 2005. Congress ordered the EPA to revisit its 2004 study, now widely discredited, which made that exemption possible. Because of concerns for our area, Bartonville and Flower Mound are listed as one of four possible areas for prospective study – in other words, monitoring local groundwater supplies as fracking is happening.

Even though the study isn’t expected to be completed until 2012 – possibly triggering new regulations – drilling and fracking is continuing in our area. As of March 3, fracking of two wells has begun at the wells between Argyle Intermediate and the middle and high school campus.

In addition to concerns about water, emissions from the production processes – not only drilling and fracking, but also treatment and compression -- can present both immediate and long-term concerns. Particulate from exhaust and silica dust can serve as triggers for those with asthma. Some residents are reporting that their asthma is no longer under control, so it is important to be aware of this risk factor. Individuals with compromised immune systems will show signs of more serious health effects more quickly than those who are generally healthy.

It is very important that residents document changes in their well water, unusual odors and possible health effects. Nose bleeds, headaches, respiratory problems, nausea, dizziness, allergies, sinus and throat irritation, and nervous symptom impacts are some examples of health effects experienced by the residents of Dish, TX only 11 miles away from Argyle (see http://earthworksaction.org/pubs/DishTX ... NAL_hi.pdf for the complete health survey results for residents of Dish.) Also, be aware of odors in your area and report them to the TCEQ. More information on how to document the information and report problems is available on the Barnett Shale pages of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality website.

For more information on local concerns, visit www.abcalliance.org

Hilltop PTA is glad to assist with passing on the above information on natural gas exploration and will discuss this topic at our next meeting in April. The attached odor log was part of the handout at our last meeting and we hope that you will use this for your own documentation and records.

If you have an opinion about this information, then please let us know! Your attendance at our next meeting will be important or a simply send an email to sarahdavee@yahoo.com or to Mrs. Lyles at llyles@argyleisd.com. Your Hilltop administration and PTA board needs your input!

Our last PTA Meeting for this school year will be on April 21st.

Attached are diagrams of gas wells that are in close proximity to our schools and one of the drilling activity within the town limits, plus references for the presentation.

[Pipeline]

Can you feel the fear? Fear without science. Run for the hills! Sat in front of the Hillwood site yesterday for 30 minutes. No smells, no toxins, no nosebleeds. Wasn't idling in my big SUV with a cell phone glued to my ear either. Looks like it's time to bake some more cookies and knit some more socks.

[sandy brake]

OK.You made it clear you don’t have a life. Many of us do and want to keep it healthy. Is it all about the moola?

Since you write about your shinagins I guess you somehow care? Whad up?

[Pipeline]

Okay. you got me. It's all about the moola. Everything is about the moola. I eat breakfast thinking about moola. All through the day I think about how to get some more moola. When I eat lunch. where's my moola? I go to bet at night dreaming of more moola. Your point?


$$$$$$$

[weim_09]

Your point?


$$$$$$$

how about your point, other than pro-gas drilling....

[Pipeline]

OK.You made it clear you don’t have a life. Many of us do and want to keep it healthy. Is it all about the moola?

Since you write about your shinagins I guess you somehow care? Whad up?

Yes, I do care. Call it a hobby, I'm not in the biz. Some people play golf, others work in the yard. I investigate gas wells as a hobby. I've trespassed on no less than 100 gas pads in the last seven years, measuring their foot print, sniffing for toxins, and listening to generators and compressors for noise. I see NG as the power generating fuel for the next 30 years. Out with coal. I'm fascinated by the technology.

Is Gas drilling and gathering safe? Could be better. But, from what I've seen, gas production is safer within city limits than without. The closer to a municipality the cleaner the sites, the less noise and diesel fumes. Out in the sticks, all bets are off. I've checked out every well pad within a mile or two of Lantana. No probs. I've been to Dish and smell nothing.

I do have mineral rights and there is the rub. Those who do not have them, get sick when they live near a pad site. Those with mineral rights do not. I have son living 250 feet from a gas pad, with his family and they have no issues. No skin lesions, no cancer clusters, etc., even having allergies and asthma. And the water wells are not contaminated.

Bartonville Water has a water well on Copper Canyon Rd. with seven gas wells within a quarter mile, and their water tests fine. Although the ABCAlliance insists that Bartonville water is contaminated. What drives me nuts is the fear. People with pre-existing conditions gotta blame something. If gas wells pollute and are a serious threat, show the science. I have my boots on the ground, and don't much tolerate accusations without proof on any subject.

Are gas wells an eyesore? Sure. But I would rather have one next door than a noisy neighbor. Fewer rooftops, the better.

Cheers.

[JKTex]

Yes, I do care. Call it a hobby, I'm not in the biz. Some people play golf, others work in the yard. I investigate gas wells as a hobby. I've trespassed on no less than 100 gas pads in the last seven years, measuring their foot print, sniffing for toxins, and listening to generators and compressors for noise. I see NG as the power generating fuel for the next 30 years. Out with coal. I'm fascinated by the technology.

Is Gas drilling and gathering safe? Could be better. But, from what I've seen, gas production is safer within city limits than without. The closer to a municipality the cleaner the sites, the less noise and diesel fumes. Out in the sticks, all bets are off. I've checked out every well pad within a mile or two of Lantana. No probs. I've been to Dish and smell nothing.

I do have mineral rights and there is the rub. Those who do not have them, get sick when they live near a pad site. Those with mineral rights do not. I have son living 250 feet from a gas pad, with his family and they have no issues. No skin lesions, no cancer clusters, etc., even having allergies and asthma. And the water wells are not contaminated.

Bartonville Water has a water well on Copper Canyon Rd. with seven gas wells within a quarter mile, and their water tests fine. Although the ABCAlliance insists that Bartonville water is contaminated. What drives me nuts is the fear. People with pre-existing conditions gotta blame something. If gas wells pollute and are a serious threat, show the science. I have my boots on the ground, and don't much tolerate accusations without proof on any subject.

Are gas wells an eyesore? Sure. But I would rather have one next door than a noisy neighbor. Fewer rooftops, the better.

Cheers.

That was worth repeating, so I did. It's sensible without the hype and sensationalism that the anti-O&G folks spend all their time working on. I don't think anyone that supports, or doesn't not support, O&G production will say they feel it's 100% perfect or that frac cocktails don't need to be looked at closer, but it's not near the issue people make it out to be. People don't understand that it's not a simple answer, just every well get's it own cocktail. I'm surprised, or maybe shouldn't be, that since some of the big producers around here started posting the chemicals they use in specific wells on line as people wanted, no one is really commenting.

All that does is create noise and take away from progress. Look at FM and the urgency to get a 6 month moratorium and for the 6+ months it took to get it, none of what "they" wanted it for got done yet nothing they wanted to stop happened either. How much more wasted time will it take?

It's also a very good point about the wells. I think I posted a picture of one of ours out in West Texas (since plugged, separating me from my money for ever) with the spewing beauty of a mix of hydrocarbons into a sloppy plastic lined pit, rusty open pipes and a 100'+ blast of bright orange flames they lit up over the pit to celebrate the oil and gas both that it began to produce. Nasty and funky to say the least but a short-lived joy. Look at the gas wells and producing pads around here. I'm sure there are folks that wish they had their backyards fixed up as nice.

[Common Sense Al]

I do have mineral rights and there is the rub. Those who do not have them, get sick when they live near a pad site. Those with mineral rights do not.

Hope you don't expect anyone to think you are unbiased and objective with a statement like that.