The Blog 1

 

Known as a "strategic lawsuit against public participation," a SLAPP suit is meant to intimidate, exhaust and silence critics. Widely considered an affront to the First Amendment, 26 states and one U.S. territory have adopted some kind of statutory protection against SLAPP suits. Courts in two other states also adopted such protections, Texas is not among them.  I had never heard of the above mentioned term, until recently. recently. I further found it was illustrated illustrated in a recent article Denton Record Chronicle

in the , when Oil and with Oil Gas litigation Industr Industry y on threats. As mayor  of the the local town newspaper, that is the crossroads of the Barnett Shale, I havediscussing been threatened numerous occasions, mostly for trying to hold the companies accountable to their promises given to myself and the other citizens here. You see as previously mentioned, they wi willll do or say virtually anything to get their "nos "nose e in the tent". After that getting them to to fulfill those promises, es especially pecially if you do not have it in writi writing, ng, can be very difficult. However, even when it is in writing, writing, they will likely not gi give ve in easily. For example, we recently had a pipeline pipeline company come through here, Enterprise T Texas exas Pipeline. Enterprise did not meet many of the contractually obligated conditions, such as covering, or fencing around the 12 foot trench that they left open. When you complain to them, the firs firstt thing they tell is that that they wi willll compensate you for  any damages to livestock, property, etc. Now lets say you have a $ 25,000.00 horse, which some here do, and it falls into the trench and dies. You are legal bound to get payment for that horse, but unless unless specifically outline prices in the contract you will get offered $ 1,000.00 for your horse. If you want more than that, you have to sue them and spend $ 15,000.00 in legal fees. This illustration illustration can be applied to anything, such as returning property to its state, planting planting grass, damages to surrounding property, etc. So you may or may not get what has been promise you, even if it isat in the writing. writing. Therefore, afterknow you go through throu gh this process once you will beand they reluctant to doto it again, because end of the day, they how much it will cost you to fight them know at the end of the day da y you will not gain a dime by fighting them. If you here a company say, "we just want to be good neighbors", be especially cautious, because the knife is about to go into your back. Also, if you notice the companies be especiall especially y nice and going above what they legally have to, there will be more more to the story. They likely have plans to add additional faci facilities lities next to you, or  they are trying to get laws passed that benifits benifits them, and they want you to keep quiet. If you are screaming that they are a horrible industry, the lawmakers lawmakers are less willing to give in to a sales pitch. pitch. They say things on one hand, and then typically act in a different manner. So here in DISH, I have tried force the seven companies who have vitrually destroyed our, civil rights, constitutional rights, property values, quality of life, life, and likely our health, to just do what they say they will do when they are forcing their "nose in the tent". On many occasions, as I have pointed out, they will will say just about anything to get in without a fight. A fight takes time and time is money, money, if you hold them up for six months, they may loose millions in revenue from thea are proposing; thereforecompressor, they make promises theyfacility never intend to keep, and if they dowhatever it will onlyfacility be after after fight. Once a pipeline, or metering metering is connected and pumping gas, their will be a customer on the end of that line, and shutting down would mean not being able to provide that customer with with gas. Therefore, it is highly unlikely unlikely that any judge would require them to shut down until they can install noise noise abatement, control odor, etc. Please note, that I am not suggesting that we shut consumer's utilities off in the middle of winter, I am simply stating that these companies know the system, and are willing to abuse and exploit it to their full advantage. Which brings me to the latest threat of litigation from one of these companies which is Crosstex Energy. Crosstex has done some good things here in DISH, and have been fairly fairly friendly in doing. They would like to make one believe that this is because they are "good neighbors”; however, there is much more to the story. Crosstex attempted to sneak a compressor station station into our community, wi without thout our knowledge. As stated above once they start pumping gas, you are at their mercy. A compressor can be costructed in a manner th that at makes as much noise as the air conditioning unit on your home or it can omit 80 + decibel of noise. Obviously, the quiet one cost much more money than the noisy ones. Also, the quiet ones are enclosed, and are more esthetically pleasing than the open ones, which town which are hideous look at.aSo Crosstex to install inst the cheap one at our expense. However, although I am small town mayor, Itodo have little commontried sense, soall somet something hing did not seem quite right. So I took a look, and to my surprise, behind a grove of trees, trees, was the pad for a compressor 

 

station. Therefore, I red red tagged all of their construction vehicles and shut down the operation. operation. I also called the the local media to see if they were interested in this. Fortunately, the media was interested, so there were some photos of the red tagged vehicles on the front page of the local paper. This is when they they sent the propaganda machine machine to quiet things do down wn a bit. You see at any given time these companies have multiple lawsuits against them, so bad press may fuel some young ambitious attorney's court case against against them. It also brings groups groups who have the same problems problems together. During the propaganda, there were multiple promises promises made, which have not been kept. For example, Crosstex stat stated ed during a public meeting that they were not going to put in a huge facility, only a "small building to house 600 HP compressor", not the big eyesores we were accustomed accustomed too. However, they will only only go so far as to say that they will never add on, but they sure won't tell you you the real plans. So, as things continue on, and the compressor  starts pumping gas they come around with another small small addition to the site. When you push back a little they send the propaganda machine back. For me, there are many of these companies that that have only designated people that are allowed to meet and visit with me, all others are forbidden from speaking to me. This is usually the best the company has to offer, offer, and won't slip up and tell the real story. Please note that their  goal is not to be good neighbors, but to complete the company's agenda. So now Crosstex has plans to install another facility that consists of two forty foot towers, which we here in DISH would compare to being snake-bit. snake-bit. Unfortunately, the Stat State e of Texas has given these companies extreme authority; therefore, at the the end of the day, we will likely have another faci facility lity that brings two 40 foot towers. towers. If  that is not bad enough, we just ask that they be responsible, and give the town its full rights to require a permit, with reasonable stipulations, and they threaten litigation. When the propaganda does not work, the next step is ..."the bluff". bluff". They wish to see how serious you are about putting a fight, so they the litigation litigation option. they find that this will will notDallas work, bluff"that gets bigger. up They will push thefloat corporate attorneys attorneys asideWhen for the high priced downtown Dall as "the law firm everyone has heard of. These attorneys start by questioning questioning whether certain ordinances even apply to thei theirr client, when there is clearly case law that says it does. Then they will state that the the town has some how missed a step in the ordinance approval process, and therefore it is is not valid, so it cannot be imposed on their client. You might call this rhetoric, because it has no basis, I am not not aware of case-law to support these positions. positions. However, it does run up your legal fees, due to your attorney needing to respond. I must urge everyone to get a qualified attorney attorney to handle any of these matters. You want them to respect the high-priced attorneys, but not fear them. them. If your attorney gets intimidated intimidated by the gas company's attorney, you may want to be shopping for a new attorney. After you go through "the bluff", they typic typically ally come to the table and attempt to mend the fences they just severed, by threatening threatening to sue you. They know their rights better  than anyone else does and therefore when "the bluff" does not work, they will do what the law says they have to do. If they sue, then the process stops, and that wil willl hold up their project, and they will will have to do what the law states in the end anyway, so they will do what the the law says they have too when it comes down too it. I suspect that they will way the cost of complying with your request, weigh the options of being successful in suing you, and do what is the most economical. For the above said threat, it only cam came e after the message "Another  Lie?" came out, and therefore, I would speculate speculate that they are really trying to shut me up. The town's position is based on case law, and has a very good foundation; therefore, they are attempting to "SLAPP" me with a suit. This message is getting long, but I have an illustration illustration I would like to give you bri briefly. efly. When the Town of DISH adopted its drilling ordinance, the local Devon Energy Landman, stated that they would comply when the courts said they had too. Some shots went across the bow for a while while until the above stated person was banned from speaking with me. I was then passed tto o the next in line, line, and started taking with with them. Of course, then the the highpriced attorney got involved and followed followed the script above. However, at the end of the day, Devon Energy drill drilled ed numerous wells in full compliance with our ordinance, and frankly we have a very good relationship with them now, in comparison with the other companies. companies. We have invited them to city functi functions, ons, and they have sponsored events, it can be done if they want it to. That is not too say that our relationship relationship will not sour in the future, but that for now, I think both sides are content. The one thing that these companies have a hard time grasping is that people typically just want to be shown respect. respect. When you show people respect, you typically get it iin n return, when you don't, you also get the opposite. In closing, I know at the end of the day we will likely have two more forty foot towers, but that does not mean that

 

we have to like it, or be nice to those who continue to destroy our rights, or look for every avenue a venue to protect the little we have left. Fortunately, of all tthe he things that the State of Texas has given to them, forcing us to be nice and courteous to these people is not one of them. As far as "the bluff", time wi willll tell whether it is reall really y a bluff or  not. I may be served any day. day. However, in wa watching tching the various poker ttours ours on TV, I have found that when someone gets low on chips, desperation sets in and they go "all in" in" with the first decent hand they get. That is where we are at here, that point of desperation, that we have nothing to lose, where no matter, win, lose or draw we have to do something. I urge everyone to educate themselves on their righ rights; ts; this will be the biggest tool you have. The New Toy 

For the past several years, there has been an almost constant odor of natural gas surrounding the Town of  DISH, TX. TX. This led most of us to wonder about the the dangers of inhali inhaling ng this on a constant basi basis. s. We have complained multiple times to everyone that would listen to us, including the Railroad Commission of Texas, the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality, Environmental Protection Protection Agency, as well as to the operators themselves. However, we have have not gotten a great deal deal of relief for the odor. The companies, will will do some work and the smell will subside for a while, but in a few months it will come back and gradually get worse, and worse, until it over powers us and we scream, and the process repeats. repeats. When we complain they commit to several several things, such as notifying us when they have a known release, but after a short time that stops, and we just have the smell. One of the main reasons that I have tolerated this is that we have been assured by the industry that what we smelled was only the odorant, and therefore therefore we had nothing to worry about…no health ri risks. sks. The story is that the natural gas goes straight up into the atmosphere, and therefore, we had nothing to worry about, other  thangas thehere; constant nuisance. Weaare fortunate enough to have a metering stat station ion that addsout theofodorant to the therefore, at least fewalso of the 10 or 11 high pressure gas lines that come in and DISH are un-odorized. This facility has had several instances instances of spilled or overflowed odorant whi which ch is horrible to breath and smell. This constant odor has led many here to become complacent w with ith the odor, and frankly some have assumed that is was only odorant, so if there was a real gas leak in there home, they would just assume that is was the facilities they have here. This has always concerned me that this level level of complacency was dangerous; however, neither the industry nor the regulatory body appears to feel the same. Although, the story that is told by the industry as well as the regulatory body sounds very convincing, I think back to a statement made by Ronald Reagan when talking about the Soviets, he said we need to "trust but verify" their actions. Therefore, I have made an investment in a com combustible bustible gas detector, and believe it or not the very first time I used it, I got a positive positive reading. I wonder if that means that we have reall really y been smelling gas for the past several years? If you read the Material Safety Data Data Sheet for natural gas it has some health affects that are pretty disturbing, and we are likely likely being exposed to it. Also, this concerns me because I have small c children hildren that are also being exposed to this product, and whatever effect it has on an adult, I will be much greater on small children. On the advice of someone, I called the Denton County Health Department to report this apparent constant leaching of natural gas. Unfortunately, they wer were e unable to help me with this, because all of the authority authority in this case has been given to the Railroad Commission. Commission. I have called the Railroad Commi Commission ssion on literally hundreds of occasions to get them out here to do something, and to my knowledge they have never seen this facility, DISH, TX. Therefore, I tried the next logical logical step, which is the Texas nor do they even know the location of DISH, Commission on Environmental Quality, Quality, to help. The Texas Commission on Environmental Qualit Quality y has actually been out here to look around, but they were apparently told to mind their own business, because nothing has happened, and they are not returning phone calls. One last shot...the Dento Denton n County Fire Marshall, surely surely he could help. He too was very sincere, sincere, and acted as tho though ugh he wanted to help. He was to come out and assess the situation; however, I have still been unable to get anything accomplished, so it looks as though we are waiting for a catastrophe before we do anything. Another major concern is that the meter that I purchased is a "combustible gas detector"; therefore, one could logically to the conclusion whatever whatever is detecting ignite. te.ofSo, havecomes 10 large high pressure gas linescome intersecting here, whichthat each claim toitcarry a billionmight cubicigni feet day,we which to 10 billion cubic feet of gas going through here every day. If there were ever to be an ignition source source,, this would be Lake DISH,

 

instead of the Town of DISH. DISH. Now I am trying to be light hearte hearted d about this, but that terrifies us here, because we know that if that happens we are all dead. There would be very littl little e chance that anyone would survive such a blast for miles around the facility. In many high risk industries there are processes and procedures that are put into place to prevent a catastrophe called system safety. One example is the medical field, w where here two doctors must confirm w which hich side a surgery will be on by actually signing the body part in in question. This happened after several instances instances of  performing surgery on the wrong body part, or on the wrong wrong side of the body. However, there have been thousands of pipeline explosions, and they still still allow a scenario that exists in DI DISH SH to happen. To make matters worse, one of the sights actually have a barbeque grill on the sight, surrounded by no open flames and no smoking signs. signs. I have not seen them actually cooking something or I would have run for my life, but right in the middle of ten billion cubic feet of natural natural gas is a barbeque grill. I cringe when I turn my own grill on a half a mil mile e away. We are being put in harms way by these companies, and there iis s nothing or no one that is going to do anything about it. As previously mentioned the Railroad Commission has been notified on multiple occasions and has not yet done anything that is apparent to prevent this catastrophic catastrophic event from happening. I have added some links to stories that highlight the inadequacies of this this organization. As most of you know the Railroad Commission, Commission, is comprised of three commissioners that are elected. elected. These elected officials ttake ake hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the the industry that they regulate. Therefore, the deck is stacked against c communities ommunities like DISH to live a safe and prosperous prosperous life. There have also been confirmed instances of the Rai Railroad lroad Commission turning their back on known safety issues, which led to the deaths of the people they are sworn to protect. There was a special on the national PBS show show Bill Moyers that is tthe he clearest illustration of this failure. failure. Also the local television report for WFAA, Brett Shipp has done some remarkable stories on the Railroad Commission. The Railroad Commission Commission was not founded to provide safety oversight of this industry, nor is it equipped to do so. When the Railroad Commission is called for an emergency such as a strong natural gas odor, or a relief valve going off in the middle of the night, you first first get an answering service which takes your inf information. ormation. It will be some time later, if at all, and and then you might actually talk to someone from the the Railroad Commissi Commission. on. This conversation usually does not amount to much, they they ask questions, like is anybody dead? Does the media know? However, they ask ffor or you to do all of their work for them. them. The ask you to give give them the names and numbers of who they can call at the companies, and they will never actually offer to come here. For the most part the individual you will will speak to, will be located in Houston, Houston, Corpus Christi or Austi Austin. n. Therefore, even if they wanted to see the facility, facility, it would not be possible. On one occasion, I called the Railroad Commission after I had already  called the operator to report a relief valve blowing of, and the employee actually asked, "what more do you expect me to do?". On another occasion I was told that the comp company any could allow a relief valve to blow volatile volatile natural gas for 24 hours before they were required to shut it off. off. Not much system safety on going here, nor is there any verifying, just Also, ation it might int interesting eresting to take the industry views riskon management. I suspect you wouldjust gettrusting. a lot of inform information on be financial risk management, not so much on safety risk management. If they have any idea what that is, they are not showi showing ng it in their action in DISH The industry of course would like to see the Railroad Railroad Commission be the only enti entity ty that it answers to. However, as previously mentioned, the Railroad Railroad Commission has not proven that it can handle to tasks tasks it already has. If  the State of Texas gives g ives more responsibility to this organization, it will be a monumental mistake, which will affect this area for generations to come. It is clear that this organization is the "lapdog" of the industry, not the regulator. It certainly appears that when when these safety risks are brought up, everyone sticks their their heads in the sand and waits for it to go away. I have notified the companies and the Railroad Railroad Commission of the positiv positive e detection of natural gas, and I am not aware of any actions that are being accomplished to prevent the imminent catastrophe. The companies themselves are having barbeques, barbeques, just tempting the theory of natural gas exploding, and the regulatory body does not even know where DISH, DISH, TX is. Isn't this a nice situation to be in? So in closing,gas DISH sets in around the middle 10 billion of naturalupon gas,an and at any given time their is combustible thatTX lingering the of entire area, cubic we arefeet dependent organization that gets more money from the industry it regulates than the taxpayers who they are supposed to protect, and all other 

 

organizations are preempted from safety safety concerns for this facility facility.. Therefore, the fate of the citi citizens zens here really comes down to a bean-counter  at a corporate office. If they determine it is mor more e cost effective to blow up the town, and opposed to being safer, then that is what they they will do. They have made the financial decision decision with someone's life in the balance before, and people are dead because of it, but they are still in business, why would they stop this action now. One thing that could happen, but not likel likely, y, is that someone who actually cared about the safety of the taxpayers could get elected to the Railroad Commission, and maybe then some things would change. You know come to to think of it, I would make a good Railroad Commi Commissioner, ssioner, what do you think? think? Below are some links to articles and news reports about pipeline pipeline explosions and the Railroad Com Commission. mission. Again I thank all of you who support us here in DISH, and feel feel free to pass this on. For those who get this via email please see the attached photo of the barbeque grill, and if you post it please show the photo.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa090417_wz_trcbrazosw ater.e622d7c3.html  http://www.local1259iaff.org/texascitydisasterpics.htm  http://mckinneydailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/05/explosion-in-east-mckinney.html  http://cbs11tv.com/local/Parker.County.Gas.2.500384.html http://www.weatherforddemocrat.com/homepage/images_sizedimage_071194643/resources_  photoview  http://www.post-register.com/index.php?Name=ViewNews&ID=2169  http://news.google.com/archivesearch?hl=en&um=1&ie=ISO-88591&tab=wn&q=gas+pipeline+explosions  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria_oil_blast 

RUNNING SCARED 

Here in the Town of DISH we are at the crossroads of almost a dozen high pressure natural gas pipelines, as well as an equal amount amount of gathering lines. lines. We are also home to 11 compressors, and 3 metering metering stations. One of the companies that have already put in a pipeline; Enterprise Texas Pipeli Pipeline, ne, were proposing to put yet another metering station in our community. community. Now with the constant attack attack on our personal property rights, noise, odor, gas company employees using our roads as a drag strip, as well as many health impacts that we are not currently apparent, most of citizens citizens here have the opinion of "don't go away mad, just go away". It looks as though Enterprise Texas Pipeline Pipeline has decided to go away, although they are likely mad. On the surface this may look like a victory here, and with what we have here, any relief is welcome. With this apparent victory there will be a downside. Enterprise Texas will be putting their facility in, just not in the corporate limits of DISH. This eyesore will likely be moved just outside of the DISH corporate limits and be in somebody standards else's backyard. of DISH at attempted temptedittoappears have Enterprise me meet et minimum aesthetics that weYou are see allowthe allowed ed Town to do by law. However, as thoughTexas they do not wish to meet meet these minimum standards. They will move their site site a quarter of a mile, and not install noise abat abatement, ement,

 

reasonable fencing, or minimal landscaping. landscaping. It will have a conglomerate of above above ground piping surrounded by a cheap chain-link fence that does not hide the ugliness of the the site. So in short this will devalue devalue and ruin the property values, and quality of life life of those who live just outside our corporate lilimits. mits. Therefore, there will will still be pain and suffering by hard working people, only it will likely be much worse that before. I have mentioned Enterprise Texas before, if you recall they are the company who chose to hire the downtown Dallas law firm to attempt to intimidate us into rolling over, instead of trying to work with us in good faith, they ran up our legal fees and insinuated litigation. litigation. So it is not surprising that they w would ould run, instead of really trying to be a "good neighbor". This is not a new theory; these companies ttend end to migrate to areas where there is littl little e chance of being forced to be responsible, or to an area where the neighbors can't afford to fight them. Unfortunately, they typically get away with this tactic without any repercussions. As previously stated, to fight these these companies in a civil suit is extremely extremely expensive. It could be as much 25,000 to 30,000 dollars upfront to get a decent lawyer, with with no guarantee of getting anything back. So those who can not afford to risk spending that kind of money on legal fees usually end up with this trash in their back yard, i.e. Carter Avenue in Fort Worth. Worth. If you look at the wealthy neighborhoods, they w will ill not be forced to deal with this mess; the companies just go around. And I must point out that, the people in DISH, DISH, on Carter Avenue, all over  Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York who live near these facilities are hard working, honest people, who pay their taxes, and are trying their best to achieve achieve the American Dream. However, to achieve that dream is much more difficult if you are sacrificed by big energy, if it is your area that suffers for the "good of the shale". I have notified those who live just outside our corporate of the nightmare that is about to move in next door. However, it is unlikely that they will be able to to do anything about. That is except for welcoming their  new neighbors, and their relief valves that release at all hours of the night, and raw un-odorized natural gas that will belimits lingering in the area.knows Unfortunately, have nomust say so goesthat on outsi outside de of our  companies corporate and this bunch that. Thiswe that. why there beina what standard applies tto o these whether they are in the corporate limits limits of a city or not. Please share this with whom ever you lilike. ke. 

Regulations  

When the Town of DISH adopted its drilling ordinance several years ago I was told by many that we would never  be able to enforce it. In response to us adopting the ordinance, the local Devon Devon Energy Landman, said he would see us in court before he complied with our ordinance. ordinance. However, after five five years the ordinance has not been modified, nor has it been challenged, and Devon has drilled several wells in complete compliance with the ordinance. Therefore, drilling drilling can be accomplished responsibly if these companies are forced, forced, and they can still make money in doing it. As for the Devon Landman, he does not come around anymore, and has not been allowed to speak with me directly directly for quite some time now. However, the town now has a decent relati relationship onship with Devon now, and they have actually sponsored some community events here. Having said that, Devon also has drilled multiple diagonal wells just outside of our corporate limits where they would not have to comply with our ordinance. They only drilled in the town w when hen they could not get to the gas any other way. So if they have options, options, they will will not do any more than they they absolutely have too. Therefore, it is not that they can not comply with reasonable reasonable regulation; it is that they won't unless they they are forced too. This is not limited to Devon, most all of the companies I have dealt with in this industry will do only what is required, and usually they will only do this after some threats and public disgrace. As I have stated in previous messages, some companies would rather hire expensive attorneys and try to bully their way through, but in the end if they are forced too, too, they will comply. Devon started going down this path wi with th the Town of DISH, and had their high high priced attorney calling up, making thr threats eats and allegations. These allegations included statements that we somehow missed a step in adopting our ordinance and therefore, the ordinance wasn't valid, so it did not apply to to them. I spoke of these tactics when I wrote "The "The Bluff" a few weeks ago. Fortunately, our Town Town Attorney is incredible, and eats these these guys for lunch, so we stood our ground, and Devon changed the tune of the relationship and has been pretty decent to work with ever since.

 

As they mayor of a small town in the Barnett Shale, I must think about preserving p reserving the rights of the surface owners, while still allowing allowing those who own the minerals to be able tto o access them. The State of Texas does not show any sympathy or protection for those who own the surface, while all of their efforts go into protecting the minerals. This would be due to the fact that the minerals minerals are actually owned by the gas companies, such as Devon, Chesapeake, and XTO. They are not protecting the little little guy, just big corporations who make campaign contributions, etc. In a future message, I would like to disc discuss uss the economics of the industry, and you will s see ee that the little guy typically gets very little money for his mineral rights, and therefore, the big corporations are the ones who really make the profits, and it is their interest that the State of Texas will protect, not yours and mine. There have been several bills proposed this legislative session in Texas that attempts to take away the municipal authority over the oil and gas industry, and give it to to the state. This could be extremely disastrous disastrous for the average person who lives in this area, whether they they own minerals or not. Some of these bills have been fought back, while others, no matter how much much opposition; will pass through the le legislature. gislature. You see when the control is at the state level it is harder to hold someone someone accountable for their actions. A state representative in Houst Houston, on, or San Antonio, has no accountability to those who live in the Barnett Shale, but they vote on things that affect us. However, at the the local level, the elected elected officials ar are e more accountable to the people they represent. In DISH, the citizens are are not my constituents; they are my friends and extend extended ed family. These are the people who watch and teach my children, helped me build my my barn, and are there when I need them. Most of them have discussed their concerns sitting sitting across from me at my kitchen table. Therefore, I fight to protect tthem hem and their  property as I would my own. Unfortunately, to this point there has virtually been no regulation in the State of Texas of the oil and gas industry. If further regulation regulation is proposed, the same threats that I have found here in DISH DISH start coming coming out. The industry willdrilling threaten toget taketheir take theirminerals, ball and in gocompliance elsewhere. with However, just like inrequirements, D DISH ISH at the end the day,inthey will do their and the reasonable andof still profit doing it. So when they threaten to stop drilling drilling here and move their operations to Arkansas or Pennsylv Pennsylvania, ania, I think they are lying…not bluffing…lying. bluffing…lying. Most of the minerals in this area have been secured by some company, and therefore, they have already made a major investment investment in this area. It would be foolish to think that th they ey would simply walk away from that investment, due to a little regulation. One of the unfortunate things I have seen here in Texas is that there there is no consistency with the regulati regulation. on. As a municipality we are able to take reasonable reasonable steps to protect the rights of our citiz citizens. ens. However, just outside our  corporate limits, they are virtually virtually free to do what they want to, when when they want to, with no recourse. Just like the compressor and other noise and toxin producing facilities. facilities. If they are not inside the corporate limits limits of a municipality, they do not have a standard that they they have to meet. They are virtually free to do as they choose with little recourse. recourse. Those who are near these facili facilities ties in rural areas are forced to follow the civi civill suit path, which costs tens of thousands of dollars, and will will take several years to settle. Although, the companies have been lobbying to take the municipalities and their steps to protect property owner’s rights out of the picture, at

 

least currently, we have some authority.

In my last message I brought up the story of Enterprise Texas Pipeline, who has chosen to move their pipeline a couple of hundred feet up the road, just outside of our limits to get around signing a right of way agreement with the town. We have only tried to get them to agree to the thi things ngs that representatives from the company have promised in open meetings, and the agreement has been signed by other companies. companies. However, as previously mentioned, it does not appear that anyone in this industry likes to be held accountable for their promises or  actions. Before the pipeline gets to DISH, DISH, they will be forced to go thr through ough several other cities, which they will will not be able to go around, and will likely sign a very similar similar agreement that we have proposed here. Why? Because, they will not have the option to move the pipeline a hundred feet up the road, to get around reasonable requirements. They, will not move the pipeline pipeline to Arkansas or New York to get around the requir requirement, ement, it will stay here in Texas. Having said that, I think that we must keep our regulation of this industry reasonable, and the term reasonable leaves some room for interpretation. interpretation. For example the State of Cali California fornia has made the regulation of the hog industry so shut stringent is impossible im possible for anyone to the raise a hog inof the state. Therefore, mostfor of the farms farms there have downthat anditwe are now unable to meet demands the American consumer pork. Therefore, the US is now importing large quantities of pork from other countries, where we have no idea of the

 

conditions the pork is subject too, or what the the quality of the meat is. By the way, this illustration illustration has nothing to do with the swine flu, just a coincidence. The point I make is that I am not some environmentalist wacko, nor am I opposed to reasonable drilling, and I have pointed out on multiple occasions, the the positive impact of the Barnett Shal Shale. e. However, with the oil and gas industry we are definitely not doing doing enough regulating. Typically those who take this posi position tion are labeled as the above mentioned term. I, like many of you, am a hard working honest American, American, who has seen the obvious flaws of this industry. Some of those who post my thoughts on various blogs have been labeled as left wing extremist and other ridiculous ridiculous terms. They have taken photos of the irresponsible things things this industry has done, and I hate to break to those who label them…the photos photos and stories are real. This is not some figment of a creative mind or fancy photo shop work…it work…it is real. The horrible and unmentionable things things that have been pointed out…are real. real. The industry certainly certainly doesn’t want th the e stories to get out there…but there…but they are real. real. And it is not good enough for us to continue to go down this path, and let this industry sacrifice those in their way, as the State of Texas has been allowing big energy to do. This industry has somehow managed to get exempted exempted from the clean water act. How on earth did we let that happen? Now the subject has come up to reverse this and make them subject subject to the act that all other industries industries are subject too. Of course, the industry is lobbying lobbying to prevent this, and that tells me one very impor important tant thing… they are not meeting the requirements, and they they are not concerned about our water quality. Why else would they lobby to keep this exemption? I often wonder if by allowing them to tthings hings they are doing, are we are trading one natural resource for another. And, what would the average person think about tthat hat if they knew? The Town of DISH has passed a resolution supporting the reversal of the exemption, and suggest that everyone consider doing the same. Please contact myself or the Oil and and Gas Accountability Proj Project ect for a copy of the resolution.  In Texas everyone has their head in the sand, including the regulatory regulatory authorities. It is time to take away the option to move a hundred feet up the road and not meet minimum standards, or move just outside the corporate limits of a city and put a huge well pad site, and ruin that property to get out of complying with a reasonable ordinance. The standards adopted by many cities, should apply ever everywhere, ywhere, so the industry can no longer  sacrifice those who do not live in a municipality. municipality. This was done to Ms. Doris Samples, Samples, who lives just outside tthe he Town of DISH’s corporate corporate limits. She had forty acres for sale and Devon put a massive fiv five e acre pad site in the center of the property. She tried to get them to move it to one side of the proper property, ty, to prevent them from completely destroying the property's property's value, and they refused. I will include a photo to further ilillustrate lustrate the destructiveness of Devon’s action. action. She, like many others, have been forced to sue the company in civil civil courts. In closing, it is very apparent to anyone who has pulled their head out of the sand, (or big e energy’s nergy’s backside) that more restrictive regulation regulation must occur. Here, in DISH, I fully fully expect this area to someday be declared a toxic waste site. When that happens, none of those responsible for destr destroying oying our lives and property will be around to clean up the mess. It will likely be the taxpayers, taxpayers, who are again left to clean up the mess made by greedy corporations. To with makea matters worse, we are onlymess a small small there are many out ther there e to that muchof  worse than ours, much bigger mess. If this hastown; not gotten to you yet,stories it is im imperative perative getare ahead the game and protect yourselves. They are not going to leave the profits in th the e ground, even if they are forced to be the good neighbor they claim to be. You will get your royalties, royalties, and maybe you won’t have to let them destroy your property and lives to get it.

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" 

 

The Stacked Deck? 

As I have previously mentioned, we have purchased a gas detection unit which detects natural gas down to five parts per million. In using this around the community w we e have found that we have lingering natural gas around our community with some frequency. frequency. This concerned me for various reasons, the fi first rst being the health implications of breathing natural gas on the citizens here, and the other being the obvious danger of explosion. The Town of DISH is at the crossroads of eleven high-pressure gas lines and therefore, any source of detonation could be catastrophic, killing killing many of those who live close to the facilit facility. y. To make matters worse, the companies companies actually had a barbeque grill on the site, so the workers could make their lunch I suppose.  This apparent reckless behavior has left me me baffled. I have often wondered why these companies woul would d be so reckless with the lives of those around around them. Why would they tempt fate in matters matters that deal with life and death situations? It would certainly certainly appear that the liability for such such gross negligence would be huge. If something were to happen here, there would be no doubt that these companies both had knowledge of the dangers, and made a conscious business decision to ignore it…or would there be?  To help in my understanding of the health affects of inhaling natural gas, a dear d ear friend sent me a Texas Supreme Court decision. I was amazed as I read through the case at the horrible affects affects that these chemicals found in natural gas could potentially have. The case surrounded a city landfill, which also produces the chemicals methane and benzene, and it certainly seemed that the city knew of the dangers and did little to protect the citizens living around the facility. facility. It was determined by a jury that exposure to these these chemicals during pregnancy caused leukemia in the family’s family’s young daughter. The jury for the case awarded the fami family ly $19,999,223.78 in total damages. The city appealed, and the appeals court revers reversed ed the $10,000,000 awarded for exemplary damages, but upheld the rest. As I continued to read through the case it appeared as though the Texas Supreme Court justices were in agreement with the experts who pointed pointed the blame for the leukemia on the chemicals omi omitted tted from the landfill. It further appeared that any logical person could determine determine that the city was at fault. However, in the end the Texas Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s ruling and the jury’s decision, and the family was awarded nothing. I was amazed that after several pages of what what seemed to solidify the case against the city, city, the justices overturned it. I have attached the case for those who get this via email. email. This led to further research on the matter matter of how exactly this could happen in Ameri America? ca? I knew that the Texas Supreme Court judges were elected, but surely the corruption that we see in most of our political arenas did not reach this level…unfortunately, level…unfortunately, it appears that it has. It some very remedial research, I hav have e found that there has allegedly been some level of corruption in the the Texas Supreme Court for many years. Many of the justices take hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from those whose cases come before them. Guess which industry is always one of the top contributors…oil and gas. I have read through several articles, which I have attached links for your convenience, and found that the Texas Supreme Court sees only a small portion portion of the cases that are presented. This is determined by a secret ball ballot ot vote by the justices. justices. Therefore, it is is not known how they they vote on whether they see see the case or not. So to the logical person, it would certainly certainly appear that some bias could be present. For example; if you were given a twenty million dollar judgment because your home and family was blown up by an irresponsible gas pipeline company, the Texas Supreme Court could could option to take the case and overturn it. They could also choose to not take the case if the gas company won at a lower court, and it was was you that was appealing to the high court. Has this happened? I will let you read the articles articles and make that determination for yourself. yourself.  One of the articles shows a situation situation much like the one that threatens us here in DISH DISH.. There was a natural gas pipeline that exploded in South Texas Texas killing three hundred people. This case was presented to the Texas Supreme Court and it was brought up that one of the justices had taken huge campaign contributions from the company at fault, and should abstain from participation participation in the case. Now any logical, reasonable perso person n would have made the decision to abstain on their own to prevent the appearance of corruption. Please note that as a local elected official, official, I must abstain from anythin anything g that could be perceived to benefit me. I am sure that there are cases of local elected e lected officials taking action that benefits themselves, but the law is clear  on what they are supposed to do. However, if you look at the poli political tical action committees of al alll of our large oil

 

and gas companies, you will find many of your local local officials have received funds from them them.. I personally have never taken a campaign contribution from anyone, anyone, nor do I intend too. I look at the job of mayor, as being public service, in which we should all do our part. part. I do my best to make decisions that benefit everyone everyone in the community, not just a few. I must have been very naive in my assumption that most of our elected officials hold the same views as me. However, it has become apparent that we have no incentives for these companies to operate safely or  responsibly. The State of Texas has built a system system that gives all of the cards to the various oil and gas companies that do business business here. There appears to be a absolutely bsolutely no accountability accountability in this industry. industry. We allow them to do as they and itfor is apparent the regulatory what benefits companies the industry with littwish, little le concern those hurtthat or sacrificed in theagencies process.will Alldo you have to do isthe make a trip toor  DISH, TX to see this illustrated. These for profit pipeline companies have been given a greater power of eminent domain than any other public organization. They also have a regulatory body whose leaders take m millions illions of dollars in campaign contributions, contributions, and serve as a lapdog to the industry, rather than the regulator they they are charged to be. And any attempt to change these laws is virtually impossible, because the State Legislature does not get paid by the taxpayers; they get their money from lobbyist, as well well as oil and gas. Not growing up in Texas, I am afrai afraid d I do not understand how this system could be allowed to get this corrupt. corrupt. Unfortunately, the same scen scenario ario is likely to be very similar  in almost any state or local government. We, the underlings, the hard working taxpayers, taxpayers, the ones who pay the bills, seem to have little say in what happens to our land, air, water, or our own property for that matter. So what do we do now? The first is we must hol hold d our elected officials accountable for thei theirr actions, or lack of. This starts with our local officials officials and goes to the highest levels. It does not matter the party affi affiliation, liation, there are good bad onneed both to sides this issue. To those have yet seen the negativefrom effects that this this industry has toand offer, you get of ahead of the game andwho make the not industry be responsible the beginning. Anything they say they will or will not do; make them put it writing; in the leases, easements, or any other  agreement. By the time you realize how bad it can get, iitt will be too late for you to take any positive acti action. on.  Here in DISH, I have asked the commissioners to allow me to get some quotes to perform a comprehensive study on the air quality here, and been given the go ahead. We will be looking for many toxins toxins such as the methane and benzene that are known to be in natural gas as well as 66 other known known toxins in our air. As you may have seen in other studies, compressor sites have been determined d etermined to be some of the worst offenders of air  quality, so hopefully we will will see how they directly affect us. I am hopeful that if the results of thi this s study show that our health is at risk, that one of the regulatory regu latory agencies will pull their heads out of the sand (or big energy’s butt) and finally does what our tax dollars pay them for, and protect us and our children. 

http://www.campaignfinance.org/tracker/Summer98/2wheat.html   http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/216683-texas-supreme-court-candidatesrake-in-contributions   rake-in-contributions http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/senator__texas_supreme_court_ju stice_encourage_scrutiny_of_judicial_selection_process_03-11-2009.html   http://judgepedia.org/index.php/Texas_Supreme_Court_elections   http://info.tpj.org/press_releases/suit.html   http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/05/05/0505watsonbill_  edit.html   edit.html http://www.tpj.org/2009/04/austin-american-statesman-should-texas.html  

 

http://www http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/2 .setexasrecord.com/news/217802-austin-attorney-says-cam 17802-austin-attorney-says-campaign-contributions-skew paign-contributions-skewed-judgesed-judgesimpartiality-wants-floyds-recusal 

DISH TX Air Quality Update   I have previously mentioned that we have major concerns about what is in our air here in DISH, TX, because of  the 11 natural gas compressors and 3 metering stations stations that have invaded us here. We have purchased a natural gas detection unit, and we find that that we have natural gas lingering on a pretty regular basis. basis. There has been some air studies conducted in the Barnett Shale which have shown many air quality issues, one of which is the smog. As also previously mentioned, I am not some left wi wing ng extremist that opposes all energy production. production. I like my air conditioning this time of year, and really enjoy the heat on the cold winter mornings. I also have never been put into the position that the natural gas industry and more specifically the natural gas pipeline industry has put me in here in DISH. DISH. I still believe we need energy exploration, exploration, but we need to do it right, and the manner in which it is being accomplished here, would be appalling to any logical person if the truth gets out there. You may get this vision, by only looking at the m massive assive compressor station facil facility ity we have here. I have not found a single person, pe rson, who believes what they have done to us is fair or reasonable, not even those who work in this industry. Lately there has been much debate over the effects of the air quality in this area, and how much that is being affected by the natural gas exploration. I must be honest, I am no expert on air quality; however, however, I do know what we have been breathing for the past several years can not be good for us. The strong natural gas smell that has invaded our quiet community could not be healthy. On some of the more severe odorant leaks, people w were ere complaining that they were having difficulty breathing; therefore it can not be harmless as they say.  Many of the studies deal with the effects on the area as a whole rather than an area like ours which has such a large conglomerate of natural gas processing facilities. One of the experts accounted one of the largest causes of air pollution to be compressor engine exhaust. exhaust. Therefore, I must naturally naturally wonder how we are affected with 11 compressors in the immediate immediate area. Please note that we are a small town, town, not a massive city. city. We are roughly two square miles in size; therefore, none of the citizens here are that far away from this site. With the above things in mind, we are looking looking at having an extensive air quality study performed performed on our air. I am hopeful that the experts are wrong, and it will not be as bad as they state; however, the experts have some pretty impressive letters that accompany their name, so any non-bias study will likely do nothing but confirm their  findings. I am unsure what I will do when when I confirm the obvious. obvious. There have been circulated circulated articles showing that the Texas Commission Commission on Environmental Quality agrees w with ith the expert’s reports. However, they have done little to give us any relief here from from the odor, and no longer return the taxpayers call the matter. matter. If you are fortunate enough to catch one in the office, you will likely be directed to someone else, so they do not have to mess with you. I represent the people of this community; community; however, the air quality here also hits a very per personal sonal nerve. You see I have young son who was born 10 weeks premature. When he was born, his lungs were not fully developed, developed, and therefore he needed to spend his first couple of day of life life attached to a ventilator. This has led to him having some respiratory problems including including asthma. The more I learn about the air quality quality and the relationship that has with my son’s asthma it makes this whole issue a lot more personal. My son is now six, and every minor cold can turn into pneumonia that requires extensive medical care and on many instances a trip to the emergency room because of his breathing. breathing. If you have never had this happen to you, imagine the helpless feeling of not being being able to help your child, who is struggling for every breath. breath. I am not the only one here with a story like this, any here share similar stories, and health concerns, and most would like to see the entire mess cleaned up. Therefore, I feel I have a great deal of support fr from om the community here to give us an extensive enough study to determine what is in our air and exactly how much of it comes from the conglomerate of compressor stations here, and also what effects it has on the human body.

 

I am finding it very difficult difficult to find an environmental consultant th that at will help us. Unfortunately, most of the environmental companies are working working for the industry, and therefore, they can not help us. Should someone be able to direct me to a respected environmental consultant, consultant, please pass on any information you may have. I would be nice to really have a non-biased opinion. The taking of the air samples is fairly fairly elementary, and therefore, I can do that myself. However, it will di difficult fficult to find exactly what what the numbers mean, and therefore, we will need an expert. I am unsure where we go now here in DISH. We have a massive eyesore here, and I am afraid the chemicals chemicals it puts into our air may have long term health affects. affects. Unfortunately, because of thi this s mess, we can not give our  property and homes away, nobody in their rightwalk mind will buy and sincethe most of real us have a great deal invested in our dream homes, we can not just wal k away fromhere, it. Therefore, only option option is to file suit in civil court, which is a long drawn drawn out process, so we would still be here for a long time time.. So the options are not good on either account. The state agencies that take our tax dollars and solemnly solemnly swear to protect us, have their head in the sand, and seem to buy into the fact that we are the o ones nes sacrificed for the good of the shale, and almost seem to promote this sort of action. We have a new trend here with the pipeline companies, which is going just outside of our corporate limits and putting in a cheaper, uglier, noisier facility facility just outside our corporate corporate limits. This is so they do not have to meet the minimum reasonable requirements requirements that we have. They would prefer, to continue continue to make their profits at the expense of our community. If they our outside of our corporate limits there is little we can do, and as a s previously mentioned the state agencies are not doing their job, so we are kind of out of luck. That leaves us only with the civi civill suit option, and many in the community are ready to make that step. step. I have tried to stay away from that option option myself; however, it is starting to look like the only option for all of us to protect ourselves and our families.  Is the juice worth the squeeze? 

When taking over as mayor of DISH, the first question that was asked by the local media outlets was to respond to the fact that our property values as a whole had decreased considerably considerably from the past year. This is where small towns and cities get the bulk of their their funding through taxes on these property values. Therefore, if the taxable value goes down, naturally the revenue for the the town does as well. Now I must say that I am opposed to unnecessary taxation, and therefore have done everything I can to make the taxes here the lowest in the area, and succeeded. However, the town has doubled in size over the last couple of years, yet the taxable value continued to drop. Thisgrowth. baffled me how essentially the total value of the town drops every year, while were experiencing massive

Not only did it baffle me, but it concerned concerned me. As most small towns do, w we e use the county tax assessor’s office to perform the tax collection service service for us, so they were my first call. When they explained the mineral values were the cause of this drop, and that was sixty percent percent of our tax base, I was again stunned. As you know we are located in the middle of the Barnett Shale, Shale, and have had a great deal of exploration in this area. So what would cause the values to continue to drop? This was also during the timeframe timeframe when natural gas prices were climbing to all time record highs.

As investigated the source of the decline in my town in started toto become apparent. The property values not tiedI to minerals have continued to drop. I believe this itisall mostly due the massi massive ve natural gas compressors, pipelines and metering stations. stations. They have all but made the surface property here worthless; worthless; however, that does not account for the minerals which is over half half of our taxable values. I then found that each well drilled drilled

 

loses fifty percent of its production after the first year. year. That is a huge drop drop in production in only one year. So that tells me that the only way to maintain the same mineral value is to drill fifty percent more wells every year. So if you have ten wells this year, you would need to drill five more next year just to maintain the same production.

Many of the local cities have went on a sort of spending spree with the new found wealth form the natural gas minerals, and are now finding themselves themselves in a financial crunch. The facts that I taught myself through through this simple question from an intuitive reporter has made a world of difference on how I approached this problem here in DISH. We are frugal at best here, here, making the most of every dollar we get. We have cut the town debt in half, built a massive park, a library, repaved roads and performed substantial upgrades to town facilities and done this while lowering taxes and not dipping into the emergency fund we have in only two years. 

To the real point, is what do minerals minerals play into all of this? As previously mention mentioned ed we have over half of our tax dollars that come from the minerals, more specifically the revenue we received in 2007 was made up of 56% mineral values, in 2008 that number jumped jumped to 64%. We have not gotten the completed numbers for 2009, but they will likely be similar. similar. The dollar figures for this ar are e 14, 500,000 in 2007 and 22,277,000 in 2008.

On surfacethis thetobenefit industry arehave a small town town and they value. value. alsothe compare heroin,from duethis to seeing theseems other huge. towns We which gotten addicted to double the drugour and whenBut the I drug goes away, (when they price of natural gas goes down 75% as it has), they find themselves in a financial crisis. Also, most people people do not take into account account how much it cost cost to have this act activity ivity going on. I can only explain what goes on in DISH, TX, but will attempt to explain the drugs side affects.

First and foremost this exploration exploration destroys roads, which are very expensive expensive to maintain and replace. None of  the existing roads were designed to withstand the constant pounding from a 80,000 pound waste-water truck. Nor were they designed to handle the larger equipment that is used to drill and refracture the wells