Arkansans for Gas Drilling Accountability

House Explodes in Quitman Arkansas. Natural Gas In Water Well Nearby!

2011-04-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

We last posted an article about a water well on Locust Street in Quitman which has natural gas spewing out of it. Since that time, some residents in that neighborhood have complained of headaches and feeling sick all the time. A few residents have filmed the water well bubbling and spewing gas out of the abandoned water well. Residents in the Locust Street neighborhood have been voicing their fears of gas migration in the area. One woman actually passed out in her own home and has constant headaches. Fox says the gas well is scheduled to be capped off tomorrow. This neighbor is very frightened that the gas well being capped off will cause more gas to migrate into their home. The family of the house that exploded escaped harm, but the house was charred to its bare frame. Fox 16 reports.

Migration....and I'm not talkin' about birds.

2011-03-25T16:09:00.000-07:00

Southwestern Energy in Canada is doing exploration as part of this process they do a surface assessment. It's really simply:

This low-impact process includes three basic steps.

First, a field technician uses a hand tool to make a small, shallow hole in the ground. The hole measures from 1-2 cm in diameter and is 50-100 cm deep. The coordinates are recorded using GPS hand units.

Second, a flexible tube is placed into the hole. This tube captures the hydrocarbon gases that naturally seep to the surface.

Finally, the entire tube is retrieved three weeks later and the hole is filled.

This puzzles me. How do those hydrocarbons travel all the way up to the surface if there are thousands of feet of impervious rock and NO VERTICAL FRACTURES? Why is it they say toxic water can't travel back to the surface? Some believe they know there ARE vertical fractures that reach to the surface. Shell Oil also admits this in it's article Sniffing for Gas. Another article I found was from the Colorado School of the Mines. In this article, the author talks about hydrocarbons making it to the surface vertically. All viable methods of surface geochemistry depend on mechanisms of loss from the reservoir and vertical migration, without frequent lateral offset or dispersion.

If this migration is occuring, how can they say water contamination from hydraulic fracturing chemicals is impossible? FRACKING CAUSES FURTHER ROCK FRACTURES, and the toxic chemicals are meant to prop open the rock.

Surely you can't have it both ways.

So this is what it's like to get sold out...by Greers Ferry Lake Natural Gas Watch

2011-03-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

By Greers Ferry Lake Natural Gas Watch (like them on facebook)

The other day our elected officials stood on the steps of our state capitol and spoke out in the interest of these corporations and demanded that we "show them documents" to prove our state is negatively impacted by shale gas development. We've shown them videos of burning faucets in our state, we've shown them FLIR GasFind IR videos of pollutants being dumped in our air, we've shown them water test reports with diesel fuel and other toxins listed and we've shown and told them personal stories about people being bullied and told that these corporations were coming onto their land whether they liked it or not.

Whether people have "documents" or not they still have a right to be heard by their elected officials and those elected officials have an obligation to investigate each and every complaint.

My guess is that our documents didn't have pictures of dead presidents on them like Cheasapeake's (CHK) and Southwestern's (SWN) documents did...

I really like the author of this letter in the Sun Times.
She speaks the truth.

Heber Springs, Ar.
Remind politicians who they represent

Dear Editor:

Our legislative representatives, Josh Johnston and Jason Rapert, are members of the “shale caucus”. This group opposes all legislative proposals that will increase any oversight or place any restrictions on the gas industry. They oppose bills to establish a gas-well inspection program, bills to protect our roads, air and water (ground water, lakes and streams), and a bill to increase bonding to protect Arkansans from holding the toxic bag if companies go bankrupt or fail to meet their clean-up responsibilities. Our quorum court just passed a resolution (drawn up by the industry and distributed to all Chambers of Commerce and Quorum Courts in the Fayetteville Shale play), concluding with the following statement: “Now, therefore, the Cleburne County Quorum Court does hereby resolve to oppose any and all of the current severance tax increases on natural gas. We also oppose all of the currently filed regulatory measures on gas gathering operation in the Fayetteville Shale.” This was approved, despite the fact that they admittedly did not know the specifics of any of the pending bills. The industry argues that if Arkansas enacts restrictions or oversight, they will take their business elsewhere, a scenario that is unlikely to happen, considering the amount of investment they have already made here. Even if they do leave, the gas will still be here, and the demand for that gas will increase in the future. It would behoove us to remind our elected representatives that while Chesapeake, XTO and other developers may be their benefactors, they are not their constituents.

Carol Balderree

Heber Springs

http://www.thesuntimes.com/opinions/letters_to_the_editor/x713429908/Letters-to-the-Editor

Former Gubernatorial Candidate roughed up by police during Capitol Rally!

2011-03-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

Rod Bryan, who is a well known former gubernatorial candidate, was roughed up by the police Wednesday during a rally about natural gas. He is known to oppose highly controversial hydraulic fracturing and is for protecting our water resources. This abuse of this fine citizen is an outrage! Meanwhile, our Senator Jason Rapert said he wants to know of any cases that the gas industry "intentionally" poisoned our water. Huh? Since when is the burden of proof intentional harm? He is the senator who organized this caucus to protect the gas industry. What about the people? Since when are multinational companies "folks?" What about the real "folks?. Mr. Rapert is quoted in the Sun Times saying we should "always be willing to listen to opposing views before making judgments.” Yet I have contacted Mr. Rapert before his election and requested a meeting to talk about all citizens, including Conservative Christians like himself, up in Van Buren County who have had water problems. He said he would if he got in to office. After he was settled in, several citizens including myself contacted him to meet with him. He shunned us. He dodged meeting with any of us. I noticed the many tweets between him, the gas companies and lobbyists and David Meeks about the legislation. It really must be nice to have that kind of access. He said "outsiders" are causing trouble. But aren't these multi-national companies outsiders? They slander anyone who stands up to them. Anyone who reports their water problems or calls them out they label trouble-makers, just-in-it for the money makers, loud mouths, outsiders etc. The slander occurs in back door rooms with government officials hanging with the old boy network. What about having a sit-down with REAL Arkansans. We just wanted to give them a tour and talk...aren't we "folks" too. As a fellow Christian, I would like to sit down with Senator Rapert and Representative Meeks and ask them to have a deep, long drink of our affected water. I'd like them to sit in our homes when a gas well is vented right near our children and take a deep long breath of air. I would like to know if Mr. Rapert and Mr. Meeks would like to front the bill to test our water for all the chemicals that COULD be in our water? What about the trade secret chemicals like POLYMERS which cause great damage to human health in even minute amounts. What about people who lost their water completely? What about men of God who have lost their water...what about pastors who have been ill-treated as the gas companies have built monster compressor stations just hundreds of feet from their homes? What about pastors who live behind fracking companies that spilled toxic waste on a daily basis. LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE FIRST and then take your position. WALK A MONTH IN OUR SHOES. Jesus said if you "give a cup of water in my name, so you are giving it unto me."

Scientist Wilma Subra Wins Human Rights Award!

2011-03-25T07:17:00.000-07:00

Wilma Subra

Chemist Wilma Subra was awarded the Human Rights Award by Global Exchange for her tireless work exposing the health risks of the Gulf oil spill disaster. Read more here.

Arkansas Democrat Gazette publishes this letter to the editor.

2011-03-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

Great letter to the editor! Well said:

LITTLE ROCK — Shale caucus unimpressive

Sixteen of our elected legislators have formed a caucus to protect the Fayetteville Shale play. They want to protect the economic impact of the affected counties. Really? What about protecting the citizens who elected them?

Yes, there are economic benefits, but what about the destructive impact on some citizens’ lives? Maybe they don’t care about folks who can no longer drink their well water or those who no longer have any water because of gas well activity near their homes. Not everyone can afford to tie into city water and there are some who are literally catching rain water to bathe in.

Maybe they don’t care about the toxic emissions from gas wells and injection wells that have sickened some, causing nosebleeds, headaches and rashes. They obviously don’t care enough to appropriate more money so the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality can hire more inspectors to investigate citizen complaints.

They say that the Fayetteville Shale is an economic engine that we must protect. That’s nice. There’s nothing in their prepared statement about protecting the environment or everyday citizens who live in the gas fields. Of course, we don’t have the deep pocketbooks the gas companies do.

Thanks for nothing, all 16 of you. We know your names and we will do all we can to see that you are not reelected.

Josh Fox visits the Earthquake zone in Guy, Arkansas! GASLAND showing 6:30 at Guy HS followed by Q&A

2011-03-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

Academy Award Nominee Josh Fox will be present at a GASLAND showing at the GUY HS Auditorium in Guy, Arkansas on Saturday March 26, 2011 at 6:30PM. Josh will be conducting a question and answer following the showing and is especially interested in speaking with anyone with earthquake experiences. We expect many in the media to join us that evening.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=162463390476215

The Living Billboard to bring awareness of Shale Gas Abuses
April 1, 2011 from 4-6 PM across the street from Hendrix College on Harkrider Rd, Conway, Arkansas
Bring a poster with a clever sign with themes like Fracking hurts water, Save Greers Ferry Lake, Save Brewer Lake, Stop injecting, Stop the earthquakes. http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=141580745909844

GASLAND showing April 2, 2011 at 2PM at the Heber Springs Community Center, Heber Springs Arkansas
Several people who appeared in the Arkansas footage of GASLAND will be available for question and answer afterward. The focus will be on saving Greers Ferry Lake. We will be creating a facebook event page shortly.

Former Gas Industry Exec Sheffield Nelson says there is risk of frack fluid contaminating Brewer Lake...Conway, Morrilton and Conway County's water is at risk!

2011-03-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

This week former gas industry executive Sheffield Nelson expressed his opposition to the drilling and fracking under Brewer Lake which is the fresh water supply to the Cities of Conway and Morrilton as well as the County of Conway. Arkansas Business News reports:

Nelson said the public was not notified of the activity, just as residents near Greers Ferry Lake weren't notified when seismic testing began there in February.

Nelson said he thinks Chesapeake's move could be motivated by a desire to find additional natural gas, thereby enhancing the value of its Arkansas assets before completing the sale to BHP Billiton.

"Now that Chesapeake is no longer in a public relations position, it couldn't care less" what Arkansans think, Nelson said.

Fracking will likely begin in the area soon, Nelson said, adding that there is the possibility that some drilling fluid could contaminate the area's drinking water.

For the entire article go here.

In addition a report says " Harrington Investments, Inc., an investment advisory firm specializing in socially responsible investing, announced today that it is divesting its entire holding in Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK) due to the corporation’s poor environmental record and its lack of accountability to shareholders. Recently, the Pennsylvania Environmental Protection Department cited over 40 natural gas well operators more than 900 times for “environmental health and safety” violations.   Leading this unworthy group with 109 citations was Chesapeake Energy."

Here is another blog entry by Texas Sharon about another recent violation by Chesapeake

This same Chesapeake is about to frack under Brewer Lake. We are assured by Conway Corp. and Chesapeake that this fracking poses no risk. They claim that because the fracking takes place thousands of feet under the ground there is no risk to the surface water of the lake. Contamination can occur through surface spills, accidents, cement casing failure, possible existing vertical fractures to the surface, and earthquake created vertical fractures.   If a prominent former gas executive Sheffield Nelson sees potential risk and Chesapeake has had previous violations, we might want to pause and take a closer look. Why take any risk with the water supply to so many thousands of Arkansans. Have they assessed how many abandoned water wells exist under Brewer Lake? What about extraction and subsidence issues affecting the dam? What about the Baldwin Hills Lake Disaster on subsidence (video of disaster)? What about the Lake Peignouir drilling disaster?

Conway Corp and Chesapeake say they will hold a public meeting about this. That's good, but hold it at night when people can actually attend.  If you make it difficult for the public to attend it will just perpetuate the perception of subterfuge and dissembling.

Earth surface changes from fracking in Netherlands on Youtube! Will subsidence affect Greers Ferry Lake and Brewer Lake? You've got to see this!

2011-03-24T17:38:00.000-07:00

Lake Brewer Drilled and About to be Fracked! Channel 7 Reports

2011-03-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

March For Clean Water!!

2011-03-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

March 22, 2011 is World Water Day! Email and call government officials!!! Save our water!

2011-03-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

World Water Day is March 22, 2011. Our water is under attack…a frack attack. An unprecedented assault on water is occurring through shale gas production. Please consider emailing and calling our governor and legislators to let them know we need a moratorium NOW! Here is a letter to copy or adapt as you wish:

Dear Legislator/Governor Beebe:

Shale gas production has been heralded as a boon to our economy and sanitized images of its merits assault us through daily television PR spots. Despite the public relations message, another darker reality lies just beneath the surface. Some of the abuses include:

■Halliburton Loophole – Toxic chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (high pressure injection of water, sand and toxic chemicals into the shale formation to release gas ) kept secret as trade secrets and the entire process was exempt from the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the Superfund Laws. There are now nearly a thousand known fracking chemicals and perhaps more in existence. Some experts believe these chemicals can migrate into fresh water zones through naturally occurring fractures or earthquake induced fractures. Industry also concedes cement casing failure is another source of these toxic chemicals migrating into fresh water aquifers. Not knowing what was put down each gas well makes testing expensive and akin to hitting the lottery. Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission’s Rule B-19’s so called disclosure still perpetuates this “trade-secret” loophole.

■Injection wells – Injecting toxic fluid laced with fracking chemicals, heavy metals and radioactive NORMS into rock formations deep within the earth. Some residents have reported toxic fumes emanating from these installations that have caused associated illness. These injection wells also have been scientifically linked to earthquakes. A newly found fault in Greenbrier/Guy has the potential to deliver a 6.0 earthquake. This is an unacceptable risk to property and human life.

■Land Farms and First Land Application – Dumping of toxic flow back fluid onto land. Evaporation occurs to pollute air and migration into fresh water sources is a great risk. The New Year’s Fishkill on the Arkansas River was approximately two miles from a land farm.

■Illegal dumping – The cost of legally disposing of waste is high; perhaps encouraging illegal dumping into our highways and waterways. Many reports of illegal dumping have surfaced.

■Compressor Stations – These are used to move gas along pipelines. They emit high levels of low frequency noise 24/7 which are known to cause ill health effects. Attached to compressor stations are dehydration units which spew toxins into the air 24/7.

■Venting of Gas Wells – When a gas well is near completion the gas companies vent the gas and toxins into the air to “purify” the well. They fail to inform residents of this process and expose people to dangerous toxins. After that is completed gas wells continually emit toxic gas from condensate tanks 24/7.

■Dangerous Accidents - Fracking fluid spills, leaking poisonous gas, explosions of gas wells, pipelines and water wells all have occurred in Arkansas. Little or no training in dealing with these accidents have been provided to local fire and emergency personnel.

■Road Destruction – Highways and roads in Arkansas are crumbling because of the dense traffic of heavy gas trucks. The existing severance tax has failed to meet the cost of the estimated repairs.

■Land Scarring and Deforestation - The once beautiful Ozarks are being scarred with hideous well sites. Deforestation is occurring and sediment ends up destroying once pristine water quality in streams and lakes.

■Greers Ferry Lake and Brewer Lake – Brewer Lake provides fresh water to thousands in Conway and Greers Ferry Lake provides water to tens of thousands in North Central Arkansas. It is unimaginable that anyone would consider drilling and fracking near these critical water sources, yet at this moment drilling and fracking is being conducted near these lakes. To add to the outrage, Chesapeake has been conducting seismic testing on Greers Ferry Lake and further reports surface that Brewer Lake is also at risk of hydraulic fracturing occurring below its surface. We can’t accept risk to these water sources!!

■Industry/Regulators – State regulators are perceived as being facilitators of the shale gas industry. A pattern of lack of enforcement and testing has been noted by many. The AOGC is staffed primarily with gas industry operatives. ADEQ records contain files of complaints that lack follow-up and real testing. Citizen’s complaints often go unanswered on a timely basis. When violations do occur, citizens in affected areas are not informed properly.

Many other egregious practices could be mentioned, but still many people feel shale gas production could be improved through loop systems to capture emissions, full disclosure of chemicals and the use of only non-toxic chemicals, electric compressor stations and properly funded repair of the roads. While it is some improvement is possible, one glaring problem exists: They can’t do this safely! The shale gas industry has conceded that cement casing failures in gas wells can be a cause of water contamination. Currently, cement casings are tested at a PSI (pounds per square inch) much lower than the PSI used in fracking. Because of this, casings could easily fail during hydraulic fracturing. In addition, injection wells may have activated an ancient fault with the estimated potential of a 6.0 earthquake. USGS has no idea how the fragile cement casings fare in an earthquake. We have over 10,000 gas wells in Arkansas and over 4,000 in the Fayetteville Shale Play. No one is required to test these after earthquakes. Cement casing failure could cause our aquifer to be contaminated with these highly toxic chemicals that many scientists believe would cause irreversible damage to the aquifers and a great risk to public health. All over the Fayetteville Shale, residents have complained of water that has gone “bad” after fracking. Some have reported dirty, smelly, diminished or even explosive water.

Finally, earthquakes have been activated and some geologists believe injections wells AND FRACKING are the source of these earthquakes. We are also on the edge of the mighty New Madrid seismic zone. Our infrastructure and lives could be at risk. How would gas wells, gas pipelines, a nuclear power plant, water dams, roads and buildings survive in a 6.0 earthquake? WE MUST HAVE A MORATORIUM ON FRACKING AND INJECTION WELLS NOW! We must err on the side of human safety! Moratorium does not mean no drilling ever, but simply means we must take a “time-out” to assess the dangers and only accept drilling/fracking after much study has been done to PROVE that it can be done safely. We must take the time to assess the current damage and plan properly. Industry often focuses on the financial benefits, yet with study one realizes that at best these are illusory. Because of shale gas production once thriving industries such as tourism and farming are dying, while the very counties that are enduring the heaviest drilling have experienced rising unemployment. A large percentage of our resource is being shipped to foreign markets and foreign companies are gaining a large foothold in our state. American Security??? Dollars gained will quickly dissolve into debt if an unspeakable catastrophe occurs because of the haste to extract this resource. Our water and our lives are at risk!!!

We implore you on World Water Day to call for an emergency order for a Moratorium today!!!

Sincerely,

Contacts:

Governor Beebe

501-682-2345
tonya.mercer@governor.arkansas.gov

Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality
Director Teresa Marks
marks@adeq.state.ar.us

Call the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission,
Director Larry Bengal at 501-683-5814
Larry.Bengal@aogc.state.ar.us

Senator Jason Rapert
501-336-0918
Jason.Rapert@senate.ar.gov.

Senator Gilbert Baker
501-327-8653
bakerg@arkleg.state.ar.us

Representative Stephen Meeks
501-205-3272
stephen.meeks@arkansashouse.org

Representative David Meeks
501-277-9340
david.meeks@arkansashouse.org

Representative Josh Johnston
501-206-7091
josh.johnston@arkansashouse.org

Representative Robert Dale
479-970-3503
redale70@yahoo.com

Conway, Arkansas' water supply in the CROSSHAIRS! Brewer Lake is drilled and soon to be fracked!!!! Call and Email!

2011-03-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

Gaswells surrounding Brewer Lake

Brewer Lake is drilled and about to be fracked. I spoke yesterday to the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commissions attorney Alan York, and he has confirmed that Brewer Lake has a permit to frack under the lake. This lake is the water supply for thousands of people in the city of Conway and parts of Conway County. The picture above indicates the existing wells and well 44055 is approximately 1000 feet from the lake. Contamination can occur from drilling, cement casing failure, dumping, existing vertical rock fractures and accidents. Please forward this post to as many people in the affected area as you can and call your agencies, government officials and the City of Conway. Conway Corporation owns the land under the lake, but claims they do not own the mineral rights. The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission claims they do not know who owns the mineral rights. Regardless, this is a reprehensible threat to the fresh water supply for thousands and should be halted immediately! Call for an emergency order to STOP!

The Arkansas Fish and Game Commission is the main agency who regulates this lake. Call them at 1-800-364-4263.
Call Conway Corp. at 501-450-6050
Call the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission, Commissioner Larry Bengal at 501-683-5814
email Larry.Bengal@aogc.state.ar.us

Mayor Tab Townsell
City of Conway
(501) 450.6110
murph@conwaycorp.net

Governor Beebe
501-682-2345
tonya.mercer@governor.arkansas.gov

Senator Jason Rapert
501-336-0918.
Jason.Rapert@senate.ar.gov

Senator Gilbert Baker
501-327-8653
bakerg@arkleg.state.ar.us

Representative Stephen Meeks
501-205-3272
stephen.meeks@arkansashouse.org

Representative David Meeks
501-277-9340
david.meeks@arkansashouse.org

Representative Josh Johnston
501-206-7091
josh.johnston@arkansashouse.org

Representative Robert Dale
479-970-3503
redale70@yahoo.com

New faultline discovered is longer than expected! Arkansas earthquakes could be big!!!

2011-03-10T04:56:00.000-08:00

Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports that "Geologists say a previously unmapped fault that is the source of a swarm of earthquakes around Guy and Greenbrier in Faulkner County is longer and potentially more destructive than they initially believed."Scott Ausbrooks from the Arkansas Geological Survey revealed the discovery of a new faultline in the Guy/Greenbrier area this week. The revelation does not surprise local residents, however Ausbrooks says it is longer than they originally thought and could produce earthquakes of greater power. The original hypothesis was that the faultline was 3.5 miles long, but it now appears to be 6-7.5 miles long.

Scientists as recently as January thought that what they’re informally calling the “Guy-Greenbrier Fault” spanned 3.7 miles, but now estimate it to be 6 to 7.5 miles long.
Ausbrooks said the length is a concern because a longer fault could trigger bigger earthquakes.
Theoretically, if an entire 3.7-mile fault were to rupture, it could trigger a magnitude-5.0 to magnitude-5.5 earthquake. A 6-mile fault, meanwhile, could trigger a magnitude-5.5 to magnitude-6.0 quake.Ausbrooks said a magnitude-6.0 quake releases 32 times more energy than a magnitude-5.0 quake.In general, poorly built structures begin to sustain structural damage with magnitude-5.5 quakes, Ausbrooks said. Structures at the epicenter of such a quake would have broken windows and cracked masonry, he said, and the quake would be felt outside the state.

A magnitude-4.7 quake struck Feb. 27 roughly three miles from Greenbrier, and was Arkansas’ largest earthquake in about 35 years. It was one of hundreds that have been felt in the area since September.

Scientists, including those at the state geological survey and at the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis, discovered the Guy-Greenbrier Fault by tracking the pattern of recent seismic activity in the area. The scientists then confirmed the fault’s existence by using imaging of the subsurface obtained from companies operating in the shale. The companies hadn’t noticed the fault because “it’s much deeper than what they are concerned about,” Ausbrooks said. The center says on its website that they are concerned there is a risk of triggering more and larger earthquakes if the injection wells continue to operate.

The potential power of an earthquake along this fault could reach up to 6.0 on the Richter Scale and could cause significant damage at the epicenter. Why are we experimenting with fracking and injection wells? The truth is the chemicals used in fracking are designed to prop open the rock. The industry calls it "slickwater fracking." They lubricate and make "slippery" the formations and cause mini explosions in the strata when they frack. Then the gas companies need to get rid of the millions of gallons of toxic wastewater so they inject that back into the strata at high pressure. Why are they risking lives in such a seismically sensitive area? Could the faultline actually be longer than 7.5 miles? We have friends in Mountain View who feel earthquakes from Greenbrier/Guy even if they are below 3.0 on the Richter Scale? It would probably take more money and research to discover this information, but why experiment with human lives in the meantime.

The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission weighs in on the issue of the two injection wells on March 29th. Ausbrooks discussed the two injection wells:

“The theory is that the well increases the ... pressure in the rock formation sufficiently to overcome friction, to allow the fault to move, which generates the earthquake,” Ausbrooks said. Ausbrooks said the fault is deep and old. Its last vertical movements are believed tohave been 400 million years ago, he said. The fault doesn’t cut to the surface, and the uppermost part is about 8,000 to 10,000 feet deep. Clarita’s well is 7,800 to 10,900 feet deep while Chesapeake’s is 5,700 to 6,200. The Clarita well is “injecting at the same layer of rock” that the fault cuts up into, Ausbrooks said. Operators of the well are arguing that the earthquakes are occurring because of natural causes. Clarita said in a release last week that the quakes began before its well was operational. The general area - northern Faulkner County - has seen natural seismic activity in the past, including a series of small quakes that began in 1982 in Enola, which is about 10 miles away from the current swarm. However, the Enola earthquakes originated from a different fault than the current swarm, Ausbrooks said. Ausbrooks said there were “no known earthquakes in this Guy-Greenbrier swarm area” before the first of the two wells went into operation.

Since the injections stopped Thursday, “we’re still seeing micro-seismicity,” Ausbrooks said. He added that Arkansas saw a “couple of” magnitude-1 and magnitude-2 quakes on Tuesday. “There’s no reason why that shouldn’t continue for a period of time.” Scientists at the center in Memphis and with the survey are basing their research on a 1960s case in Denver that showed injection wells could cause earthquakes. Ausbrooks said that the quakes diminished dramatically after the injections were stopped and started once the injections began again. However, the largest quakes struck about two years after the injections stopped, he said.
“Once you start that pressure front moving out [through the rock], it takes time for it to dissipate and to move out.”
Ausbrooks said he couldn’t comment on what the survey’s position is on a potential link between the wells and the seismic activity because it is awaiting the March 29 hearing.

Please come out to the AOGC meeting on March 29th. We must make a statement to the commissioners and our government. Any reasonable person would agree that we must err on the side of caution.

Read the Arkansas Democrat Gazette article here.

Arkansas Geological Survey Says There ARE FEWER QUAKES Since the Two Injection Wells Are Shut Down!

2011-03-09T04:47:00.000-08:00

Scott Ausbrooks of the Arkansas Geological Survey admits there were only a few earthquakes since the two injection wells were shut down. March 29th, the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commisson will be meeting to decide the fate of these two wells. Many local residents have also noticed a slow-down in drilling, fracking and compressor station activity. Was this intentional and has this also contributed to the slowdown? Stay tuned. KARK reports here.

Someone's got sense! Quebec environment agency strongly suggests a halt to gas drilling!

2011-03-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

Bloomberg reports that Quebec's environmental assessment bureau recommended suspending shale gas exploration and production until they could more accurately assess the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing.

Hydrogen Sulfide Gas Scares Family in Bee Branch!

2011-03-08T19:11:00.000-08:00

Hydrogen Sulfide gas is an "extraordinarily poisonous gas" according to Slumberger Oilfield Glossary. A whiff of this stuff can kill you. Southwestern Energy drilled a gas well on Round Springs Road across from Loyd Anderson's new home in Bee Branch, and they installed a wind sock and a sign that reads H2S gas Danger. The next week a caution sign and second wind sock were added.

The Van Buren Democrat reported on this story and said that the Anderson's contacted SEECO. The representative of the company told him the gas can kill you, and someone would get back to him. The Andersons were very concerned about their horses. After being alerted to this story, the Democrat submitted by email some questions to Southwestern Energy. The Democrat asked:

How/when was the presence of this gas discovered? How far can the gas carry in the air? Were workers or residents in danger? Why were area residents not informed? How common is this occurrence?

Here is the complete statement the Democrat received in response Tuesday morning:

“The well located near Bee Branch is currently shut-in and is not producing while SEECO conducts maintenance on the well. The utilization of wind socks and signage on the location are required operating procedures as per AOGC rules when there is a presence of H2S in the natural gas production from a producing well.

“We analyze the contents of the gas we produce to ensure SEECO meets or exceeds all Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission (AOGC) rules and regulations, including the monitoring, testing and treatment of H2S, which is a naturally occurring gas that is sometimes produced along with natural gas.

“Prior to the well being shut-in we were treating the gas onsite to meet required specifications before being shipped down the pipeline.

“SEECO is dedicated to protecting the environment and the safety of the communities surrounding our operations. We are committed to responsible resource development and minimizing our impact on the environment and our neighbors.”

Wow. Really. I was shocked to discover that none of the specific questions were answered, but a Texas two-step was delivered with smug ease.

I really had to see this site for myself so I drove out to find it. Round Springs Road leans into the Ozark hills with grace and offers inviting bucolic views that send your spirits soaring until you round the bend and see this gas well. The sign and wind socks were still present and the gas pad was very close to the road directly across the street from the Anderson's new home and pasture. The horses were really close. In fact when you drive to the site and are turning into the curve on the road it appears they are adjacent to the gas well. Are they safe? Are humans working on the new home safe? Another American dream destroyed? How is it possible residents in the area were not notified of these conditions. Was the OEM notified? The questions multiply when you consider the morbid possibilities.

You see these windsocks flying high at so many gas well locations also near homes. We have seen the hydrogen sulfide signs before, but never understood the dangers. How can this happen in America to American Citizens?

flaring of the gas well on Round Springs Rd

Thank you to my friend for her great photographs.

Know Your AOGC Board

2011-03-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

BY GREERS FERRY NATURAL GAS WATCH

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

Who the heck are these guys and what are they building in there?

Recently a friend of mine and I were talking and I asked her, who ARE these people on the board. I know they are Beebe or Huckabee appointments and by law that Beebe got passed, a certain number have to be knowledgeable in the gas industry.They aren't just taking any Joe off the street and making them a board member.

We looked at the AOGC website and found this list:
Chad White, Chairman
Magnolia, Arkansas

W. Frank Morledge,Vice Chairman
Forrest City, Arkansas

Charles Wohlford
Fort Smith, Arkansas

Bill Poynter
Texarkana, Arkansas

Mike Davis
Magnolia, Arkansas

Kenneth Williams
Jersey, Arkansas

William L. Dawkins, Jr.
Fort Smith, Arkansas

Jerry Langley
Smackover, Arkansas

Chris Weiser
Magnolia, Arkansas

http://www.aogc.state.ar.us/commissioners.htm

Ok, I get their names and their hometowns, but who ARE they? What qualifies them to be making decisions that are currently affecting every Arkansan and especially affecting those that live in the Fayetteville Shale.

We Googled, and guess what? We didn't find much of anything or a least anything that was useful. So my friend says she'll call and ask. A call was placed and reception said that only Larry Bengal could answer that question. So she emails Larry, and gets back a reply, 3 weeks later.

Not really a big deal. I'm sure Larry is a busy guy what with all the national attention over the injection wells and earthquakes they are causing while disposing of millions of gallons of their drilling waste.
That's a pretty big mess to have to deal with. We do appreciate that he did get back to us!
Here's the original email.

From:
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 4:02 PM
To: Larry Bengal
Subject: AOGC Commissioners

Hello Mr. Bengal,

I would like to ask some questions about the AOGC Commissioners. All you have on your website is a list of their names and I would like to know, when were these commissioners appointed and who appointed them? Also, what experience do they have with natural gas? Is there a list of their company affiliations? Did Gov. Beebe say that some of them had to be gas industry people?
Thank you,

And here is Larry's reply:

From: Larry Bengal Larry.Bengal@aogc.state.ar.us
Date: Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 8:39 AM
Subject: RE: AOGC Commissioners
To:

I apologize for my late response. In response to your question: The membership of the Oil and Gas Commission is set by State statute A.C.A. 15-71-102. All 9 members of the Commission are appointed by the Governor and serve six year terms. In accordance with State statute, 5 of the 9 members "shall be experienced in the development, production, and transportation of oil and gas". The terms are staggered and different Commissioners terms expire at different times. Governor Beebe has appointed 5 of the current members, 4 members were appointed by previous Governors.

Two (2) Commissioners are Attorneys,
two (2) Commissioners are Petroleum Geologists,
one(1) Commissioner is a Petroleum Engineer,
one(1) Commissioner is a Chemist, and
three(3) Commissioners operate oil and gas production companies here in Arkansas.

Lawrence E. Bengal
Director
Oil and Gas Commission
Phone: 501-683-5814
Fax: 501-683-5818

Great now we are getting somewhere. A nice explanation of how they are appointed, what their terms are and their general qualifications. 3 commissioners operate oil and gas production companies He missed one part though, their company affiliations.
There are people that believe that commissioners sitting on the board is tantamount to the industry "policing itself." Not only do they get a say in writing the rules, they get to vote on them as well. The last 3 appear to be shoe in votes for whatever the industry wants to get away with, because they are the industry.

We weren't really satisfied with the vague descriptions, we wanted to know what companies and who the commissioners were. So, another email was sent asking that and imagine our surprise when we got a near instantaneous reply.

From: Larry Bengal Larry.Bengal@aogc.state.ar.us
Date: Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 11:44 AM
Subject: RE: AOGC Commissioners
To:

Per your request:
Commissioner Langley - Jerry Langley Oil Company LLC
Commissioner Weiser - Weiser-Brown Operating Company
Commissioner Davis - Betsy Production Company, Inc.
Although Chairman White serves as a Petroleum Geologist he also operates a production company - Chad White Operating Company, Inc.
And Commissioner Wohlford who serves as a Petroleum Engineer also operates a production company - Wolf Exploration, Inc.
As per State statute, these Commissioners comprise the 5 Commission members required to have oil and gas production knowledge.

Lawrence E. Bengal
Director
Oil and Gas Commission
Phone: 501-683-5814
Fax: 501-683-5818also

Wait, what?
I thought Larry said in the first email that (3)three operated production companies?
Now it's (5) five operating production companies? And they are also the geologist and the engineer?

What the Heck?!?!

FIVE OF THE NINE of the AOGC board profit directly from decisions made by the AOGC board!

I knew the cards were stacked against us but I had no idea how badly. The majority of the rule makers profit directly from the rules they make. Wait, let me guess at this one, the 2 attorneys on the board make their living representing natural gas companies? I guess we'd have to send another email to drag that info out of him.

UNBELIEVABLE!

This doesn't even take into account our elected state lawmakers who own leased land and guys who are well connected who are drilling waste land farm owners. Yes, there are elected officials who personally profit directly from the industry that they are supposed to be regulating and looking out for the citizens best interest.
Thanks a bunch to the powers that be.

Also seeing things like this press release make certain things very clear to me now and it's what really started me thinking about this to begin with. ANGA or the American Natural Gas Association, which represents natural gas industry, issued the following press release. I'm just going to quote the interesting bits the full statement is at the link.

"But we have an honest disagreement over whether new federal regulations are necessary on top of existing local, state and federal rules. We continue to believe that state regulatory agencies have the appropriate expertise and on-the-ground experience to conduct effective oversight of natural gas production activities specific to their local geology."
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/anga-statement-on-planned-introduction-of-the-frac-act-116413264.html

Of course the INDUSTRY believes the INDUSTRY is doing a great job of policing the INDUSTRY!

Of course they don't want a federal agency that they no longer control to have any say in what they are doing as they make life miserable for thousands if not millions of Americans. Of course they don't want to adhere to any federal laws as they place ringers in state government that are sure to bend the rules so that they can get away with doing things as cheaply as possible. Lets just let them adhere to Best Management Practices, which is code for not really having any enforceable laws at all. Its seems that as they are writing the rules themselves it would be easy to follow, but they cannot even manage to do that in a lot of cases.

God, forbid there should be actual repercussions for the industry for poisoning American citizens right in their homes, that would be too expensive and job killing or supporting terrorism or whatever bumper sticker credo you want to apply. At least with the terrorists we know where we stand and they do their killing out in the open and take credit for it.

We are being sold a bill of goods... There is no one is looking out for your best interest.

Earthquake Meetings!!! Please Come Out To Help Protect Arkansas!!!

2011-03-07T19:24:00.000-08:00

Concerned Citizens Advisory Group
Gas and Injection Well Drilling

Place: Greenbrier City Event Center
5 Louise Lane, Greenbrier. 501-679-6362

Time: Friday March 11, 2011
6:00 - 8:00 pm

Please join us to discuss the recent emergency order declared on March 04,2011 by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission to halt operations at two local Greenbrier area deep water injection wells Because of the connection to earthquakes. This Order automatically terminates at the conclusion of the next regularly scheduled Commission hearing on March 29, 2011

Arkansas Oil & Gas Commission Hearing
‎3/29/2011 - 3/30/2011
9:00 AM -5:00 PM

301 Natural Resources Drive
Suite 102
Little Rock, AR 72205

Brewer Lake Supplies Water to Conway....Is it in danger????

2011-03-07T04:57:00.000-08:00

According to "Find Lakes"

Brewer Lake, northcentral Arkansas
Brewer Lake is on Cypress Creek in Conway County, Arkansas and is used for drinking water purposes. Construction was completed in 1983. It has a normal surface area of 1.8 square miles. It is owned by the City Of Conway.
Brewer Lake is of earthen construction. Its height is 83 feet with a length of 1374 feet. Maximum discharge is 41000 cubic feet per second. Its capacity is 23500 acre feet. Normal storage is 18000 acre feet. It drains an area of 36.4 square miles.

Several citizens have called reporting fracking going on very near the lake. A few have called Conway Corp. to find out if Conway Corp has leased the mineral rights to the lake. Because this is a drinking water source to so many, there should be full transparancy. Does anyone know? Citizens have been calling in by the scores because of similar revelations concerning Greers Ferry Lake. Conway Corp. or the City of Conway can you clear this up?

Injection Well Experiment in Japan Induces Earthquakes

2011-03-06T17:51:00.000-08:00

Japanese study indicates connection between injection wells and earthquake activity. Read about it here This is just another piece of evidence that supports the shutting down of injection wells in Arkansas.

Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission Emergency Meeting Stuns Concerned Citizens with its brevity. Five minutes?

2011-03-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission called for an emergency meeting to shut down two injection wells because of a suspected link to earthquake activity. Many concerned citizens took off time from their jobs and traveled great distances to attend. The AOGC meeting only lasted 5 MINUTES!!! Media and citizens were stunned and glanced around at each other for answers. Citizens voiced their anger and outrage over the abuses of shale gas production.

MAD SCIENCE!? Arkansas's newly discovered faultline has the potential to produce a 6.0 earthquake according to Scott Ausbrooks of the Arkansas Geological Survey!

2011-03-05T06:48:00.000-08:00

The Arkansas Geological Survey told Channel 7:

Friday, the Oil and Gas Commission decided to halt the two injection wells in the swarm of activity because of recent data that includes:

- The fault hasn't been active in about 400-million years

- There's no record of seismicity prior to the wells going online

- The earthquakes are getting more frequent and larger

- It's now stretching from about 6 to 10 kilometers toward Greenbrier

"This thing is approaching 10-kilometers. At that level now you're starting to talk about an earthquake that if the whole fault ruptured at one time it could generate anywhere from a 5.5 to a six." Ausbrooks says.

My question is this: Why only shutdown two injection wells if this fault has the potential of reaching a 6 level. Could this trigger the New Madrid? Remember the tragic New Zealand earthquake was in the 6 range. Why is the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission playing Russian Roulette with people's lives and property? THEY SHOULD SHUT DOWN ALL INJECTION WELLS! If they have activated an ancient fault, why take such extraordinary risks to human health and safety? Call your representatives and the Governor and tell them to SHUT DOWN ALL INJECTION WELLS!!!

Why the Citizens of Arkansas Should Care What Gets Printed in the New York Times

2011-02-28T21:11:00.000-08:00

Why the citizens of Arkansas should care what gets printed in the New York Times

.by Greers Ferry Lake Natural Gas Watch on Monday, February 28, 2011 at 3:22pm.
This weekend there was a huge expose in the New York Times on gas drilling waste disposal.

It's the dirty little seldom discussed secret within the industry. Check any of their sites and you won't find anything about it.
The New York Times focus was on what happens to all the leftovers when the drilling occurs in the Marcellus Shale. In their case, the majority of it gets hauled to waste water treatment plants and eventually ends up released in rivers to head down stream and be someone else's problem.

New York Times Article
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/27/us/natural-gas-documents-1-intro.html?ref=us

Why should this interest me you are probably asking yourself?

Because we also have huge amounts of drilling and fracking effluent. There is no reason to believe that the scientific findings about whats in the Marcellus waste as reported by the EPA and the Times is much different from whats in the Arkansas waste. Its the same companies, doing the same process. Only an idiot would expect different results.

The only difference I can tell is that nobody in Arkansas is asking any questions.

Drilling waste water is whats in those funny looking tankers you see heading down the road 24 hours a day, 7 day's a week. That's the stuff you see collecting in those huge condensate tanks at every well.

There's millions of gallons of it, maybe billions of gallons for all we know.

There's even 2 different kinds. There's frack water. That is the stuff that comes back up when they are fracking a well. How much comes right back up varies. This is considered toxic waste and is controlled by AOGC.

Then there's produced water. That's the stuff that comes back over the life of the well.This is considered to be brine and is controlled by ADEQ. Doesn't seem to matter too much to them that the majority of the toxic frac water didn't come out of the hole and is still down there. This water is somehow different.

The Times article explains in depth some of the scientific findings about whats in some of it. Pretty much a lot of things you don't want anywhere near you, your family and certainly not in the food and water they drink and eat.

In the Marcellus Shale they haul it to waste water plants, dilute it with sewage and then send it down the river. The sludge from that sewage gets buried in land fills.

So what do they do with in Arkansas you ask?
The first stuff, the frack water, is considered toxic waste. They know it has nasty chemicals hydrocarbons and carcinogens. They haul this stuff to injection wells, like the 9 surrounding Guy, Ar or the one just south of Floral. Once there its injected under pressure deep underground and the theory is it stays there and doesn't bother anyone.

That's the theory anyway.

Another theory is that injecting millions of gallon of lubricants in between plates and into faults can create seismic activity but that's another post....

The produced water is generally hauled to a "Land Farm." There they have a large lined open pit where its allowed to settle and then its sprayed out onto open ground for disposal. Many of these sites are in low lying flood prone areas and several are located in fields adjacent to food crops like rice and soybeans. Many of the field application sites are later used to graze cattle.
In some cases this produced water is used for "dust control" on county gravel roads.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCA1ypq_9mQ

They have to put it somewhere, might as well get some use out of it right?

The industry has even managed to get over 340 permits to apply drilling effluent to fields right at the site! They don't even have to pay to haul it anywhere, just spray it out right there and drive away. Its called a "Land Appl Drilling Fluids" and the info and locations can be found at the ADEQ link below.

The industry polices itself on what water goes where for the most part. Nobodys watching and we just expect them to play by the rules, that they wrote. Neither the ADEQ or AOGC keeps very accurate records on the amounts of water used and the effluent. If they do they sure do not make it easy for the public to find out. I'm pretty sure they don't track what leaves a well site and what shows up at disposal sites, or at least I couldn't get a straight answer from ADEQ. That's why we get illegal dumping, because nobody tracks it from source to disposal.

Interesting factoid:
In Arkansas State Representative, Lance Reynolds owns one of these land farms outside of Quitman. Its called Lancer Industries and he's been at it for quite awhile and has closed one site and moved on to another. ADEQ has cited them on numerous occasions for infractions such as improper testing, tears and holes in the liners and erosion of the pit walls.

This is what the original site looked like on Google Map

http://goo.gl/maps/WJVu

You can go to ADEQ and verify this for yourself.
http://www.adeq.state.ar.us/home/pdssql/pds.asp

The AFIN #23-01008 and is Lancer Industries.The permit type is Water-SPB Land Appl Drilling Fluids-Mult
The phone number Googles back to Lance Reynolds.

Its interesting to me that most of the elected officials we ask to look out for our well being in areas we have little or no control, also just happen to be in business with the very same companies many of us believe that someone needs to be keeping an eye on.

I've attended some meetings on Land Farms and asked a few questions.

I asked an ADEQ engineer at the Plumerville meeting how often are these sites inspected.
He said inspections are complaint driven and there are no regular inspections. These sites are behind locked gates on private property. I asked who decided that this was a good method of disposing of drilling waste, where did this idea come from. He said the industry.

The industry writes their own rules, yet still seem to run afoul of them.
Someone else asked the engineer if they personally would live next door to one of these facilities.
He said he would stand behind his permit. The question was asked again 3 times and the same reply was given 3 times.

Hell no! He's not going to expose his family. He has no problem exposing yours though.

What they are saying is that this is legal, but what they don't want to tell you is that industry wrote the rules to make it legal. And they did it with the states blessing right from Governor Mike Beebe himself all the way down the line to his toadies at AOGC Larry Bengal and ADEQ Teresa Marks.

Land farms have a checkered history in Arkansas as you can see from the articles below. As far as I know nothing has changed with the permitting process or the inspection.
"Evidence of environmental contamination has been discovered at 11 permitted “land farms” where water used in natural gas drilling is stored, the state Department of Environmental Quality said Monday."
http://arkansasnews.com/2009/04/20/study-finds-problems-with-water-used-to-drill-natural-gas-wells/
The number of land farms is not sufficient to dispose properly of all the waste from the state’s 2,000 frac wells, according to Ryan Benefield, ADEQ assistant director. Some is trucked to Oklahoma and Texas, where it is injected into deep storage wells.
http://arkansasleader.blogspot.com/2010/04/top-story-old-farm-to-be-dump-site.html

Below is a map I've posted before. You can download your own copies using Google Earth and the files found here.
http://www.aogc.state.ar.us/Maps_GoogleEarth.htm

Blue is Injection Wells

Orange is Land Farms

.

Huffington Post on Arkansas Earthquakes.

2011-02-28T21:01:00.001-08:00

Huffington Post article on Arkansas Earthquakes HERE.

4.7 Arkansas Earthquake Last Night!!!! CALL GOVERNOR BEEBE! TELL HIM WE NEED A COMPLETE MORATORIUM ON INJECTION WELLS AND FRACKING UNTIL WE KNOW IT CAN BE DONE SAFELY! WE DON'T WANT TO TRIGGER THE "BIG ONE!"

2011-02-28T04:50:00.000-08:00

Were you awakened by the earthquake last night? Call Governor Beebe and let him know that you want a moratorium on injection wells and fracking until we are certain this can be done safely! We don't want to risk lives and property! We are on the edge of the New Madrid Seismic Zone. We can't afford for shale gas production to trigger the "big one" and risk millions of lives!!!!

Governor's Office

General Information 501-682-2345

Chief of Staff 501-682-3607

Did you feel it? 4.7 Earthquake just north of Greenbrier! Keep an earthquake journal! Report to USGS!

2011-02-27T21:43:00.000-08:00

We were all asleep and our beds started to shake. We jumped up to see what was going on and realized we all were awakened by a quake. I reported it on the USGS site "Did you Feel It?" and realized we were not alone. Facebook messages were mounting up like freshly popped corn. Finally, someone posted the link.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/nm022811a.php#details Another 3.8 occurred a few minutes later at 11:17PM. We need to stop this nonsense. NO MORE INJECTION WELLS....PLEASE. Also, we all think fracking is adding to the nonsense.

Earthquake Details

This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude 4.7

Date-Time Monday, February 28, 2011 at 05:00:50 UTC

Sunday, February 27, 2011 at 11:00:50 PM at epicenter

Location 35.265°N, 92.344°W

Depth 3.8 km (2.4 miles)

Region ARKANSAS

Distances 6 km (4 miles) NE (46°) from Greenbrier, AR

7 km (4 miles) S (187°) from Guy, AR

9 km (6 miles) SE (128°) from Twin Groves, AR

22 km (14 miles) NNE (27°) from Conway, AR

59 km (37 miles) N (359°) from Little Rock, AR

418 km (260 miles) SSW (207°) from St. Louis, MO

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 0.6 km (0.4 miles); depth +/- 0.7 km (0.4 miles)

Parameters NST= 14, Nph= 20, Dmin=3 km, Rmss=0.18 sec, Gp= 68°,

M-type=centroid moment magnitude (Mw), Version=B

Source Cooperative New Madrid Seismic Network

Event ID nm022811a

Did you feel it? Report shaking and damage at your location. You can also view a map displaying accumulated data from your report and others.

Tell Bureau of Land Management: NO DRILLING ON GREERS FERRY LAKE!!!

2011-02-27T12:45:00.000-08:00

Bureau of Land Management

THIS is the link to the Bureau of Land Management Contact Page. Email them and let them know your objections to gas drilling/fracking and production on Greers Ferry Lake!

Conway's Log Cabin Democrat Reports on Josh Fox's visit to Arkansas two days after the Academy Awards

2011-02-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

Log Cabin Democrat reports:

Josh Fox, director of “GASLAND,” the Oscar-nominated HBO documentary about natural gas drilling, will lead a panel discussion about the environmental effects on natural gas drilling in Arkansas at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Staples Auditorium at Hendrix College.

His appearance will be two days after the Academy Awards on Sunday night. His film is nominated in the documentary category.
Also expected to participate in the discussion is Mayor Calvin Tillman of Dish, Texas, who is featured in the film.

Mayor Tillman also will speak about environmental effects on his city at 4 p.m. Tuesday in Mills Auditorium, and the documentary will be shown at 7 p.m. Monday in Worsham Hall in the Student Life and Technology Center at Hendrix.

Fox will also be available for interviews.

http://thecabin.net/entertainment/events/2011-02-23/%E2%80%98gasland%E2%80%99-director-speak-hendrix-college

Guarantee GASLAND and Award Oscar Night! Win over President Obama!!!!

2011-02-27T06:14:00.000-08:00

GASLAND Academy Award™ Nominee for BEST DOCUMENTARY!
WRITE TO OBAMA ON OSCAR NIGHT!
Gasland. OSCAR NIGHT!
NOMINATED FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY

FEB 27, 2011. WORLDWIDE.
Root for GASLAND to win! Write toPresident Obama to guarantee a win for public health!

Host a Gasland Oscar party on Feb. 27th
This is the perfect occasion to have our collective voices heard by the President. We want to generate 50,000 letters to the President on Oscar night urging him to support the FRAC Act and a National Moratorium on Hydraulic Fracturing.

Letter to the President

We’ve written a sample letter to President Obama for You. Copy and paste the text below and print out copies for your guests so that they can be mailed immediately post Oscar. Pre-address and stamp some envelopes, have your guests write and sign the letters and mail them in right away. In addition to the letters you send in contact the President by email during the show at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact. We really hope you’ll do both actually, so that we can have as much impact as possible.

Here’s our Sample Letter To The President:

President Barack Obama
The Whitehouse
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Obama:

I am writing to you today to express my deep concern regarding the threat caused by Hydraulic Fracturing to the environment and to the health and well being of the citizens of the United States of America.

Hydraulic Fracturing is a new, unsafe method of drilling for natural gas that injects millions of gallons of toxic fluids and synthetic petroleum based drilling mud directly into and under drinking water aquifers. Thousands of documented water contamination cases across the country point to a massive failure to protect public health over the last five years in the midst of the largest onshore natural gas drilling campaign in US History.

There has been an inadequate amount of study investigating the impact on either the environment or the tens of thousands of families that are living amidst roughly 450,000 gas wells across 34 states.

I am grateful to know that the EPA has begun an initial study to examine Hydraulic Fracturing but in light of the fact that this study will not be completed until 2012, I continue to be fearful of the ongoing effects of what is largely an ungoverned and potentially perilous practice.

In your April 2008 address in Scranton, PA, you stated that you believed Hydraulic Fracturing should be subject to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Therefore, we will expect your full support for passage of the FRAC Act, which would re-regulate the process of Hydraulic Fracturing under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Finally, on behalf of myself, my family and my fellow citizens I respectfully call upon you, your administration and the Congress of the United States to impose an immediate moratorium on the practice of hydraulic fracturing across the United States until such time as these practices have been unequivocally proven to pose no threat to the environment or the citizens of the United States of America.

Sincerely,

_____________________
Name

_____________________
Address and Contact Info

Let’s Get This Party Started!
We’ve made a brief guide to help you plan and execute a stellar Oscar party.
Questions? Contact:
screenings@gaslandthemovie.com

At 8:00 P.M. EDT on February 27, 2011 GASLAND will be among the nominees for Best Documentary Feature at the 83rd Academy Awards™ in Los Angeles. We can’t take everyone to the Oscars but we want everyone to join the celebration and take action to stop hydraulic fracturing by hosting a Gasland Oscar party.

We want you to invite your friends and family over to watch the ceremony together and to take immediate action to urge Congress and President Obama to support the FRAC Act and a national moratorium on Hydraulic Fracturing.
Here are some ways to get started:
1) Invite your guests via email, phone or listserv. Tweet about it (our hashtag is #gaslandmovie) create a Facebook Event (& join our Facebook fan page), use Evite or MyPunchbowl to make an invitation and manage RSVPs in one place.

2) The better the snacks, the better the party. In the spirit of supporting environmental sustainability, purchase ingredients from your local farmer’s market or plan a group potluck made up of dishes with local ingredients. To cut down on waste, do not use disposable cutlery or plates and have a recycling bin visibly placed in your home.

3) At 7PM CST tune into the show on ABC and cheer on Gasland.

4) Have a computer accessible so your guests can immediately write to and email the President, join the Gasland fan page on Facebook and sign up for our e-mail list. Hand out the pre-printed letter to President Obama to your guests, collect the completed letters and mail them right away.

5) The day after, send a thank you e-card to your guests with links to our partner organizations.

Let's continue to work on protecting our land, water and air! Keep it up America -You are making a difference!

Josh Fox,
And the GASLAND Team

.

New York Times Reports on the Monstrous Problem of Fracking Waste! A must read!

2011-02-26T18:02:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow's Sunday New York Times features a well written article on the unwieldy problem of gas drilling waste. Billions of gallons of water contaminated with toxins and radioactivity are minimally processed and then discharged into our country's water ways. Through the Freedom of Information Act, the Times, was able to discover the problem is much larger than the industry has claimed. Public water supplies are threatened and very little testing is currently conducted by local water companies for radioactivity. At current rates the waste problem will not diminish any time soon.

The waste associated with gas drilling is discharged into Pennsylvania waterways, but here in Arkansas our waste has ended up illegally dumped in waterways, dumped into legal land farms (which has been suspected by many as a source of the Arkansas fish kill on New Year's Day because there is a landfarm located on the river 2 miles from the kill) or injected into Class II wells. Many suspect the injection wells are contributing to the hundreds of earthquakes we have been experiencing in the Fayetteville Shale Play. The earthquake concerns mount as people are reporting damage to their homes, but what about the damage to the aquifer? The gas industry has conceded that cement casing failure can cause water contamination. Are these earthquakes damaging cement casings that in some places may be only a quarter of an inch thick? No one knows because no one is testing the casings of all the gas wells after an earthquake.

Chesapeake Energy (CHK) thinks we are hicks and rubes. This email proves it

2011-02-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

by Greers Ferry Lake Natural Gas Watch
http://facebook.com/greersferrylakegaswatch
on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 5:58pm.
The carpetbaggers are coming to town.

The other day I sent out a spam email containing a link to SaveGreersFerryLake.org. I sent it to a few hundred people that have property and boats docked around the lake.

I figured they have a right to know whats going on in OUR lake as they have investments here.They come here and spend money because the lake is clean and the scenery is great. A lot of these folks might not know whats going on with the gas drilling, as they don't see too much of it as they are driving in from Little Rock, Memphis and other places.
Even those of us that live on the southern end of the lake aren't so aware. We just know we are beginning to see LOTS more and they aren't just passing through. There's a brand new well pad 100' off the road on the western edge of town and Chesapeake and our town "leaders" have decided that the safest way to service their interests is to run the 1500 or so estimated semi trucks right up and down our Main Street.

That 1500 semi trucks is just for that one well, each well that will be drilled out there on that edge of town will use the same path and the same number of heavy trucks. Nobody has really said how many wells are projected for that area.
I'm sure the Main Street business people are thrilled at this prospect.
I wonder if they were consulted about this plan? I know people that live on that route, nobody asked them.
So this brings us back to Chesapeake and the email.

Somehow my email ended up in the inbox of Mark Raines of Chesapeake Energy (CHK). Mark Raines sent me this reply. He told me that we are confused. They have no plans to actually drill in or under the lake. They just decided that it would be a good idea to spend money on boats, helicopters and docks for an extensive seismic survey to find out if there is gas beneath our water supply, but they have no plans to extract it.

Really? Do you think they would spend a huge pile of money to find out if its there, and then just walk away?
The Bureau of Land Management has the final say. The Corp of Engineers only controls the surface and is in a Split Estate situation, they have to abide by what the BLM says. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission are already business partners with Chesapeake. They leased our public land that they are charged with managing to Chesapeake years ago, so I doubt they would have a problem with it.

If the previous actions of our local leaders in city and county government including the Heber Springs Chamber of Commerce are indicative of whats to come, then they will have NO problem whatsoever in handing Chesapeake the keys to our lake and letting them take what they want. Here's some links to what they've said and done in the past.

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2011/feb/10/officials-respond-chesapeake-announcement/?news-arkansas
http://www.thesuntimes.com/news/x742793574/Gas-lease-to-bring-big-to-city
http://www.thesuntimes.com/features/x1651489440/Truck-traffic-to-travel-through-town
http://thecabin.net/news/2011-02-19/chesapeake-donates-trucks-counties-fayetteville-shale
http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2010/08/18/state-chamber-bashes-gasland

Nobody bothered to ask you what you think.
We can expect ZERO opposition from them. We are on our own.
They must think we are a bunch of hicks and rubes. If we just stand by and watch it happen then we probably are.

Chesapeake email follows, highlights are by me:

Good Morning,

Allow me to apologize for any confusion that has arisen regarding our seismic testing activities on Greers Ferry Lake. Regrettably, it is being communicated that we are drilling “under” Greers Ferry Lake and “on” Greers Ferry Lake. To the contrary, the minerals under the lake are not leased to our knowledge and we do not have any plans to extract those minerals.

This past week’s issue of the Sun-Times provides an accurate overview of this short-term seismic project, but below are some additional details to help clear up any other points of concern. http://www.thesuntimes.com/newsnow/x1027120803/Seismic-testing-occurring-on-Greers-Ferry-Lake

We fully respect the interest that residents have in our beautiful lake and remain committed that this project will be conducted in a manner to everyone’s satisfaction. Again, my apologies for any confusion that has arisen.

Sincerely,

Mark Raines
Manager
Chesapeake Energy, Arkansas
www.facebook.com/CHKfayetteville
www.twitter.com/CHKfayetteville

Greers Ferry Lake Seismic Project
Overview

■Seismic work on Greers Ferry Lake began in mid-February.

■Activities have been approved and permitted by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

■Seismic work will last for approximately 90 days at locations either on the lake or near the lake.

■The seismic picture will reveal faults and indicate rock formations where natural gas is located.

■The lake bottom at Greers Ferry lake is much deeper than other lakes where on-water seismic work has been conducted, which will reduce the disturbance of the fisheries and minimize turbidity of lake sediment.

Specifics

■A 30-foot boat with a 600 cubic inch air gun array will air pressure at 2 meters deep (6’6”) and 2000 PSI.

■Initially, the devise will be turned on but deactivated for a run through the water in order to scare away fish (will work on all fish except for pike, which are territorial.)

■Once the device is fully engaged and seismic work begins, any fish remaining in the area may be stunned and rendered motionless for approximately 5 minutes.

■Any fish killed during the process will be left in the water and counted, pursuant to AGFC directives. However, because of the depth of the lake, few fish will be impacted.

■An independent environmental engineering firm, FTN, will closely monitor activities and file a report on the number of fish stunned or killed.

■Testing on the lake will occur in an area from Greers Ferry to Tannenbaum Golf Course then move south to north toward Prim.

Future

■Mineral rights under the lake are held by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. There are no plans at this time to extract gas from under the lake.

Oscar Nominees wear water drops at the Academy Award Ceremony in support of clean water

2011-02-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

Josh Fox, Mark Raffalo, and other Oscar nominees are wearing water drop pins in support of clean water.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110225005844/en/Mark-Ruffalo-Oscar-Nominees-Wear-Water-Sleeves

Is the Shell Cracking in the Shell Game? Gas Industry Analyst Calls for Non Toxic Fracking!

2011-02-26T13:23:00.000-08:00

Industry bullies. Back room deals. Dirty tricks. Demonizing victims. Slick TV ads. The gas industry spends so much of their money on consultants who concoct talking points and serve as oily apologists for the most egregious practices. They plow money into well clad lobbyists who click their high heels against the marbled floors of the legislature and speak softly into the ears of time-pressured legislators while plying them with favors and perks. These outrageous practices are being exposed for what they are and the PEOPLE are not happy. The environmental and human damage is mounting, bubbling up like pressured magma about to blow from a widespread caldera. Investors are beginning to take notice and the day of reckoning is close at hand. Read what gas and oil industry analyst Karl W. Miller says in Marketwire report:

The Oil and Natural Gas industry has brought a critical self inflicted crisis upon itself by failing to act in an environmentally responsible manner regarding the use of hydraulic fracturing. In one fell sweep, the industry has become the primary target of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), State and Federal lawmakers, and most importantly, the general public.

The injection of toxic chemicals in to Oil and Natural Gas wells, many chemicals which are clearly known to be harmful to the environment, water tables, and human beings represents a catastrophic failure of the Oil and Natural Gas producers in the U.S.

Given the continued abuse by the natural Oil and Natural Gas and mounting incidents of water table contamination, fires and other drilling related problems in high and low density populated areas, and the pending law that will in essence "kill fracking" by virtue of eliminating the use of toxic chemicals in production wells, leads to the conclusion that the States and Federal Government will in unison and individually start to ban fracking operations across the U.S.

The first permanent drilling bans will occur in the Eastern U.S. in the Marcellus Shale formation in New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. This geographic area has already been severely damaged by Natural Gas Fracking and substantial legal actions are pending and many more are forthcoming against production companies.

State and Municipal pension and retirement funds in the States polluted by Oil and Natural Gas Fracking will require their money managers not to purchase and own any producers which have participated in "Fracking," essentially prohibit the purchase or ownership of these producers in public pension fund allocations.

The EPA will be given absolute control of the Oil and Gas Producers utilizing hydraulic fracturing and any violations involving injecting toxic chemicals into the ground for drilling purposes will be dealt with in a very harsh and financially severe manner. Every Oil and Natural Gas drilling site which has had toxic chemicals utilized should be treated as an "EPA clean-up site" and will be subject to the full powers of the EPA to institute the equivalent of the "Death Penalty" to producers who violate Federal Environmental Law.

The environmental liabilities that the Oil and Natural Gas Industry have already created by hydraulic fracturing exceed the financial capability of most Producers to cover and environmental litigation and enforcement by the EPA and State Agencies could technically bankrupt many of the producers.

The full disclosure of specific toxic chemicals which have been utilized in the past and are currently being utilized by Oil and Natural Gas producers will be made into State and Federal Law and violations of the full disclosure law will bring swift and "going concern threatening" penalties.

Arkansas Earthquakes: We are calling for people to keep an earthquake journal!

2011-02-26T12:28:00.000-08:00

We have received emails and calls from people who are concerned. One person said: "i cant believe they want to risk greers ferry we could be seriously doomed .we are a rocking rolling here man 23 since midnite and so far only 4 on usgs website and one downgraded from 3.0 to 2.7 are we manipulating the data now?" OMG.

Just a suggestion. We have received reports from people who describe their earthquake experiences as more severe than the final USGS "report" of the Richter Scale reading. The USGS is allowed to adjust the reading up or down, based on field input. Please give them information about what you are experiencing here and also keep your own written journal. Include time, date and a narrative about the experience and any damage. The scale below could be a useful reference.

The Richter Scale. A very important fact in this scale is that as each number goes up, the earthquake increases *10 times* in power

1. Felt by instruments only

2. Felt by sensitive people and sensitive animals (10 times #1)

3. Felt by many people--feels like a passing truck (100 times #1)

4. Felt by everyone; pictures fall off the wall (1,000 times #1)

5. Damage--may cause weak walls to crack and fall (10,000 times #1)

6. A destuctive earthquake in populated areas; falling smokestacks, etc. (100,000 times #1)

7. A major earthquake causing serious damage (1,000,000 times #1)

8. A disaster--a great earthquake that produces total destruction to nearby communities {1906 in San Francisco--8.3} (10,000,000 times #1)

9. Libson, Portugal had the highest ever in 1775 at 8.9. (100,000,000 times #1)

An interesting article about the New Madrid Seismic Zone is here.

Arkansas Earthquakes! Rocky Mountain Arsenal Speaks Volumes!

2011-02-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

Time Magazine reported on the Rocky Mountain Arsenal study that showed a correlation between injection wells and earthquakes. Injection wells can cause earthquakes! Read here.

Wall Street Journal Changes Story On GASLAND...One Hour After Posting...Did BIG GAS Censor them?

2011-02-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

The Wall Street Journal posted a story "Oscar Attention Irks Gas Industry" about GASLAND yesterday with a revealing quote by an industry executive which pulls the curtain and reveals the great and powerful "Oz" is just a humbug. The gas industry's tightly controlled script to manage their public image is beginning to show fractures, if you will excuse the play on words.

"We have to stop blaming documentaries and take a look in the mirror," Matt Pitzarella, a spokesman for gas producer Range Resources Corp., was quoted as saying in WSJ.

Truer words were never spoken....but, wait. One hour after this quote appeared the Wall Street Journal pulled the quote and replaced it with a vanilla quote by Chesapeake CHK. People all over saved a screen copy of the original which reveals the WSJ's censoring. Many cried foul and wondered how deep is the control by the gas industry of our third estate.

For a full account, the Huffington Post reports on the breaking story here.

JOSH FOX AND CALVIN TILLMAN IN ARKANSAS RIGHT AFTER ACADEMY AWARDS!!!!

2011-02-25T18:25:00.000-08:00

Academy Award Nominee (maybe winner) Josh Fox and Mayor Calvin Tillman to visit Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas
February 28 Gasland Showing...March 1 Panel Discussion
February 28th Gasland Showing is at 7:00PM at Hendrix College 172-173 Worsham Hall, Conway, AR 72032
March 1 Panel Discussion is at 7:30 PM and features Josh Fox, Mayor Tillman and Industry Representatives
Henrix College, Staples Hall, Conway, AR 72032

This is an excellent opportunity to hear from Academy Award Nominee, Josh Fox. Please bring your friends, family and all who have been shaken by current earthquakes and gas drilling abuses. This should be a riveting viewing and discussion. Citizens who appeared in the Arkansas footage of Gasland will also be on hand for the event.

Seismic Testing Starts on Greer's Ferry Lake! This is insane!

2011-02-25T17:40:00.000-08:00

The Heber Springs Sun Times reports here that Chesapeake begins seismic testing on Greer's Ferry Lake. I really don't understand a couple of things. First, I thought Chesapeake sold out all its interests in Arkansas's Fayetteville Shale Play to foreign countries. Secondly, why did it only leak out that Chesapeake was drilling ON the lake after the announcement of the big sale? How is it that there was no environmental impact study on a GIANT issue like this which involves the safety of drinking water for thousands of people. How does the sweltering tango between gas companies and these agencies work? Are there special steps that the simple public can't learn? The Times writes "The lake bottom at Greers Ferry Lake is much deeper than other lakes where Chesapeake has conducted on-water seismic work. The greater depth will serve to reduce the disturbance of the fisheries and minimize turbidity of lake sediment." According to WHOM? What scientific study backs up that information? We must stand up and fight for our water supplies. If we don't, no one will!

They're multiplying like bunnies!!! GROUPS AND BLOGS GROW AS ARKANSAS EARTHQUAKES CONTINUE AND DRILLING ON GREER'S FERRY LAKE THREATENS WATER SUPPLY OF THOUSANDS!!!

2011-02-25T03:29:00.000-08:00

Yet another super blog: http://frackingarkansas.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/
And another: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread663812/pg1
And another: http://aladywithacamera.blogspot.com/2011/02/and-then-there-are-pictures-you-dont.html?spref=fb

Groups have popped up all over the Fayetteville Shale Play with one thought in mind: Let's stop this madness before we trigger "the big one." Scores of people are experiencing water contamination and air pollution problems. Many have reported house damage from that just can't be ignored. The growing outrage stands in stark contrast to our government's cozy relationship with the gas companies and their paid lobbyists. We hear about more groups every day. This is not going away because everywhere they drill they create more victims through water contamination, air pollution, earthquakes, road damage, land scarring, and bullying tactics.

Arkansas Earthquakes...Letter From Citizen! IS USGS REPORTING EVERYTHING????

2011-02-25T02:58:00.000-08:00

Yet another letter from another concerned citizen about the earthquakes in Central Arkansas:

Feb. 24.2011

Second Request, First request Feb. 17, 2011
To Whom it may concern,

We are again requesting that all gas related activity be stopped immediately in the area. I have done some research from 2004 to date and have concluded the earthquakes may very well be related to gas activity. I have kept notes since May 2010 of what I see around me and then used the USGS website to search earthquakes and see a pattern starting in Aug.2010. I recommend putting in the following latitude and longitude points, connect the dots and make this a No Drill Zone inside that square, and no drilling from the side under that area. They are (35.393 -92.440 ) (35.398 -92.188) (35.186 -92.449) (35.187 -92.203). Any current wells should be capped and sealed. I believe you are in a very sensitive area of the New Madrid Fault that doesn’t need any help to become a huge problem. In my opinion it is similar to shaking a salmon at a very hungry grizzly bear: it should not be done.

Dirck DeTurck and family
Greenbrier, AR

Greer's Ferry Lake...Let's SAVE IT!!!! KARK Reports

2011-02-24T19:45:00.000-08:00

See KARK story here.

Massive Gas Well Explosion in Washington County, PA

2011-02-24T18:50:00.000-08:00

A fireball burst into the darkened skies in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pa yesterday.

"It sounded like a bomb went off," said Bud Fullen, who lives in the area. Other neighbors said the blast shook their homes. The fire started at a site operated by Chesapeake Appalachia LLC, a subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy, near Meadowcroft Road at about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday.
"My daughter came running through the door yelling, 'That gas well just blew up,'" neighbor Joelle Campbell said.

The full report is here.

Josh Fox's NPR INTERVIEW! He mentions Arkansas!

2011-02-24T18:19:00.000-08:00

NPR did a great interview with Josh Fox today about his film GASLAND and the upcoming Academy Awards Show this Sunday night. The interview discusses the gas industry's attacks against the film. An Arkansas caller is quoted below. Al, if you read our blog, please contact us at slingshotarkansas@gmail.com Listen to the entire interview here.

CONAN: We're talking with Josh Fox. He is the director of "Gasland," one of the five films nominated for this year's Oscar for best feature length documentary. You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION, coming to you from NPR News.
And let's get Al on the line. Al's with us from White County in Arkansas.
AL (Caller): Yes. I'm calling just to say thank you, Josh, for your film, for your help, because we are ground zero down here. No one has been listening.
Mr. FOX: Yeah.
AL: They started really intensively - well, they started buying up mineral rights back in 2007, 2008. And a lot of us didn't know what was going on. And then they, you know, they got permission to drill. And a lot of people in our area have lost their wells. Their wells have gone bad.
CONAN: You mean, their water wells?
AL: Their water wells, their drinking water. And we called the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. No one - well, they said they were going to investigate but they were short on staff, short on inspectors. We called the governor's office. We called our former senator, Mrs. Lincoln, Senator Prior -no one would listen. But Josh visit - Josh came to Arkansas. He came to Clinton last summer and showed the film, and then he was in Little Rock, and suddenly everything changed.
There's been a bill introduced in the Arkansas legislature, a landowner's bill of rights. There's a disclosure provision to make the companies disclose what kind of chemicals they're injecting into the water. It's in committee right now, but it's - Josh, thank you for your...
Mr. FOX: Well, I really appreciate your comments. And I'm actually going to be in Arkansas doing a speech at Hendrix University right after the Academy Awards. I'm looking forward to it. I have great friends down in Arkansas. It's one of the places that I visited first. And you can see their footage on the "GasLand" DVD. There's some of it in the film

Great New Blog! YOU MUST READ THIS! Greer's Ferry Lake Drilling Threatens A Heritage of Beauty

2011-02-24T17:41:00.000-08:00

http://aladywithacamera.blogspot.com/2011/02/and-then-there-are-pictures-you-dont.html#comment-form
A lady with a camera is an amazing photo journal about life in the Fayetteville Shale Play around Greer's Ferry Lake. The photos and the poignant personal reflection are in sharp contrast to the glaring photos of the gas drilling and it's scarring. Read this blog!

Arkansas Severance Tax Increase Rejected by McDaniel

2011-02-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

Associated Press reports that the language of Sheffield Nelson's amendment to the Arkansas Consitution has been rejected by Attorney General Dusty McDaniel. He will be able to resubmit after making minor changes. Read story from AP here.

Something's Fishy? Chesapeake Sells Out Then Gets Permit to do OFF SHORE DRILLING ON GREER'S FERRY LAKE?

2011-02-23T04:51:00.000-08:00

Wait a minute. Chesapeake selling all its interests in the Fayetteville Shale to an international Australian company is the big front page news story yesterday. Then the next day we find out they got a deal without public hearings to drill ON GREER'S FERRY LAKE. This is a water source for thousands of people. We are currently experiencing earthquakes in the Fayetteville Shale. Do we want to risk a dam failure on top of all the other abuses? These companies are blinded with greed and our government has sold us down the river. .

Mayor Calvin Tillman of DISH Sells Home and Moves Away to Protect His Family From Health Problems Associated with Gas Production. He Vows To Keep Fighting!!!

2011-02-23T04:29:00.000-08:00

Mayor Calvin Tillman of DISH, Texas has sold his home....at a loss. His family's dream turned into a nightmare when DISH, Texas became a hub of natural gas pipelines. Dehydration units spew forth toxins into the air on a daily basis and the Tillman children were experiencing ill health effects. In order to protect their precious children, the Tillmans have moved to a Texas neighborhood that is currently not experiencing any gas production activity. Tillman has vowed to continue fighting for reform. This family is among the many who have fled the gasfield...GASLAND refugees. Read more here.

Greer's Ferry Lake SOLD DOWN THE RIVER! Save Greer's Ferry Lake.Org Speaks Out

2011-02-22T19:13:00.000-08:00

Please forward to interested parties.

GAS WELL TESTING/DRILLING IN AND UNDER GREERS FERRY LAKE

Apparently the Secretary of the Army and the Corps of Engineers have decided that gas revenues from drilling UNDER Greers Ferry Lake are more important than protecting the water quality and natural shoreline of Greers Ferry Lake. License No. DACW03-3-10-3297 was issued to Chesapeake Energy Corporation to allow extensive "use and occupation of the premises" from October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011. No public hearings were held, no public input requested, no public notification of proposed licensing for in lake survey or drilling under the lake was given. This is public property. Mineral rights (gas extraction) permits would be, or have been, issued by the US Bureau of Land Management Field Office in Jackson, Mississippi. So far, no response has been obtained from John Dykes at that office. His phone number is

601-977-5427.

30 foot boats will be used to shoot 2000 psi air blasts into the water for sensor recordings to be taken to determine potential gas well drilling locations. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission representatives will be present to determine harmful effects (turbidity, fish kill? etc) and are authorized to halt the operations if damages are deemed excessive. The AR Game & Fish Commission will build seven courtesy docks to accommodate the seismographic survey boats. The docks are to be accepted in lieu of a $42,250 easement payment. Construction of the docks was to have been completed by January 31, 2011.
Save Greers Ferry Lake, Inc is concerned that leasing the lake property as a natural gas supply will be a potential threat to the water purity of this Regional Water Supply and will have negative effects on real estate values, tourism, retiree and vacation home interests, the environment (air, soil, water), wildlife, and the quality of life that has built this community. If you share our concerns, or have questions about this extended activity, please contact Win Hargis, Greers Ferry Lake Project Manager at the Heber Springs Corps Office, phone

501-362-2416, or Col. Glen Masset, Little Rock District Engineer, phone

501-324-5531. Also, ask your legislators to put clean water availability over gas profits by denying UNDER the lake drilling . Additional addresses are listed in the Reference section of the website. Please help to protect the clean water and natural shoreline of Greers Ferry Lake!!

www.savegreersferrylake.org

License No. DACW03-3-IO-3297

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY LICENSE
GREERS FERRY LAKE
CLEBURNE COUNTY, ARKANSAS

THE SECRETARY OF THE ARMY, hereinafter referred to as the Secretary, under authority of Title 10, United States Code, Section 2668, grants to Ed Lengel, Chesapeake Energy Corporation, P. O. Box 55, Heber Springs, Arkansas 72543, hereinafter referred to as the grantee, a license to conduct a seismic survey and blasting, over, across, in and upon lands of the United States, as identified in Exhibit "A" attached hereto and made a part hereof, hereinafter referred to as the premises.

THIS LICENSE is granted subject to the following conditions.
1. TERM
This license is granted for a term of one (1) year, beginning October 1,2010, and ending
September 30,2011, but revocable at will be the Secretary.
2. CONSIDERATION
In lieu of the market value for this easement of Forty-Two Thousand, Two Hundred and
Fifty Dollars and No/100 ($42,250.00); the grantee shall provide in-kind services as agreed
between Chesapeake Energy Corporation and the Greers Ferry Project Office, as described in
Exhibit B. Services to be performed will be agreed upon prior to beginning work on government
land. These in-kind services will be completed by January 31, 2011. An itemized listing of
services performed, locations, and their values, will be provided by the grantee upon completion
of work. Value of work performed must be equal to or greater than the $42,250.00, market value of this easement.
In addition, the grantee shall pay an administrative fee in advance to the United States the
amount of Three Hundred Fifty-Five and No/100 Dollars ($355.00), in full for the term hereof,
payable to the order of the Finance and Accounting Officer, Little Rock District, and delivered to
the District Engineer, Little Rock District, Corps of Engineers, CESWL-OP-R, P. O. Box 867,
Little Rock, Arkansas 72203-0867.

3. NOTICES

All notices and correspondence to be given pursuant to this license shall be addressed, if
to the grantee, Chesapeake Energy Corporation, P. O. Box 55, Heber Springs, Arkansas 72543;
and if to the United States, to the District Engineer, Attention: Chief, Real Estate, P. O. Box 867,
Little Rock, Arkansas 72203-0867; or as may from time to time otherwise be directed by the parties. Notice shall be deemed to have been duly given if and when enclosed in a properly sealed envelope addressed as aforesaid, and deposited, postage prepaid, in a post office regularly maintained by the United States Postal Service.

4. AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVES

Except as otherwise specifically provided, any reference herein to "Secretary", "District Engineer", or "said officer" shall include their duly authorized representatives. Any reference to "grantee" shall include any duly authorized representatives.

5. SUPERVISION BY THE DISTRICT ENGINEER
The use and occupation of the premises shall be subject to the general supervision and approval of the District Engineer, Little Rock District, hereinafter referred to as said officer, and to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed from time to time by said officer.

6. APPLICABLE LAWS AND REGULATIONS
The grantee shall comply with all applicable Federal, state, county and municipal laws, ordinances and regulations wherein the premises are located.

7. CONDITIONAL USE BY GRANTEE
The exercise of the privileges herein granted shall be:
a. Without cost or expense to the United States:
b. Subject to the right of the United States to improve, use or maintain the premises.
c. Subject to other outgrants of the United States on the premises.
d. Personal to the grantee, and this license or any interest therein, may not be transferred or assigned.
8. CONDITION OF PREMISES
The grantee acknowledges that it has inspected the premises, knows its condition, and
understands that the same is granted without any representations or warranties whatsoever and without any obligation on the part of the United States.
9. COST OF UTILITIES
The grantee shall pay the cost, as determined by the officer haying immediate supervision
over the premises, of producing and/or supplying any utilities and other services furnished by the
Government or through Government-owned facilities for the use of the grantee, including the
grantee's proportionate share of the cost of operation and maintenance of the Government-owned facilities by which such utilities or services are produced or supplied. The Government shall be under no obligation to furnish utilities or services. Payment shall be made in the manner prescribed by the officer having such jurisdiction.

10. PROTECTION OF PROPERTY

The grantee shall keep the premises in good order and in a clean, safe condition by and at
the expense of the grantee. The grantee shall be responsible for any damage that may be caused
to property of the United States by the activities of the grantee under this license, and shall
exercise due diligence in the protection of all property located on the premises against fire or
damage from any and all other causes. Any property of the United States damaged or destroyed
by the grantee incident to the exercise of the privileges herein granted shall be promptly repaired
or replaced by the grantee to a condition satisfactory to said officer, or at the election of said
officer, reimbursement made therefor by the grantee in an amount necessary to restore or replace
the property to a condition satisfactory to said officer.

11. INDEMNITY
The United States shall not be responsible for damages to property or injuries to persons
which may arise from or be incident to the exercise of the privileges herein granted, or for
damages to the property of the grantee, or for damages to the property or injuries to the person of
the grantee's officers, agents, or employees or others who may be on the premises at their
invitation or the invitation of anyone of them, and the grantee shall hold the United States
harmless from any and all such claims not including damages due to the fault or negligence of
the United States or its contractors.

12. RESTORATION

On or before the expiration of this license or its termination by the grantee, the grantee
shall vacate the premises, remove the property of the grantee, and restore the premises to a
condition satisfactory to said officer. If, however, this license is revoked, the grantee shall
vacate the premises, remove said property, and restore the premises to the aforesaid condition
within such time as the said officer may designate. In either event, if the grantee shall fail or
neglect to remove said property and restore the premises, then, at the option of said officer, the
property shall either become the property of the United States without compensation therefor, or
said officer may cause the property to be removed and no claim for damages against the United States or its officers or agents shall be created by or made on account of such removal and restoration work. The grantee shall also pay the United States on demand any sum which may be expended by the United States after the expiration, revocation, or termination of this license in restoring the premises.

13. NON-DISCRIMINATION

The grantee shall not discriminate against any person or persons or exclude them from participation in the grantee's operations, programs or activities because of race, color, religion, sex, age, handicap or national origin in the conduct of operations on the premises. The grantee will comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and attendant Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) published by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board.

14. TERMINATION

This license may be terminated by the grantee at any time by giving the District Engineer
at least ten (10) days notice in writing provided that no refund by the United States of any
consideration previously paid shall be made and provided further, that in the event that said
notice is not given at least ten (10) days prior to the rental due date, the grantee shall be required
to pay the consideration for the period shown in the Condition on CONSIDERATION.

15. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

a. Within the limits of their respective legal powers, the parties to this license shall
protect the premises against pollution of its air, ground and water. The grantee shall comply with
any laws, regulations, conditions, or instructions affecting the activity hereby authorized if and
when issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, or any Federal, state, interstate or local
governmental agency having jurisdiction to abate or prevent pollution. The disposal of any toxic
ox: hazardous materials within the premises is specifically prohibited. Such regulation,
conditions, or instructions in effect or prescribed by said Environmental Protection Agency, or
any Federal, state, interstate or local governmental agency are hereby made a condition of this
license. The grantee shall not discharge waste or effluent from the premises in such a manner
that the discharge will contaminate streams or other bodies of water or otherwise become a
public nuisance.
b. The grantee will use all reasonable means available to protect the environment and
natural resources, and where damage nonetheless occurs from the grantee's activities, the grantee
shall be liable to restore the damage

c. The grantee must obtain approval in writing from said officer before any pesticides or herbicides are applied to the premises.

16. HISTORlC PRESERVATION

The grantee shall not remove or disturb, or cause or permit to be removed or disturbed,
any historical, archeological, architectural or other cultural artifacts, relics,
remains or objects of antiquity. In the event such items are discovered on the premises, the
grantee shall immediately notify said officer and protect the site and the material from further
disturbance until said officer gives clearance to proceed.
17. DISCLAIMER
This license is effective only insofar as the rights of the United States in the premises are
concerned; and the grantee shall obtain any permit or license which may be required by Federal,
state, or local statute in connection with the use of the premises. It is understood that the
granting of this license does not preclude the necessity of obtaining a Department of the Army
permit for activities which involve the discharge of dredge or fill material or the placement of
fixed structures in the waters of the United States, pursuant to the provisions of Section 10 of the
Rivers and Harbors Act of 3 March 1899 (33 U.S.C. 403), and Section 404 of the Clean Waters
Act (33 U.S.C. 1344).

18. SPECIAL CONDITIONS

Helicopters may be utilized to transport cables and portable drilling units to perform the seismic activity on Corps of Engineers property outside of the park areas. All FAA rules and regulations must be strictly adhered to during the operation. Additionally, the grantee must publicize this information through local media outlets (newspaper and radio) one month prior to the work taking place and weekly during the activity explaining the reason helicopters are flying near the lake. The news release must be coordinated with the Little Rock District Public Affairs Office.

Helicopter may not fly over, nor any "blasting" occur on Corps property in connection with this agreement, before 7:30 a.m. or after 7:30 p.m. Charges utilized in the "blasting" operation may not exceed 150 grams of
powder. Holes may not be dug below 11 feet in depth. No vehicles will be allowed off-road on government lands. No trees shall be cut. Compensation for any damaged trees will be paid to the government based on landscape value, in accordance with SWLR-I130-2-47. Upon completion of the project, any holes will be filled to capacity with pea gravel and soil and the ground restored to its original contour, or mitigate for damages. The Grantee agrees to be responsible for any damage arising from the activity of the Grantee, its employees and/or contractors on said lands, in the exercise of rights under this license, and shall repair such damages. This license does not relieve the Grantee from obtaining any necessary easements or permits. Where possible, the seismic cables will be placed in road ditches. If seismic cables have to cross any Government roads, they will be covered with a
protective covering. The vibrator truck will stay on roads in Recreation Areas. Grantee agrees to contact Benny Rorie, Greers Ferry Project Office, 501-362- 2417. Ext 2102, prior to commencing any work on project lands.
THIS LICENSE is not subject to Title 10, United States Code, Section 2662, as amended.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand by authority of the Secretary of the Army this 25th day of October ,2010.
ELLYCE BEST
Senior Realty Specialist
Real Estate Division
TIDS LICENSE is also executed by the grantee this day of ______ ,2010.
ATTEST:
Chesapeake Energy Corporation
DACW03-3-10-3297
Greers Ferry Lake
County: Cleburne
State: Arkansas
Acres: 8450
LICENSE

(Seismic Testing Area)
A tract of land situate in the county of Cleburne, State of Arkansas, being contained within Township 11 North, Range 11 West and Township 12 North, Range 10 West of the Fifth Principal Meridian, and containing approximately 8450 acres, more or less as shown outlined in red on Exhibit A, Page 1.
August 26, 2010
Exhibit A

SEISMIC SURVEY
IN-KIND SERVICES
Grantee agrees in lieu of cash payment, in-kind services will be provided. Grantee will construct seven (7) courtesy docks similar to the ones installed by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission at Devils Fork, Sugar Loaf and Hill Creek Parks. Due to the differing slops, docks will be built to match the ramps at each site listed below. Coordination will be made with Benny Rorie, Greers Ferry Project Office, 501-362-2416, ext 2102, regarding construction of these docks.
1 docks - Old Highway 25 Park
2 docks - Dam Site Park
1 dock - Heber Springs Park
1 dock - Cove Creek Park
1 dock - Cherokee Park
1 dock - Choctaw Park
Docks shall be completed by January 31,2011.
Estimated costs by AR Game and Fish, for each dock, $6000.00.
Exhibit B

Chesapeake SELLS ALL OF FAYETTEVILLE SHALE INTEREST TO BHP Billiton for 4.75 Billion

2011-02-22T05:02:00.000-08:00

Watch out my friends in PA. Now they're (CHK) LOADED! 4.75 Billion Dollars to frack the heck out of the Marcellus. Watch out my friends in Arkansas. Our new overlords probably think they've made it to frackin' heaven because their friend Chesapeake probably told them how cooperative we are. Passive. Meek. They don't know us very well.
Read story here and here.

Arkansas Earthquakes Awaken Citizens! Another Letter From A Citizen!! 12 Benefits of a Shale Play! Good Advice!!!

2011-02-22T04:35:00.000-08:00

12 BENEFITS OF A SHALE PLAY(from a residents point of view)

#1 Your roads will be destroyed because they were not built well enough, but they will pay to“Make them better”. Wait, they can’t afford that: you pay for it.

#2 Your traffic and noise will increase ten fold, especially in the middle of the night and weekends.

#3 Your view outside will transform into beautiful black pads, as you enjoy the smell of diesel fuel, and as they burn off all the debris you can pretend you are camping in your house. (Get the marshmallows)

#4 Your house will go through a “Shakedown” as they drill through the bedrock. (Preparing You for benefit #10)

#5 You will be “Blessed” with the noise of drilling, pipes clanging, stadium like lighting, air pollution and lots of traffic as they get these wells on line. (Bonus: Litter and recyclables on all the roadways)

#6 You will get to enjoy the metal taste in your mouth, unexplained rashes, headaches, bodyaches, oil film on your windows as they burn off the well for production. (N/C for the acid rain)

#7 Your water supply may change for an unexplained reason, if you can light it on fire, it is probably from fireworks not them.

#8 Your water pressure may change as they use the next 20 years of your supply, but they will add Chemicals to it that cause cancer and inject it back into the ground for your grandchildren.

#9 They will re-seed and plant trees around the black pads, put a compressor on it, then house that compressor with a building and point the open end right at your house for you to enjoy the noise till the well runs dry. ( no more pesty cicadas and peepers to hear)

#10 As they remove the gas to sell, at a slight profit, to foreign countries, they might provide you with earthquakes 24/7 to enjoy, as the best place to get their product is around active faults.

#11 You will experience an increase at local business’s, especially fuel stations, to do all of the above, as they don’t use their own product on equipment to get the product, leaving more to sell.

#12 You may experience a devaluation of your homes worth, change in your health and lifestyle from all of the above, but it is way worth it. You should get that constant ringing in your ears checked.

Arkansas Earthquakes Must Stop! Greenbrier Resident writes letter to Government, Gas Companies, Agencies Calling for a Halt of All Gas Production Activities.

2011-02-21T16:19:00.000-08:00

Feb. 17,2011

1st Request

We are formally requesting that all gas activity in the area be suspended until futher notice,before homes are destroyed and lives lost. It is quite obvious to us that after last weeks snow on Feb9, that prevented any gas activity, the earthquakes stopped. On Sunday Feb13, the activity slowly started again as compressors were put back online, so did the earthquakes ,with 3 on Sunday, 2 on Monday, 4 on Tuesday, 18 on Wednesday. I can only assume that we, the collateral damage, have no say in our fate, must endure this till masses of people are killed by an earthquake, air pollution, noise pollution, and most of all water contamination, then others will listen. I was wondering what that number is?, 100,000 200,000 or perhaps the whole states population. I can’t believe this so called clean energy, that you yourselves do not use, is worth those lives. Again we request all activity cease until you can prove you are not causing it.

Dirk DeTurck Family
Greenbrier, AR.

Arkansas Earthquakes in Greenbrier Increase as Natural Gas Drilling and Fracking Increase!!!

2011-02-21T11:56:00.000-08:00

People in the Greenbrier area are certain of one thing: as the drilling and fracking increased in their area so did the earthquakes. Greenbrier resident, Dirk Deturck lives on a ridge between Guy and Greenbrier. He was watching the rigs. As soon as they increased drilling and fracking on the Greenbrier side, then the Greenbrier quakes started increasing in intensity and frequency. "They feel really different now." Deturck said. He described the sensation as waves rolling underneath them and when it hit it sounds like a "boom." He believes the injection wells have a lot to do with the quakes, but blames all of the activity including fracking and compressor stations. During the snow storm Deturk noticed all gas activity stopped: no compressors running, no drilling, no fracking and no injecting. Guess what? He said he looked at USGS data and there were no earthquakes for three days following the snow. He also noticed a cluster of small quakes on the Tennessee side of the Mississippi River the same day as some larger ones in Greenbrier. He feared the gas production could trigger a "big one" and possibly set off the New Madrid Fault. We've had many assurances from experts from AGS that that will PROBABLY never happen, but still they tell us to make plans for emergency preparedness. Interesting.

GAS in water wells! It's happening in all GASLAND's!!!!! Quitman, AR

2011-02-21T10:26:00.000-08:00

This was in yesterday's paper and is just another case of contamination in Arkansas. EPA...where are you? We need help!

Former Arkansas Gubanatorial Candidate's Plea to Arkansas and Governor Beebe Regarding the Crisis in the Fayetteville Shale Play

2011-02-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Our state is in the sixth year of drilling in the Fayetteville Shale. I'll guess that many of you are sick of hearing me talk about this issue. I'll also guess that many of you have not really looked in detail at many of the things I have written or said about this issue. I don't take it personally. Much of the information is less interesting than reading the soup cans at Kroger.

When I first heard about the drilling process, I was alarmed. It did not sound safe to me. Within thirty minutes of researching hydraulic fracturing I was convinced that it was a desperate move by a desperate nation. Now, three years after my first involvement, I'm more convinced than ever that hydraulic fracturing is a terrible, fatalistic endeavor.
If I did not have friends and family in Arkansas I would be looking for a way out now. If I could afford it, and my family was willing, I would relocate us all now from the land that I love. A place that I am certain to be an American treasure. (I've been to 40 + states so I know!) The natural resources that Arkansas possesses are unequaled by any region in the world. Its been said that Arkansas is the only American state that could be fully sustained by its own resources. As Ronnie Lane says, there is nowhere to run.

It is very sad to me that I would consider relocating my family to a place that is safer for human health due only to wise use. I always think about Japanese culture and how hyper-vigilance regarding ecology sustains the ancient culture on their tiny Island. I think about how Arkansas has the potential to support so many more people and grow in diversity if we take care of our resources. Arkansans need Arkansas. The world needs Arkansas. Not the chemical Arkansas. The Natural Arkansas.

I need your help to communicate what is really going on. I know that the people of Arkansas love Mike Beebe. They think he is a swell guy. Maybe I just don't know how to communicate with him. I believe he must get publicly involved deeply in this issue right now. Not reading prepared statements, but speaking frankly about this issue in an open forum. A forum that is not brokered by the Democrat Gazette, or Channel 7 or Stephens Media.

Do you know where the best place to discuss this issue is? Its right here in our old friend Facebook. Any of you out there who have an "in" with the Beebe administration, please share this note with them. Consider it a cry for help.

Thanks for your consideration,

Roderick A. Bryan
Arkansan

.

Map of Fault Lines and Injection Wells in Arkansas' Fayetteville Shale Play

2011-02-20T15:52:00.000-08:00

AOGC map of faults and injection wells...click HERE for pdf file of bigger version of map. Take a look at this amazing map. You can see injection wells near and in some cases ON the fault lines.

What happened to the Weight Limits on Roads? Why Have the County Judges Backed Down?

2011-02-20T14:31:00.000-08:00

Just a few months ago the county judges in the Fayetteville Shale were decrying the destruction of our roads by heavy gas production semis. Then we heard the announcement that the severance tax did not cover the damage. Then the Highway Department declared that they were imposing modest weight limit reductions on the highways in the worst condition in the Fayetteville Shale. THEN IT ALL CHANGED. Suddenly, the Highway Department said wait....we can't start on Monday because we should really have public hearings. What? Really? Then I also thought it was odd that the county judges were sounding like a Greek chorus praising the gas companies presence in Arkansas. What? But, wait a minute....read this and it will make sense.

“Today, we donated a total of five trucks,” said Danny Games, senior director of corporate development for Chesapeake in Arkansas. “That brings our grand total of truck donations since 2005 to 21, one for each year our company has been in business.”
The trucks are quality, well-maintained vehicles that once belonged to the company’s corporate fleet.
County judges from Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Van Buren and White counties were on hand to receive the keys to their respective trucks. To determine the specific vehicles that they would receive, each judge drew a number from a Chesapeake hard hat. The number that corresponded with the number on the truck was the one in which they would drive away.
“We appreciate this truck donation from Chesapeake,” Faulkner County Judge Preston Scroggin said. “The company continues to be a good partner and a supportive investor in our communities.”

A friend recently went to the last Quorum Court Meeting this week and saw one of the trucks. She asked: Is this one of them? It was a shiny, white truck. White...just like industry trucks. Weight limits...faggedaboutit!

ADEQ Lawyers Are Writing Pit Rules, But Have Never Been Out to See a Frack Pit in the Field!!!

2011-02-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

Disabled man says his water well is destroyed after Southwestern Energy SWN drill/fracks and buries pipeline.

2011-02-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

Disabled Man Says He Loses Water Well After Southwestern Energy Drill/Fracks and Lays Pipeline Near His Property from sling shot on Vimeo.

Disabled man says after close to ten years of great water he lost his water well when Southwestern Energy SWN drilled/fracked a gas well across the street from him and dug a gas pipeline on his property line. He says he called and called and called and called the gas company to no avail. He finally gave up. He's been without water for over two years and collects water in a garbage can from drippings from his roof. During this drought he has gone sometimes several days without water. It's a heartbreaking situation that is simply a case of environmental injustice.

Landowners and Sierra Club Attorney Give Strong Suggestions to Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality

2011-02-20T08:35:00.000-08:00

Arkansas Earthquakes...Guy, Greenbrier...Many Suspect Fracking and Injection Wells. Will They Trigger the Big One?

2011-02-20T06:16:00.000-08:00

The world has been watching. Everyone knows earthquakes happen, but they think of California, or the Ring of Fire. No one would imagine the once sleepy town of Guy, Arkansas as the center of an earthquake storm. We have experienced over 700 earthquakes in the space of six months. Seismologists have labeled this an official swarm and have peddled the idea that this is a seismically sensitive area and that no one should be alarmed. Well, that's not going over very well with the populace. People have been rocked while sitting on their commodes, cabinets have fallen off the walls, cracks have been appearing in foundations and some framing. People are frightened. Geologist Scott Ausbrooks from the Arkansas Geological Survey has said he ruled out fracking and is studying injection wells as the possible culprit. Meanwhile, people in the area agree with him regarding the injection wells, but still think the whole process of fracking is contributing to this. Mr. Ausbrooks is quoted in Planetsave: "It could just be a naturally occurring swarm like the Enola swarm, or it could be related to ongoing natural gas exploration in the area,” Scott Ausbrooks, geohazards supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey, said.

The earthquakes in the past week have been increasing in number and intensity some over 4.0 on the Richter Scale. They have been centered a little south of Guy, in Greenbrier and have also been felt by people in the larger town of Conway, AR. Why doesn't Governor Beebe call for a real moratorium on injection wells so we can see if the hypothesis is correct? If earthquakes are caused by injection wells, we should stop injecting immediately. Why not stop for a month? We could see if the quakes stop. Right now, many, many, many people believe our government is courting a huge disaster. What if they trigger "the big one?" Even Mr. Ausbrooks warns people to have emergency preparedness measures in place. WHY, if there is no danger? Read the entire Planetsave article here.

Where's the Boon? Asks Van Buren County Resident in Letter to the Editor

2011-02-19T19:01:00.000-08:00

A Van Buren County resident wrote this most recent letter to the editor:

According to an economic impact study done in 2008 (partially funded by a gas company), the gas industry would bring a $17.9 billion boon to our state and local economies. Drilling began in 2004 in the Fayetteville Shale and it’s 2011 now and I’m wondering, where’s the boon?

There are many people here in Van Buren County who are working in gas related jobs but obviously, not nearly enough. If you check unemployment data, after a decrease for a few years, it started climbing in 2009, to 9.9 percent. By the end of last year, it was only down to 9.5 percent.

We still have only a few full time inspectors to monitor drilling and answer citizen complaints because the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality doesn’t have the money to hire more.

There are people who have water from their once good wells that can’t drink it anymore because either there isn’t any water or it’s ruined from gas drilling activity. Our city water requires thousands of dollars worth of chemical treatment because Greers Ferry Lake has a sedimentation problem, courtesy of gas drilling.

We don’t have any new places to shop or eat, in spite of being one of the heaviest drilled areas since 2005. Our state highways are damaged from the constant heavy loads and they don’t have nearly enough money to fix them. Our county roads are even worse and obviously we don’t have the money to fix them either because some of them have not been repaired in two years.

At every Quorum Court meeting, I hear how broke our county is. An advisory board formed last year asked repeatedly for funding to do some baseline testing of our water and air and they were finally given the money this month. But guess what? Once again, the Quorum Court said the county didn’t really have any money to give. This is really hard to understand since besides the economic boon we’re supposed to be experiencing, all citizens with a gas well in their section are now paying higher taxes.

Yes, there are businesses making money from the gas companies and some land owners are receiving royalties, but where are the benefits to the rest of the citizens? Who’s going to buy water for them to drink or pay for them to tie on to city water if they can’t afford to? It sure won’t be the State or Van Buren County, because they don’t have any money.

It definitely won’t be a gas company because they never admit guilt in anything and the burden of proof falls on the citizen. Not knowing what chemicals to test their water for, not having money for expensive lawyers, means most citizens have no recourse. The gas companies do make one exception—if your water gets contaminated and they get enough bad publicity, they might just buy you out or provide water for you. You just have to sign a non-disclosure agreement so no more of that bad publicity ever gets out and they can go on claiming to be “good neighbors.”

If our water supply becomes contaminated or our air becomes so full of toxins from drilling activity or compressor stations, all the money in the world won’t matter. To people who are constantly sleep-deprived from compressor stations near their homes, money isn’t much of a consolation.

It is a proven fact that gas drilling is a boom and bust industry. Who’s going to help us after the bust and they’ve all pulled out? We won’t be able to help ourselves because we’re all broke.

GASLAND and the Abolitionist Movement....is this the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" of Our Time?

2011-02-19T16:04:00.000-08:00

Oscar The abolitionist movement to rid the United States of the evils of slavery rose to a fever pitch before the Civil War. Opposing political and economic forces sought to maintain their wealth on the backs of fellow human beings with the unspeakable evil of the slavery system. When I think about this, I can't help draw some comparisons to the equally unspeakable evil of poisoning people in poor, rural areas and gaining great wealth on the backs of these human beings. At the time, a young teacher and devoted abolitionist, Harriet Beecher Stowe, wrote the famous novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. It sent shockwaves throughout the country and helped mobilize and energize the abolitionist movement. I can't help but see the comparison with GASLAND.

This film and its soft-spoken, intelligent director, Josh Fox, have accomplished the same thing: They have mobilized an entire nation of victims of natural gas production and hydraulic fracturing into a huge, growing passionate movement of people who are fighting for their very lives. Like the abolitionist movement, many in government circles labled them extremists, but watch this: even Lincoln, who was actually a man who once held less than noble ideas concerning African Americans, was finally turned by the passion and truth of the cause of abolitionists and Uncle Tom's Cabin and set aside political compromise to issue the courageous Emancipation Proclamation. I would encourage all politicians to watch GASLAND, just as politicians in Lincoln's time read Uncle Tom's Cabin, and make that very courageous choice to protect our nation's water, air, soil and most importantly, her people. P.S. Josh...I hope you win the Academy Award...for all of us.

Academy Award Nominee Josh Fox and Mayor Calvin Tillman to visit Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas February 28 Gasland Showing...March 1 Panel Discussion

2011-02-19T12:06:00.000-08:00

Academy Award Nominee (maybe winner) Josh Fox and Mayor Calvin Tillman to visit Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas February 28 Gasland Showing...March 1 Panel Discussion

February 28th Gasland Showing is at 7:00PM at Hendrix College 172-173 Worsham Hall, Conway, AR 72032

March 1 Panel Discussion is at 7:30 PM and features Josh Fox, Mayor Tillman and Industry Representatives
Henrix College, Staples Hall, Conway, AR 72032

This is an excellent opportunity to hear from Academy Award Nominee, Josh Fox. Please bring your friends, family and all who have been shaken by current earthquakes and gas drilling abuses. This should be a riveting viewing and discussion. Citizens who appeared in the Arkansas footage of Gasland will also be on hand for the event.

Water Stolen and Gone Forever!

2011-02-19T11:57:00.000-08:00

Bill Introduced In Texas to put Tracers Down Natural Gas Wells! Trace Fracking!

2011-02-19T08:52:00.000-08:00

The Star Telegram reports here that a bill is being introduced to require special "tracers" to be placed down gas wells to track the migration of the gas and chemicals.

State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, filed a bill today that she said would require companies drilling for natural gas to include a unique "tracer" fluid in water used in hydraulic fracturing of wells.The tracer "would protect the gas drilling industry from false claims of groundwater contamination in the same manner that DNA evidence is used to prove (guilty) or exonerate defendants in criminal court cases," a news release issued by Davis said

Canadians Visit to the Arkansas Gas Fields with Arkansans for Gas Drilling Accountability

2011-02-18T19:29:00.000-08:00

I Feel The Earth Move Under My Feet!

2011-02-18T18:05:00.000-08:00

It's getting old. And loud. And scary. Many in Conway, Arkansas were rudely awakened by pretty strong earthquakesof 4.3 last night and early morning. For many, this was their first experience with an earthquake. One woman described it as a low rumble that sounded like a rolling explosion. Another says "There was a rattle and a boom that I thought someone threw something at my bedroom wall! From about 11:00 until 11:30 my outside dog, a large lab, was going nuts!" Log Cabin reported on the quakes here. Huffington Post also reports about the whole Guy Swarm here. Injection wells are still being researched as the culprits of the tremendous increase in seismic activity. The Log Cabin reports about the latest quakes last night here. CNN reports here.

Van Buren County AR to test water!

2011-02-18T04:33:00.000-08:00

Josh Fox and Mark Ruffalo go to Washington to ask the President and Congress for a national moratorium on gas drilling

2011-02-18T04:01:00.000-08:00

Josh Fox and Mark Ruffalo recently went to Washinton to ask Congress and the President for a national moratorium on gas drilling read the Huffington Post article here.

There are earthquakes a rumbling in Arkansas and the people are rumbling too!

2011-02-18T03:39:00.000-08:00

A magnitude 4.0 hit Arkansas yesterday and a 4.3 today with over close to 20 quakes in two days. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usb0001gkl.php
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Maps/US2/34.36.-93.-91.php

Arkansas has been receiving international attention and the finger is pointing to the gas industry as the culprit. The locals observed a lot more injecting of toxic fluids into the injection wells and voila: many, many earthquakes and bigger ones too. What will it take for them to call for a real moratorium? They have awakened a seismically sensitive area that is close to the New Madrid monster fault line. Why not be reasonable and err on the side of human safety? Read this yahoo news story here.

Who do our Agencies answer to? Why exist if you can't or won't do anything? Time for the EPA to take over!

2011-02-18T03:28:00.000-08:00

There is the increasing revelation that the agencies in Arkansas (AOGC and ADEQ) are simply facilitators of the gas industry. The Sierra Club attorney Craig Segall flew in from Washington to meet with landowners and ADEQ and AOGC. Theresa Marks chose not to take time out of her schedule to meet with the group and chose to send a person with no decision making power. AOGC was supposed to send one of their attornies over, but they cancelled at the last minute for vague reasons. They refuse to regulate the existing Arkansas environmental laws currently on the books because their said fears of being sued by the gas mafia, the pollution control agency above them and political pressure from the gas lobby. They are charged by law to enforce these laws on behalf of the people and are not doing so. We need to close their four palaces and have EPA take over and do the job right.

.

Arkansas Geological Survey urges residents to prepare for earthquakes!!!!

2011-02-17T04:19:00.000-08:00

Scott Ausbrook tells residents in Arkansas to prepare for earthquakes! Ausbrooks said, “Drop, cover and hold on. Don’t run outside to prevent being hit by falling debris.”With cabinets falling off walls in areas near Guy, AR and shaking and rumbling occurring every day I think they know that. But, does the rest of the state know the dangers of natural gas pipelines rupturing in their areas? Even if they are not in the Fayetteville Shale Play it could affect them as well. Mr. Ausbrook, what about the gas pipelines? What about the cement casings in gas wells that's supposed to protect our water??!!! Read about it in the Log Cabin Democrat here.

Academy Award Nominee Josh Fox and Mayor Calvin Tillman to visit Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas February 28 and March 1

2011-02-17T04:00:00.000-08:00

Academy Award Nominee (and hopefully winner) Josh Fox and Mayor Calvin Tillman to visit Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas February 28 and March 1. Feb 28 Hendrix will host a viewing of GASLAND (which is the day after the Academy Awards) and the next day, March 1, Fox and Tillman and others will be on a panel (perhaps including Southwestern Energy SWN) for questions and answers. More information will be forthcoming so keep looking out for it. Please bring as many friends and family as possible! We need to let our legislators and business community know how the victims in this gasland in Arkansas are suffering!

USGS is to study water sources in the Fayetteville Shale Play in Arkansas

2011-02-17T03:53:00.000-08:00

The USGS is funded in large part by the Department of Energy. That's the same department who continually aids the gas industry. USGS has spent enormous resources locating natural gas deposits around the world for the industry on the tax payer dime. Now, six years into the shale play boom they pull the curtain and enter to study water. "USGS has collaborated with Southwestern Energy" on a computer model. Wonder if science will prevail?
Read about it here in the Log Cabin Democrat.

Compressor Stations Suck. Just ask anyone that lives within a 10 mile radius of one.

2011-02-16T18:42:00.000-08:00

.by Greers Ferry Lake Natural Gas Watch on Wednesday, February 16, 2011

.Remember awhile back when I posted pics of the monster Southwestern Energy (SWN) owned and operated compressor station at Diamond Bluff and Highway 16? Its the same one that residents at Fairfield Bay complained about the noise even though its approx 6 miles away. FFB even had their city attorney challenge ADEQ over its general permitting process. ADEQ just rubber stamps the permits and does no site inspections or evaluations. ADEQ doesn't care that they are noisy.

ADEQ admitted at that meeting there is no criteria for regular inspections and said "we like to inspect them once a year but have no obligation to even do that." ADEQ classifies them on the same level as a barbecue grill. It says so right in the permit rules.

Here is a pic of it from this winter. Looks fairly benign, just a bunch of industrial equipment blocking a great view. The site is actually behind the Pryor Mountain Quarry on paper company land but there are quit a few residents within a 1/4 mile of the site and a Community Water Tower too. I've spoken to several residents around there and they all hate it.

Last winter I got the unique opportunity to travel around our county with a friend of mine, Frank Finan who owns a special FLIR GasIR camera. Its a specialized camera that was designed for the industry to detect leaks and emissions. It see's things the human eye cannot. Its specifically designed to detect hydrocarbons.

Here's some of what we recorded that day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_9_cpyYnrc

The date on the camera is correct but the time is off. We were at the site at about 10 in the morning and it was sunny and breezy.The bright white parts are the stacks and the camera is detecting the heat.

Notice that above every stack has a steady plume of emissions. This is the really dangerous part. Its constantly venting emissions that you cannot see.

These stations not only pressurize the gas to send it down the pipeline but act as a treatment facility and remove moisture and any stray products like, hydrogen sulfide and methane and vent them directly into the air for the residents of the area to deal with. 1 compressor barely meets EPA emission standards, 11 of them combined exceeds those standards. That is why ADEQ allows general permitting to get around the EPA standards.

This is happening 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

This is only a single compressor site. There are HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of them in varying sizes and configurations scattered all over the shale areas in Arkansas and other states. They put these things wherever they want, next to homes, schools and churches, it doesn't matter to them.

Your quality of life as you know it is of no concern to them, you are just in their way.

And before some genius comes on here to claim that FLIR cameras see heat because you saw it on COPS, please take a moment to educate yourself on the FLIR GasIR and its uses direct from the FLIR website. Its a highly expensive and specialized piece of equipment designed to do exactly what we are using it for.

http://www.flir.com/thermography/americas/us/OGI/chemical/

If the YouTube link is down please leave a comment about it here as the industry has a pattern of flagging and disputing anything they do not want you to see. They have managed to TEMPORARILY remove several videos and have a few accounts shutdown. Its part of their "good neighbor" policy.

How to inject any chemical you want in Arkansas and not be held accountable for it in 7 easy steps.

2011-02-15T04:02:00.000-08:00

.by Greers Ferry Lake Natural Gas Watch on Monday, February 14, 2011 at 12:53pm.

A few weeks back I talked about Arkansas Disclosure Rule B-19 and how I felt that it wasn't disclosure at all. The industry points to it and says its full disclosure so trust us.

It was pointed out there is a giant gaping loophole the industry wrote for itself by including a "trade secret" clause at the last minute despite numerous citizen concerns about it. AOGC knew about the concerns but allowed them back door it in anyway because AOGC IS the industry.

I described it as a magicians trick, a legal slight of hand, written to fool Arkansans that aren't really paying attention into thinking they are disclosing whats being injected.

Who can blame the citizens for not knowing. They are just trying to live their lives, raise their kids and squeeze in some fun when they can. Our media doesn't really help. They take the shortest, easiest and cheapest route when it comes to filling their pages or their broadcast hour. They don't really do investigative journalism anymore, its too expensive. Its easier to copy an AP story about some singer that flubbed the national anthem.

But some people are still concerned that it would be easy for a company to declare "trade secret" on chemicals not because it was actually a benefit to them financially. People believe that instead it will be used to hide from the general public what exactly they were injecting while still trying to say "trust us, its safe."

Here's how easy it is to get a chemical, no matter what it is, or the amount they are using, declared trade secret and avoid public disclosure. They can download it off the internet.
http://aogc.state.ar.us/OnlineData/Forms/Form%2037%20020211.pdf

Just fill in your name and address, check 5 boxes and type in BIOCIDE, LUBRICANT or whatever on FORM 37 and VOILA!
Instant trade secret.

It's that easy thanks to the board at the AOGC and our elected officials that direct them.
Congress confirmed that at least one ingredient they are using is anything but safe. That ingredient was diesel fuel. The industry readily admitted it and quickly absolved themselves by pointing at another loophole they created.
While it may be legal, its still highly unethical.

The industry quickly burned their "Trust Us Card" with the revelation and admission that they have injected over 414,492 gallons of diesel fuel in Arkansas and 32 million gallons nationwide.

AOGC Director Larry Bengal went on record and said that 414,492 gallons was an "insignificant amount" and "not a big problem" so its nothing to worry about.

His "Trust Us Card" is worthless too.

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/NaturalGas/6795228

I guess it isn't anything for Larry Bengal to worry about because it hasn't shown up in his well water and his family doesn't have to use it in their home. His kids or grand kids aren't drinking it or bathing in it, so its not a big problem to him.
It's also a perfect illustration of why you cannot believe a word they say, especially when filling out AOGC FORM 37.

.

Mayor Calvin Tillman's Statement on Gasland Attacks

2011-02-14T17:07:00.000-08:00

Please feel free to share or post.

It has been disappointing to see the endless attacks on Josh Fox and Gasland by the paid liars for the natural gas industry. Up until this point I have been somewhat silent on the matter. However, this foolishness has really gone far enough. The natural gas industry acts as though, everything they do works as designed, and they would never take a shortcut in the interest of profits. Having a unique experience of dealing with several of these companies, I can unequivocally say, that is a lie.

Most of these companies will fight tooth and nail to keep from spending a few thousand dollars on a piece of safety equipment, but when they get sued, they will hire the biggest, most expensive law firm in town. In turn the biggest law firm in town knows that this is a case they will lose, but will bill the company fifty thousand before they settle. When I was growing up on the farm, my daddy called that "stepping over a dollar to pick up a nickel". Therefore, this whole idea that they want to be "good neighbors" is just another lie. They are only going to be good neighbors and responsible corporate citizens when they are forced too, or embarrassed into it. And when things go wrong they will shrug their shoulders and say it wasn't them and expect us to simply take their word for it.

The approach they are taking with Gasland is exactly the same approach as they have taken for years, but the average person never hears about it. Of course with the magnitude of Gasland, we all can see their tactics. I have read letter after letter from this industry disputing any claim that does not promote their product.
The natural gas industry keeps stating that the flaming water in Gasland was "naturally occurring" methane. They further state that the state officials in Colorado have validated this story. I am sure that there is "naturally occurring" methane. However, I have yet to see something like this in an area, that drilling was not present. In the matters that I am familiar with, there were other chemicals present that are not "naturally occurring". Don't forget that state officials said everything was fine in Niagara Falls, NY, better known as "Love Canal".

Our state governments bureaucrats receive below average compensation for their specialties, and therefore does not attract the top notch employees of any given field. If they should by chance get a "pick of the litter" employee, they will move on to something better, whenever something better comes along. Therefore, you likely have people running state organizations that simply would not make it in the real world, and certainly would not be in charge of anything. As Reagan once said "we are being governed, by people who cannot govern themselves". Unfortunately, these organizations are the ones that we depend on to keep us safe, and they are failing. I have seen failure at all levels in the State of Texas, but it is not isolated here. If you should ever be in the unfortunate position of needing a state agency to protect your rights, you will quickly see just how right I am about this.

For example we are monitoring the pollution in DISH...monitoring. The State of Texas has spent $250,000.00 on a permanent air monitor in DISH, that clearly shows that whatever is happening at the compressor site is not staying at the compressor site. However, after a year and half on the job, the benzene level at the monitor was the highest ever recorded on February 12, 2011 at 8:00 AM, and by no means do I think that the monitor reading was anywhere near accurate, most likely well below what was actually present in the area. However, they will do nothing about this, it has been well over a year, and I am not sure how much better off we are for it.
Another clear example is the private well water in DISH that was contaminated with drilling mud. The mud did not show up in the water until the gas drilling was started close to the home, it tested positive for all of the known chemicals in drilling mud, the Railroad Commission documents show a substantial loss of drilling mud during drilling, and guess what? The Railroad Commission found that this could not possibly have been caused by drilling...there are your tax dollars at work. Therefore, it is clear that our state organizations are not or will not protect private citizens. They are either not smart enough, do not have the experience, or are mandated to keep their head in the sand.

Our state officials are likely to get exposed by a plaintiff's attorney real soon. With all of the lawsuits out there, it is only a matter of time before they have will have to face depositions and an attorney that will bring down this house of cards they are building. I can only hope that we get some of them in a courtroom, where their testimony will become a matter of public record. This will clearly show that we have the bottom 10 percent in our state governments. Many of the state agencies involved in DISH, have brought their dog and pony show to the citizens of DISH. They acted as though they were talking down to bunch of country bumpkins. However, these country bumpkins shredded these highly educated skilled state employee to bits, and made them look like fools (there are some youtube videos out there of the meetings). It was not long before they were looking for the door. Most of the state agencies will no longer allow their employees to attend a DISH town meeting.
This idea that methane seepage from a natural gas well could not cause someone to ignite their water, and this is only caused by "naturally occurring" methane, is a bold face lie. Several agencies have found that methane has seeped into aquifer from a gas well, including Dimock, PA and Parker County, TX, just to mention a few. The same industry reps that are attacking Josh, have stated on camera, that if gas wells casings are not properly installed they will be compromised, and further acknowledge the importance of the gas well being properly cased. Internal industry documents also show that improperly cased wells can allow the "product to escape". Therefore, for them to state that this is naturally occurring is a lie. Also, it wasn't like there was only one family that could light there water on fire in Gasland, there were numerous people that could do this trick, all in areas of active drilling, and all had other chemicals present. Maybe the paid liars forgot to mention that.

Having been intimately involved with this industry a couple of things are very apparent, one of which is that they never do things the way that they are supposed to, and the other is that the "company suits" have no idea what happens on the ground. For example, Enterprise Texas Pipeline, which is the same company that killed an employee in the Mont Belvieu, TX when their gas processing plant exploded recently, installed a pipeline in DISH a couple of years ago. When this line was installed, after of course they took the land against the will of the property owners, they did nothing that they agreed to do in the easement agreement. For example, sufficient fencing was to be installed around the trenches to prevent livestock from getting killed or injured. This was part of the easement agreement or the contract with the property owners, and they did not comply with this. They also crossed a creek, and were required to return it to its original condition, again they did not. After I brought this to the attention of several in the organization, I was set to meet with the officers of the company. They began the meeting by telling me that all of the concerns were corrected and would not happen again. Imagine their surprise when I slid several photos that had been taken right before the meeting clearly showing that they had not taken care of any concerns. What this shows is that first, they do not do what they are supposed too, can not follow simple instructions, and that the senior management have no idea what is really happening on the ground.

Many of the problems we have had in DISH, were due to reckless actions by employees on the ground. The releases, leaving condensate tanks open, leaving valves open, not recognizing pending failures, intentional releases, etc. On many occasions I asked myself, "can these guys do anything right". In my view, they either do not have or do not follow established procedures when doing these jobs. I mean for crying out loud, they had a barbecue grill in the middle of a natural gas processing plant in DISH, how dumb can they really be? This reckless abandonment is not limited to the pipeline crews or companies. Tim Ruggiero has documented the entire drilling process on his property and has recorded many reckless mistakes that happened. Drilling mud spills, condensate spills, methane leaks, Braden head pressure, and these are just the things I know about. Tim has a much longer list of the simple things the drilling crews could not do properly. Someone used the term that this industry "could tear up a bowling ball with a fly swatter"...I agree.

The fact of the matter is that this process is a delicate process, in which everything needs to be done exactly right to work properly. When things are not done properly bad things happen, I know this and so does the industry. Does anyone remember Deep Water Horizon? When those responsible are not held accountable for their mistakes, there is nothing to encourage them to do it better next time. Even when they are fined, it is nothing compared to the profits made at a single location. Therefore, there is simply no incentive to do it right, or develop safer technology, and it has gone on for so long that it is ingrained in their culture. We have allowed this and propagated these actions for way too long.

The endless attacks on Josh are baseless, foolish, and as Tim would say either a lie or a half truth, like most of the other things that come from the industry paid liars. What Josh has done with Gasland is nothing short of amazing, and the attacks from this industry are not going to stop that. He gave a voice to people who did not have a voice, he helped people who no one else would help, and he helped bring a nation and quite possibly the world together on this issue. Sorry, the cat is out of the bag and no matter how hard you try to get it back in there...it is out. Growing up on the farm, my daddy would have described what this industry is doing to Josh in one word..."chickenshit"...and I agree.

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"

VIOLATION FOR NEW INJECTION WELL IN BEE BRANCH, AR

2011-02-13T17:50:00.000-08:00

Peak Water Systems Injection Well was cited for a violation on February 2, 2011. The pressure on the document indicates the pressure went down to 0. Why is that a problem? I spoke to a source in the industry who said that indicates a major leak or failure somewhere in the casing or perhaps an fracture at the bottom. The problem is the crack or failure can occur anywhere along the line including closer to the surface where the fresh water is located. When this injection well went on line an earthquake occurred January 5 in Bee Branch a day after an injection inspection. Also, three other earthquakes were registered west of Twin Groves which is out of the Guy cluster...closer to Bee Branch. I have a question that maybe someone knows the answer to: Were the neighbors with water wells notified of this violation and the possibility their water could be affected? Have they done further testing? Was the Arkansas Geological Survey and the press notified?

Jim Crow Laws and Natural Gas Regulations/Laws Have More In Common Than You Think!

2011-02-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

Jim Crow Laws in the Old South, were a system of codes outside of our Constitution designed to keep the our population of African Americans enslaved, despite the fact the greater law of the land set them free. I have been approached by many well-meaning people who want to sit down with corrupt regulators and polish up their "Jim Crow" natural gas regulations. Although I realize they have the best of intentions, I'm afraid their well meaning actions are sending the wrong message. We don't need to polish up a corrupt and unjust system of regs that are designed by their very nature to facilitate the gas industry and cover up environmental crimes; we need a total overhaul. Incremental change can be good in certain situations, but right now the truth is: WE DON"T HAVE TIME. As we speak aquifers are being sullied, air is being laced with carcinogens and environmental injustice to poor, uneducated people in these gas fields is occurring on a daily basis. People need to visit the gas fields and see the suffering of the people. Only a select few are happy...those who are making major money on royalties or government officials whose bread is buttered on both sides. People need water, safety and peace. These are basic human needs and we are being destroyed while our natural resources are being shipped out of the country and foreign interests are gaining a foothold. You wonder why victims in the gas field don't want to "make nice" with the regulators in Arkansas? So many people call for them to test and either they don't come out or they do minimal testing that is designed to protect industry. People have given up on them and perceive them as crooked. When people outside the field don't understand, I want to give them this analogy: It would be like a lily-white neighborhood negotiating on behalf of Jim Crow victims, except they've never been on a bus and been forced to give up their seat. They don't understand the frustration, the angst, the passion. Come visit the gas field and talk to the victims....then you'll understand why we won't accept the back seat on the bus!

Arkansas Highway Department Imposes New Weight Limits in the Fayetteville Shale Play!!!!! Weight or WAIT???

2011-02-12T11:20:00.000-08:00

There's a whole lotta nothin' goin' on. The Arkansas Highway Department finally made a move to protect our county roads by issuing VERY MODEST reductions in weight limits. The county judges in the area weighed in on the issue (excuse the pun) and sounded like a Greek chorus singing a song for the gas companies. Now, on the eve of enforcing the weight limits, the highway department backs down???? (Read about it here.)They claim there is a need for hearings???? What? I travel Hwy 92 and Hwy 285, both of which are on their list of crappy roads, (and let me tell you crappy isn't the word even a civil person would use) and they are in shambles. There are no lines left to see at night, the roads are crumbling to the point that you must hold onto the wheel with white knuckles to keep your tires from veering off. At the same time, giant semis laden with toxic chemicals careen around curves at a dangerous rate of speed, often going over the center of the road. Well, if they delay for hearings, the meeting time had better be in the evening when working people can attend...otherwise, it's just the same ole' political two-step we always see. Sometimes it seems as though we are watching a puppet show, don't you think? I wonder who the puppeteer is though?

FRACK! Movie Trailer! You must see this!

2011-02-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

FRACK! The Movie Trailer from David Morris on Vimeo.

Frac Tech sold by Chesapeake goes public IPO....What happened to Frac Tech in the Fayetteville Shale Play of Arkansas??? THE TRUE STORY!

2011-02-11T19:28:00.000-08:00

Frac Tech was once welcomed to the Conway, Arkansas community with open arms. Read this story here from the Conway Development Corp to get a picture of the background in 2008. Officials and business leaders in the community touted Frac Tech as a real boon to the community. Like so many working in the gas industry, many jobs are filled with transplants from Texas, not with Arkansans. Look at this entry found by a wife who bemoans the transfer to Conway here.

Then Frac Tech moved in....next to a church...next to a subdivision where real human beings live normal lives. When they moved in the neighbors had no idea what a nightmare was to follow. The above is an example of the noise Mark Cothren, a local pastor and businessman, and his family had to endure 24/7 for years. They called city and county officials and ADEQ to no avail...no one helped. The noise was so loud the church next to Frac Tech could not hold services. Sources say Frachtech settled with the church and the congregation moved on. Mark and his wife witnessed many spills of the chemicals that went into the creek that runs through the neighborhood and eventually leads to the Cadron Creek. Some in the neighborhood could not bear the noise and pollution and yet could not sell their homes so they just walked away. They are refugees of a gas industry which does not care for fellow human beings. Mark Cothren states:

Actually, we are inside the city limits and FTS bought property that borders us. So being outside the city limits, our city has no control (so is their position) over this. The county also has no interest in trying to regulate noise and/or hazardous materials that are onsite here. So we're stuck enduring this noise and ground/air pollution.
I'm definitely worried about pollution that was coming from those trucks - both put into the air and washed out on the ground. Does it matter if the truck is FTS-owned or a contract driver? The truck is on FTS' yard, so to me it is all the same. And it may only take "30 mins or so" to empty the trailer, but they can have up to 5 trucks going at one time and as soon as one gets done and pulls away another one takes it's place. Sometimes this goes on for hours. FTS knew how much noise this operation would generate. WHY IN THE WORLD would they buy land and set up right in the back yard of so many people's homes??? This is a sample of the noise that is regularly produced by Frac Tech in Conway, Arkansas. They are just barely outside the city limits of Conway - approximately 150 yards from our home...which is in the city limits of Conway. This is just part of the noise with which they have ruined our home and lives.

The Arkansas Times also reported about the Cothren's travails with Frac Tech here.
Mark and his wife Rennell were so relieved to discover that Frac Tech went out of business...or so they thought. Well, that was about two years ago. Now we learn according to Forbes, Chesapeake is selling its interest in Frac Tech (around 25%) and Frac Tech is going public...IPO. I wonder...did Frac Tech ever take care of the cleanup of the toxins they released into the stream and neighborhood? Did they ever pay for the suffering of the people in the neighborhood, especially the people who moved away? Government officials and business leaders still hang on to the illusion that the gas industry has been good for Arkansas. Let's see...we have crumbling roads, sullied water, air and soil, scarred landscape and shuddering noise and human beings who are suffering. Maybe that is why some in the government want to change the nickname of Arkansas from the Natural State to the Land of Opportunity. The question is: whose opportunity?

Ohio Gas Pipeline Explosion: Who is inspecting these pipelines?

2011-02-11T10:04:00.000-08:00

Ohio gas pipeline explosion days after the Allentown, PA explosion. Who is inspecting these pipelines? Are they pushing the gas through with too much pressure? What kind of construction inspections take place? NTSB only has four investigators. Who's watching this natural gas industry???? Read about it here in the Post-Gazette.

Safety of Gas Pipelines Scrutinized: Could a Natural Gas Pipeline Explode in Arkansas? THEY HAVE

2011-02-11T09:52:00.000-08:00

In the wake of several recent gas pipeline explosions including Allentown, PA and San Bruno, CA, both of which resulted in fatalities, the National Transportation Safety Board is conducting a hearing on the subject in March. Read about it here in AOL News. The Fayetteville Shale Play in Arkansas is becoming increasingly criss-crossed with natural gas pipelines. We have experienced explosions. With EARTHQUAKES how safe are we. The radius of an explosion can be upwards of 700 feet in diameter. Some homes are closer to the pipelines than this. MAKES YOU THINK.

Chesapeake Signed, Sealed, Delivered with CHINA CNOOC: AMERICA'S ENERGY SECURITY??? Fayetteville Shale Play SOLD OUT TO FOREIGN INTERESTS!

2011-02-11T08:36:00.000-08:00

America's security...my eye! Chesapeake signs with China for a hefty share of their interests in the Fayetteville Shale Play. Read the report here. Want to know more about America's Energy Security....check this Reuters report out: America's gas resources are being liquified and sent out of our country. GREED is the operating word! These corporations are only in it for profit...they are multinational and profit without regard to human beings and the environment.

Fayetteville Shale Play Air Pollution: What's Spewing Into The Air We Breathe? Compressors, Condensate Tanks and Dehydration Units...OH MY!!!

2011-02-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

READ AND WATCH HERE: Team 4 Investigates: What's Spewing Into The Air We Breathe? - Pittsburgh News Story - WTAE Pittsburgh

This past summer ADEQ passed a general permit rule for gas compressor stations which allows the gas companies to place compressor stations all over Arkansas without monitoring their cumulative air effects nor regulating their noise impact. Every compressor station in Arkansas has dehydration units attached to them which spew carcinogens and toxins into the air on a continuous basis. Also, each gas well has condensate tanks that spew the same toxins into the air. That is not to mention the huge fact that each new gas well in Arkansas is vented after completion to purify the gas well. I have personally experienced this and I must tell you it is so toxic the air is like a refinery zone for a week. They don't tell you to evacuate when the do this, but really human beings should. Technology currently exists to capture all these emissions. In fact, Dr. Armirendez wrote a paper that proved the gas companies could make more money by capturing emissions with loop systems....this is all product for them and the mineral owner that could be captured. In Canada, where gas companies are sweet talking government officials, they have been using electric gas compressors with capturing systems that don't emit any toxins. Why don't they DO THE RIGHT THING and do that here in Arkansas? Why should we suffer toxic emissions and rumbling noise 24/7. If the facilitators from ADEQ and AOGC think it's fine, why don't they personally live next to these monstrosities? Team 4 in Pittsburgh did a report about these emissions which includes an infrared camera recording toxins coming out of a compressor station. In the report above from Pittsburgh, you can see how human beings are enduring. This is what Arkansas are suffering with along with fellow victims all over the US. We need to demand our agencies become REGULATORS instead of FACILITATORS! Protect our people now! Government officials, politicians take notice: THE PEOPLE NEED PROTECTION AND WE WILL BE VOTING IN THE NEXT ELECTION CYCLE!

Michigan Gas Well Leak! It's all about the casings.

2011-02-10T19:53:00.000-08:00

Michigan gas well cement casing failure makes the news. This is the same issue we are dealing with everywhere gas production is taking place. The industry has conceded that cement casing failure can cause water contamination. In Arkansas, Larry Bengal, of the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission has publicly stated that no one is inspecting gas wells after earthquakes. How do we know these cement casings with very limited tensile strength survive. Ex-gas drillers have related to me that in their opinion most cement casings don't even survive fracking. The pressure that they test the cement casing at is a lower pressure than the fracking pressure. They should retest every gas well after fracking and after earthquakes. Let's do the right thing!

Natural Gas Explosion in Allentown, PA Kills

2011-02-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

Read CNN Story here.
Another explosion!

Houston, TX Natural Gas Facility EXPLODES!

2011-02-10T06:39:00.000-08:00

Houston, Texas Natural Gas Facility EXPLODES! Read CNN story here.

Why sell the Fayetteville Shale?....Earthquakes....Casings.....Contamination!

2011-02-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

This is really like a horror show. Earthquakes, fish kills, roads destroyed, water contaminated....you name it. We are such a small state in population, but we just can't keep out of the news. The Fayetteville Shale Play has wreaked such havoc upon us and brought us little in return. We now know that Chesapeake CHK is attempting to sell off its interests to China like a fish bellyup in the Arkansas River. WHY SELLTHE FAYETTEVILLE SHALE? The shale is not as deep as other plays....so it's cheaper to drill. The regulators spend more time facilitating...they are oh so friendly to gas and oil. Our severance tax is practically non-existent. So why sell? I think they know something we don't know. The industry has conceded that faulty cement casings can cause toxins to migrate into fresh water aquifers. The Arkansas Geological Survey has stated that this is a seismically sensitive area. Injection wells can trigger earthquakes. QUESTION? Can thin cement casings survive earthquakes? DON'T KNOW? Neither do they. No one is testing the gas wells after the earthquakes. OR maybe they do know, and maybe they are smart enough to know this can't be done safely and someone is close to finding that out....

Fayette Shale Play...Sheffield Attempts to Fix Arkansas Severance Tax! We're Going Broke!

2011-02-09T19:21:00.000-08:00

Arkansans have been promised a lot from the gas industry and the government. PROSPERITY. It's not happening. They also promised that our severance tax on gas wells would cover inspectors and road repairs. Our roads in the Fayetteville Shale Play are crumbling and the government has stated that we are in the red. We can't afford road repairs caused by the heavy natural gas trucks bearing down our roads. ENTER: Sheffield Nelson. Nelson a former gubernatorial candidate and energy executive is proposing an substantial increase in the severance tax on gas wells. He believes this would bring in five times the annual severance tax of 50 million dollars. Let's hope this covers the damage to the roads...but who will cover the damage to our aquifers? Who will dig up the toxic waste buried in situ at each gas well site? How much will that cost? The gas industry is whining about this, but safety and accountability must be figured into their real cost. Why should Arkansans suffer? Read about it at the Arkansas Times here and in Bloomberg here.

The BIG LIE: or Boom and Bust....Does Natural Gas Industry Bring Prosperity to Arkansas? NOT

2011-02-09T11:33:00.000-08:00

The Shale Gas Industry and politicos keep boasting about how great the industry is for our economy. Let's see: they have destroyed the roads in the Fayetteville Shale Play and have not provided enough severance tax monies (thanks to back door political moves) to pay for the damage (leaving Arkansans in the red and the money for repairs will come out of our pockets); our unemployment numbers have steadily gone up in the Fayetteville Shale Play while BIG GAS was here; and finally, evidence is mounting that the so-called boom is actually a big bust. Chesapeake is tetering and trying to get a bail-out by the Chinese and lookee here at an article from our recent past (2008) where industry and government brag that BJ Services is going to provide amazing jobs in Arkansas.

Arkansas At-A-Glance
Home»News and Media Resources»News»Article Details
BJ Services Company to establish regional headquarters in Searcy

Feb. 26, 2008

Searcy, AR - BJ Services Company today announced plans to locate a new regional headquarters in Searcy. The regional headquarters will allow BJ Services to provide pressure pumping and other oil field services to the natural gas industry in the region. The company is investing approximately $82 million in the regional headquarters, which will employ approximately 150 people by late 2008.The headquarters will be located in a new 64,000 sq. ft. facility, located on a 40 acre site at 3750 South Main.

"New, high-quality jobs will help expand our economic base throughout Arkansas," Governor Mike Beebe said. "BJ Services Company exemplifies the contributions being made to this growing industry through repeated investments in Searcy and White County."

BJ Services Company provides pumping, process and pipeline, chemical, tubular and completion services to oil and natural gas companies worldwide.

That was 2008. Now this is the amazing job opportunity now:

EMPTY....Busted!

Faggedda Bout it!

Now, the fact that the prosperity promised is an illusion and most skilled jobs are imported from out state is not the only problem. The HUGE problem is that these companies are destroying our water, soil and air and when they go BUST ARKANSANS will be holding the bag for the clean-up. IF you CAN clean-up. Some chemicals in the aquifer can not be remediated except at the surface at enormous cost. I hope the politicians in Arkansas will open their eyes before it is too late. Those on watch while Arkansas is being destroyed will carry a dark, stained political legacy. It's not too late to reverse that and become a champion for Arkansas' environment and her good people.

GAS INDUSTRY BLUNDERS BY ATTACKING GASLAND...FW WEEKLY REPORTS!

2011-02-09T10:21:00.000-08:00

The gas industry really blew it this time. Their unprecedented attack on the movie GASLAND has actually done more to unmask their mafia style tactics than anything activists could have exposed. Buy-offs, slandering victims, filling the coffers of politicians and officials were always a part of their playbook because it has always worked in the dark, quiet behind the scenes environment they love to operate in. To publically write to the OSCARS has was a real boner....they are seen as what they are and they have provided GASLAND and Josh Fox more attention and more people will probably WANT to see the film. WAY TO GO! Read what the Fort Worth Weekly writes about this here.

China poised to buy part of Chesapeake's Fayetteville Shale Interests....AMERICA'S ENERGY SECURITY?????

2011-02-09T08:50:00.000-08:00

Chinese government owned off-shore drilling company is poised to buy part of the Fayetteville Shale Interests. All along the gas mafia/cartel has been touting shale gas drilling as the real avenue for America's energy security. If these corporations like Chesapeake who are largely run by American citizens have trampled on America's citizens and environment, how much more will the Chinese take care in the gas production process to protect us? Isn't this the same country which has continually violated our standards, poisoning our children with lead based paint on toys? The Chinese are also a large source of fracing/fracking chemicals. Wow, now they can really make a killing....literally.

We must demand that our government will BLOCK the sale of our resources to foreign interests!
Read the article about this here.

EPA Issues Plan for Study of Shale Gas Drilling and Fracking

2011-02-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

The EPA has issued its plan to study the entire process of shale gas production. Thankfully, they are taking a larger look at the issue and not just focusing on the fracking process alone. The many headed hydra of shale gas production carries with it the potential to contaminate and poison human beings, the environment and animal life on many levels. Read the report here.

Buffalo NY Bans Gas Drilling

2011-02-09T06:30:00.000-08:00

Buffalo NY bans gas drilling. Read here.

AN OPEN LETTER TO JOURNALISTS FROM GASLAND DIRECTOR JOSH FOX IN RESPONSE TO ATTACKS BY GAS INDUSTRY

2011-02-08T19:18:00.000-08:00

February 7, 2011 -- With the recent Oscar nomination of my documentary film GASLAND, Big Gas and their PR attack machine hit a new low in its blatant disregard for the truth.

In an unprecedented move, an oil and gas industry front group sent a letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences saying that the film should be ineligible for best documentary feature.

We are honored and encouraged by the Academy’s nomination. It is terrific to be acknowledged as filmmakers by the film world’s most prestigious honor. But perhaps more than that, I believe that the nomination has provided hope, inspiration and affirmation for the thousands of families out there who are suffering because of the natural gas drilling. The Oscars are about dreams, and I know that for all of us living with the nightmare of gas drilling the nomination provides further proof that someone out there cares.
Now Big Gas wants to take that away, as they have shattered the American dream for so many.
GASLAND exposes the disaster being caused across the U.S. by the largest domestic natural gas drilling campaign history and how the contentious Halliburton-developed drilling technology called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking threatens the water supply of millions.

Fracking is a whole-scale industrialization process that pumps millions of gallons of toxic material directly into the ground. Thousands of documented contamination cases show the harmful chemicals used have been turning up in people's water supplies in fracking areas all over the map.

We stand behind the testimonials, facts, science and investigative journalism in the film 100 percent. We have issued a point-by-point rebuttal of the group’s claims (“Affirming Gasland”), posted on our website: http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/.

It’s not just us they’re after. The gas industry goes after anyone who tries to punch a hole in their lie. Last week the same pro-drilling group, Energy in Depth (EID), attacked an investigative piece on drilling pollution by ProPublica, the highly credible public interest journalism organization.

And just last week, T. Boone Pickens, the most visible promoter of gas fracking, went on The Daily Show claiming that he personally has fracked over 3,000 wells and never witnessed any contamination cases, even when Jon Stewart asked him about GASLAND point blank. He simply stated over and over again the industry lie, that fracking is safe. Not a single word of acknowledgement, or responsibility for the claims of thousands and the threat posed to millions.

The gas industry believes it can create a new reality in which their nationwide onshore drilling campaign isn’t a disaster. But no amount of PR money or slick ads can keep the stories of contamination coming from thousands of Americans from being any less true.

On Monday, Congressional investigators called out frackers for pumping millions of gallons of diesel fuel directly into the ground, exposing drinking water sources to benzene and other carcinogens. This makes EID’s specious and misleading attack on the science and data in GASLAND especially ironic since Halliburton stonewalled Congressman Henry Waxman’s investigation into fracking, refusing to provide data on their use of diesel and other harmful chemicals injected in the fracking process.
There are major watershed areas providing water to millions of Americans that are at risk here, including the watershed areas for New York City and Philadelphia. The catastrophe has been widely covered not only in GASLAND, but also by hundreds of news stories, films and TV segments. This is a moment of crisis that cannot be understated.

Even before its release, the power of the film was not lost on the industry. In the March 24th edition of the Oil and Gas Journal, Skip Horvath, the president of the Natural Gas Supply Association said that GASLAND is “well done. It holds people’s attention. And it could block our industry.”

GASLAND was seen by millions and I personally toured with the film to over 100 cities. In affected areas, people came to the screenings with their contaminated water samples in tow. They came to have the truth they know shared and confirmed.

As Maurice D. Hinchey, U.S. Representative (NY-22) recently said, “Thanks to GASLAND and the millions of grassroots activists across the country, we finally have a counterweight to the influence of the oil and gas industry in our nation's capital."

Big Gas is blocking the truth in their pursuit of hundreds of billions of dollars of profit. Their clear goal is to ensure our nation remains addicted to fossil fuels for the rest of this century. They seek to stifle the development of truly renewable energy.

They’re playing dirty in more ways than one, attacking the film and the testimonials and science in it instead of taking responsibility and addressing the contamination, destruction and harm that they are creating. I now know how the people in my documentary feel, to have the things they know to be true and the questions they are raising so blatantly discounted and smeared. It is truly unfortunate that the gas-drilling industry continues to deny what is so obvious to Americans living in gaslands across the nation.

Josh Fox
Director, GASLAND
http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/

Media Contact: Josh Baran – jcbaran@gmail.com – 917-797-1799

Josh Fox is based in New York City and will be in Washington, D.C. on February 17. He is available for interviews. DVD screeners for the media are available.

Chesapeake Trying to Sell Interests in Fayetteville Shale!

2011-02-07T17:39:00.000-08:00

Chesapeake has announced that pressing debts have led them to offer for sale their interests in the Fayetteville Shale Play.

NEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.N) wants to sell holdings in Arkansas' Fayetteville shale natural gas field and stakes in two companies to raise $5 billion and trim its heavy debt load.

Chesapeake has been one of the most aggressive U.S. energy companies in snapping up properties in shale gas fields across the United States, but that buying spree has left it awash in debt and short of cash to drill new wells.

Who are they trying to sell their interests to? BP? China? Now let's remember what they said....it's all about America's energy security.
Read Reuters report here.

NY Times Reports On Guy, Arkansas Earthquakes

2011-02-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

Dirk Deturck of Guy, Arkansas describes earthquakes

Dirk DeTurk of Guy, Arkansas was interviewed by the New York Times this week about the Guy Earthquake swarm which is still rocking the area. The events are now garnering national attention.
Read the whole story here. Dirk also reported witnessing injections in the injection wells and noticed earthquakes a half hour later. Many residents report serious damage to their homes and great distress from this experience.