Buzzworms in the Backyard
Strikes Again!
January 9-30, 2009
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CanDo Blogs
Only in Fort Worth would such an arrogant message via a giant billboard sprout in the heart of downtown.
The people that run Fort Worth (FW), Texas, the 16th most populous city in the USA, are hell bent on helping FW become the dumbest large city in the USA. Here's a short list of their accomplishments:
- FW was the first large city in the USA to allow natural gas (NG) drilling in all neighborhoods regardless of zoning class.
- FW has more UN-ODORIZED NG pipelines in neighborhoods than any large city in the USA.
- FW is the first large city in the USA to allow an UN-ODORIZED NG pipeline in the downtown corridor.
This new billboard in the downtown FW, just a few hundred feet from I-30, reinforces the fact that Fort Worth is out of touch with reality as Chesapeake completes installation of the downtown pipeline.
The real dangers and risks to public health and the environment are well known as these recent reports confirm. Please educate yourself, raise hell and/or move out of the shale patch, if you can.
An Exploratory Study of Air Quality Near NG Operations:
http://www.endocrinedisruption.com/eblasts/eblast1.php
Filming Dirty Air:
http://www.fwweekly.com/2012/11/14/filming-dirty-air/
Flowback: How the Texas NG Boom Affects Health and Safety:
http://www.texassharon.com/publications/
MIck Jagger makes a minor but important reference to "hydraulic fracking" in the new Rolling Stones barn-burner, Doom and Gloom. It's part of their 50th anniversary tour coming up.
"Fracking has certainly become one of the major issues of our time. In the beginning of the third verse of our new Stones single, 'Doom and Gloom,' Mick gives the lines: 'Fracking deep for oil, but there's nothing in the sump.' Now, the song itself is not at all about fracking. The theme of the tune is as the title suggests — things that make us think about doom and gloom. Things that scare us a bit or that frustrate us in some way.
"Certainly I think a lot of folks have fears and reservations about the practice of fracking, and I think with those two short lines that Mick put in the song about it, he taps into the trepidation that exists about fracking. Mick has always been a master of including current events in some of the lines of his lyrics, and he does it yet again here, giving all of us something to think about!"
Read full interview with Chuck Leavell, the band keyboardist, who also happens to be the co-founder of Mother Nature Network, HERE:
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/blogs/chuck-leavell-discusses-...
What do the following high-profile locations in Fort Worth, Texas have in common?
These are just a few of the heavily-travelled places where large diameter, natural gas pipelines have been buried underground in recent months. These pipelines, servicing dozens of new gas wells in the area are filled with explosive, UN-odorized natural gas, straight from the padsites. read more of this posting »
The photo below was taken July 27, 2012, while standing in the front yard of my childhood home, 1105 Haynes Street, Fort Worth, Texas.
Until about a year ago, the prairie field that extended the entire block across the street, where kids like me flew kites and explored nature, remained unchanged. But about a week before Christmas, 2011, Chesapeake Energy received a permit to drill and frack "multiple gas wells" on the site.
Anyone can plainly see from the aerial photo below, this gas well should NEVER have been permitted. At about 300' away from where I took the photo, it's too close. More than 72 properties in this densely populated neighborhood are DIRECTLY affected. It is what the FW Drilling Ordinance used to refer to as HIGH-IMPACT before, at the drillers request, the phrase was discarded. But now it's too late. The City failed the neighborhood. The well is in.
Now. Now, Chesapeake is asking council approval for an 8" diameter pipeline that will run under homes and in front yards of this very low income, working-class, mostly Spanish-speaking neighborhood. The gas will be UN-odorized.
In an epic failure of leadership to protect innocent citizens, City staffers, Rick Trice, Randle Harwood and Fernando Costa have signed off on the pipeline that council will debate on August 7, 2012.
This pipeline proposal is even worse than the infamous, Carter Avenue pipeline that was changed only after resident and father, Steve Doeung refused to be bought off. But it took the persuasive efforts of Senator Wendy Davis, to help convince Chesapeake to pursue a less dangerous route which they ultimately did.
Will you PLEASE take a moment right now and contact your councilperson, Mayor Betsy Price and especially, District 8 City Councilwoman, Kelly Gray. Cut and paste the following to your personal email: read more of this posting »
It's not every day that an Australian State Senator from New South Wales pops into Fort Worth for a visit. Senator Jeremy Buckingham, and his esteemed 8-person entourage are on a Frack-finding tour of the USA. They dropped by FWCanDo HQ last Monday seeking an unvarnished tour of Dirty Ol' Town, TX.
I was honored to be their "Virgil" on a whistle-stop, Don-te's Inferno Tour of devastation in the newly industrialized city of Fort Worth. We visited several of the most offensive gas wells in FW including one in Gary Hogan's backyard. Other north Texas stops included Dish, Texas where they met with former mayor, Calvin Tillman.
Jeremy is a member of the Australian Green Party
Others on the tour include, Drew Hutton of Lock the Gate Alliance
Check out pics, videos and commentary of JB's USA Frack Finding Tour:
http://www.jeremybuckingham.org/frackfindingtour/
Stop the Frack Attack website:
http://www.stopthefrackattack.org/
In their latest angle on the dangers of drilling-fracking, the national media is fixated on the DEAD. While I welcome almost any media attention to the most important environmental/human health issue of our times, this one is kind of like a red herring, distracting the public from real issues.
When the media came calling last week I did my best to steer them back on track. We all have respect for the dead but when industry is fouling the planet at a breakneck pace we must focus on the LIVING. We must hold them accountable.
One thing is certain: Fort Worth, Texas is not safe for either.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/us/drilling-for-natural-gas-under-ceme...
http://newsroom.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/09/fracking-under-the-dead/
DY
- - - > Get all the news you need to know about drilling reform from:
Texas Sharon's Bluedaze:
- Do you love basketball but hate gas drilling and fracking?
- Do you love to hate Chesapeake Energy?
You're in luck!
Even if you hate fracking AND basketball you have reason to cheer on the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA FInals this Thursday night. Here's why:
- The Oklahoma City Thunder is partially owned by Chesapeake Energy CEO, Aubrey McClendon.
- The team plays at, Chesapeake Energy Arena, which was purchased with Dirty Money.
- The Heat hold a 3-1 advantage over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the best-of-seven series.
- - - - - - -> Oh, and while you're at it, check out the new short film about an even BIGGER game from GASLAND director, Josh Fox titled, The Sky is Pink.
Consider it a pep rally for the big game. Go Heat!
from Jim Schermbeck, Downwinders at Risk:
This Wednesday at 10 EST, Dr. Al Armendariz will be facing off with Smokey Joe Barton in Washington at a hearing of a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Some of us have decided to try and put up a new website by the time Dr. Al begins to testify that will both show we stand behind him and try to build a larger base of support for him and his work. The site is: http://www.imanarmendariz.com and it's name comes from this quote by Senator Inhofe (R-Oil and Gas) after he learned that Dr. Al resigned:
"It's not just Armendariz.
There are lots of other Armendarizes around."
To prove how right the Senator is, we're collecting pics from citizens who are proudly willing to stand behind a sign that says "I am an Armendariz" - that they too are for prosecuting environmental criminals instead of coddling them, and support Al as he faces another round of needless harassment in order to advance the House's radical anti-EPA agenda. We'll put these "I am an Armendariz" pics up online a the new website. If you want to contribute, please send your pics to:
We're looking forward to receiving everyone's contributions.
Thanks for your consideration.
Jim Schermbeck
Downwinders at Risk
806-787-6567
"He's always talking about environmental issues. He's not talking about any issues that make a difference to constituents."
That comment recently burbled forth from the unmanaged mouth of Carlos Vasquez when describing his opponent in the District 90 Texas House race, State Representative Lon Burnam.
In the zany world of 2012 Texas politics such a pea-brained statement counts as an insult against Mr. Burnam.
In MY world it says two things:
1) Lon Burnam is tuned in to what matters most to his constituents and is a dependable ally.
2) If elected, Vasquez would not be a reliable defender of human health and the environment.
Your vote will help determine the outcome.
Vote tomorrow, May 29.
Over his 30-years of service, Lon Burnam has often been the ONLY sane voice in the Texas House defending Mother Earth and the people who live in District 30. Democrats, Republicans, Independents and people of all colors have all benefited from his leadership.
A vote for Lon Burnam is a vote for for the environment. It is essential that we re-elect Lon Burnam.
We all have a place that inspires us to take a stand against Big Gas & Oil.
That place can be as vast as the Upper Delaware River Basin that inspired Josh Fox or a humble home in the suburbs. For me that place was and is, Tandy Hills Natural Area, in Fort Worth, Texas.
I'm requesting your help to keep Tandy Hills "like it was."
The main thing you need to know about Tandy Hills is that it's one of the last of the breed. The few remnants of native Texas prairie are akin to Unicorns: Beautiful, exceedingly rare and hunted to near extinction.
The 160 acres of Tandy Hills prairie were stalked by the gas industry just like the mythical Unicorn hunters of old. Keeping them at bay has been one of the few victories in the local gas war. But it takes constant surveillance, unwavering commitment and creative subversion to keep them out of Tandy Hills.
That's what Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area (FOTHNA) does, but in a non-threatening, positive way. FOTHNA helps people fall in love with the place so they will fight to protect it. Most importantly, we help educate the future guardians of the place.
Prairie Fest and Kids on the Prairie may look like benign activities but they are actually part of a subversive campaign to save some of Fort Worth by raising public awareness via wildflowers, music, art and environmental education.
Here's how it works:
---> Prairie Fest (http://tandyhills.org/fest) began in my front yard in 2006 as a direct attempt to keep gas drilling out of the park. Since then, the solar-powered festival has become one of the largest green festivals in north Texas, winning the Best Outdoor Cultural Event in Fort Worth in 2010 while demonstrating environmental stewardship to thousands of Texans. It even received an honor from the City of Fort Worth. read more of this posting »
