Monday, October 28, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
City Withdraws Lawsuit Against EagleRidge
I have just heard from a City Councilmember that the City of Denton has withdrawn their lawsuit against EagleRidge. This means that there will be no court date next Wednesday (Oct. 30). REPEAT: Do not go to court on the 30th - the case will not be heard.
I have been told that there are good reasons for this move and to stay tuned to upcoming developments - in particular, please note that there is a special called City Council meeting next week where this issue will be discussed. That meeting does not appear to be posted to their website yet.
I am going to paste the non-suit here (their motion to withdraw the lawsuit). Apologies for formatting, my work computer is acting up on me:
NO. 2013-30817-211
THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS,
Plaintiff,
vs.
EAGLERIDGE ENERGY, LLC AND
EAGLERIDGE OPERATING, LLC,
Defendant
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
IN THE DISTRICT COURT
DENTON COUNTY, TEXAS
211 TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
NOTICE OF NON-SUIT WITHOUT PREJUDICE
TO THE HONORABLE JUDGE OF SAID COURT:
COMES NOW City of Denton ("City") and hereby gives notice to this Court and to all
parties to this suit that Plaintiff is taking a non-suit without prejudice, pursuant to Texas Rules of
Civil Procedure 162, of its entire case against Defendants effective immediately on the filing of
this Notice. Defendants have made no affirmative claims against the City in this case at this
time.
NOTICE OF NON-SUIT WITHOUT PREJUDICE
07648-003/285223.doc
Page
Monday, October 21, 2013
Flagrant Disregard
Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe at the DRC just ran
a story about the City’s lawsuit against EagleRidge. She also posted the
City’s application
for a restraining order against EagleRidge.
9:30 a.m., Wednesday October 30th, Denton County Courthouse, 1450 E. McKinney St. in Denton.
Here is my attempt to summarize and simplify the main points in the form of a timeline:
2001 – the City passes an ordinance that states “a gas well operator had to first obtain approval of a gas well development plat identifying proposed gas wells and a gas well permit authorizing drilling operations for each well depicted on the approved gas well development plat.”
2002 – the original operator (R.L. Adkins Corp) received a permit from the City to drill a single gas well called Bonnie Brae Well 3H. According to the RRC, this well is on the north pad site.
It’s gratifying to see the City take this stand on behalf of
her citizens. It looks to me like the City has a very strong case. If we don’t
win this suit, then I’d say we really are screwed.
To show your support for the City, please show up for the
court date: 9:30 a.m., Wednesday October 30th, Denton County Courthouse, 1450 E. McKinney St. in Denton.
Here is my attempt to summarize and simplify the main points in the form of a timeline:
2001 – the City passes an ordinance that states “a gas well operator had to first obtain approval of a gas well development plat identifying proposed gas wells and a gas well permit authorizing drilling operations for each well depicted on the approved gas well development plat.”
2002 – the original operator (R.L. Adkins Corp) received a permit from the City to drill a single gas well called Bonnie Brae Well 3H. According to the RRC, this well is on the north pad site.
2002 – the original operator received a permit from the City
to drill a single gas well on the south pad site. The RRC calls this Bonnie
Brae Well 4H, but it is referred to in the court document as Bonnie Brae B,
Well #B-1.
2010 – EagleRidge takes over the wells.
September 2013 -- EagleRidge gets permit from RRC to re-drill
the “existing well” – the court document seems to refer only to 3H, but I think
this must also apply to 4H (just by looking at the RRC records).
September 2013- EagleRidge also gets permits from RRC to
situate two new gas wells (New Wells), called Bonnie Brae 1H and 2H, on the
north pad site (their location is not stated in the document, but this is where
they are shown on the RRC map).
September 2013 – EagleRidge gets a permit from the City Fire
Department, but it does not get the necessary site plan or gas well permit for
the New Wells to authorize drilling. One New Well is drilled and plans seem to
be in place to drill the other one.
October 2013 – The City files its cease and desist order.
At issue here is the question of whether EagleRidge needed
to file for new permits for each individual gas well or whether the New Wells
were vested under the existing permits (obtained in 2002). If the New Wells
must be permitted, then they must follow the regulations in the current
ordinance, which stipulate a 1,200 foot setback distance between wells and
homes.
Here is a good summary of the City’s case: “Defendants'
actions constitute violation of the City's Current Gas Well Regulations,
Section 35.22.4, and Denton Development Code Section 35.11.2 pertaining to
non-conforming uses. To the extent that the Original Gas Well Regulations are
applicable to the New Wells, Defendants' actions are also in violation of those
provisions. Defendants' actions are being performed in flagrant disregard of
the City's right and duty to enforce its codes and ordinances designed to
provide for orderly and safe development and to preserve the public health,
safety and general welfare. Without the intervention of this court, Defendants
are likely to continue such illegal operations it [sic] in the immediate
future.”
Friday, October 18, 2013
City Files Restraining Order: EagleRidge Drilling Without Permit
I just heard from a high-ranking Denton official that EagleRidge is drilling in the S. Bonnie/Vintage area without a City permit. The City of Denton filed a restraining order against EagleRidge today demanding them to cease and desist all drilling operations. A judge dismissed the order. Now I think it is set to go to court in the next 10-14 days. This is breaking news - stay tuned for further developments.
MORE NEWS**** Hot tip from another City Official:
"It's important to note that the judge in this case, the one who dismissed it, is also an elected official. Even in Texas courts, this is all about politics. Here's the guy... http://dentoncounty.com/dept/main.asp?Dept=29"
Thursday, October 17, 2013
The Denton Dilemma: Why We Are Fracked
EagleRidge is fracking two wells just across the street from the UNT football stadium. In an act of energy irony, the laterals from these wells travel about 8,000 feet directly below the UNT wind turbines.
The wells are not on university property, but UNT owns 75 of the 224 acres of minerals pooled in this lease (click on the second P-12 form here). For a University that has a mission of promoting a "sustainable future," it prompts the question:
I took some videos of the fracking operation. I can confirm what Sharon Wilson reported about the absence of masks on workers. The wind was whipping smoke, fumes, and sand all over the place and carrying it far over the fence line. I spent just a few minutes downwind of the site and felt sick for the rest of the morning – hoarse, nauseous, and light-headed. The noise was deafening – so loud that it drowned out the sound of highway traffic behind me, even though the traffic was much closer.
Click here to see more of the black smog coming off this site.
Now it is one thing to put this next to the highway. But it’s another thing to put it right next to a neighborhood. Of course, that won’t happen anymore, right, because we have an ordinance that specifies a 1,200 foot setback between fracking sites and homes.
Wrong. It is about to happen. This massive, noxious industrial site is about to move on down Bonnie Brae to Vintage. Soon this same scene will be repeated less than 200 feet from homes where young families with children live. It is not right or fair. But it is legal and it is going to happen. And then it will happen again and again.
This is the Denton dilemma. We want to protect our citizens with larger setback distances, but despite our efforts we are seeing gas wells just as close to homes as they were before we even passed our first ordinance in 2002. The gas wells predate the regulations, so the regulations don’t apply. We are doomed to be haunted by the ghosts of policies past.
I went to the Denton 2030 comprehensive plan community forum tonight. There, I learned that in the next 20 years Denton is expected to grow by 94,000 people. That means about 37,000 new homes and apartments. And we learned that at least 50% of that growth is going to be west of the core where gas wells are most dense. When new homes come to existing wells, we have learned from the Vintage neighborhood example, our setback rules don’t apply. We will see more fracking very close to homes. Close to kids.
I had a conversation at the meeting tonight with a high-ranking City official. Here was our conversation:
Me: “Have you seen the Vintage situation?”
Him: “Yes. It is awful.”
Me: “Could that happen again?”
Him: “Yes”
Me: “Is it likely?”
Him: “Very.”
Me: “Why?”
Him: “It’s the perfect storm. All our growth is heading west, right into country so thickly developed with gas wells that you could stand anywhere, throw a rock and hit one. And all those wells are vested under old rules.”
So, in addition to the people here already surrounded by pad sites, we are looking at 50,000 new people who will be in the thick of it. Our ordinance does nothing for them.
Denton, we have a problem. What are we going to do?
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
No Permit for Frack Water Transport
Thanks to the super sleuthing of Amber Briggle, we discovered this morning that City Council had on their consent agenda a curious item (see 4DD). They were about to approve (so it would appear) a permit for EagleRidge to use City property for purposes of overland transport of water. This would be just south of Vintage road, where they are getting ready to frack one of three wells in extreme proximity to homes - see a picture below, which was snapped recently by Calvin Tillman. In short, EagleRidge wanted an easement to get frack water to and/or from the site(s).
City Council pulled the item from the consent agenda after Amber and Cathy McMullen spoke up about this in their work session today. That meant we were able to speak to the issue tonight at City Hall. The result was that they have postponed their decision. The whole thing went down in a strange way...enough to make you think something deeper is going on under the surface. But anyway, stay tuned as this issue will resurface soon.
In the meantime, here are my remarks from tonight's City Council meeting:

In the meantime, here are my remarks from tonight's City Council meeting:
I am here to ask you to deny the permit to EagleRidge
that would allow them to use City land.
This
January with our ordinance, you decided that fracking and neighborhoods are
incompatible land uses. You expressed this value – and this vision for the
future of Denton – by adopting a setback distance of 1,200 feet between pad
sites and protected uses like homes and schools.
We
have since learned that this ordinance does not apply to most of the drilling
that occurs now in Denton and that will occur in the future. The ordinance has
more teeth, but it has nothing to bite, because of legal constraints imposed on
the city.
Thus,
we find ourselves in a situation like that at S. Bonnie Brae where three wells
are being drilled and fracked within 200 feet of a neighborhood. I was there
one day to watch the school busses drop off children. Right next
to the bus stop was a drilling operation chugging out wave after wave of diesel
fumes. And just a few hundred feet down the street was another one doing the
same thing. And this went on for over a month. And then the fracking will
happen and it will be another two weeks. And no one in those neighborhoods owns
any minerals. They are getting the pollution but they are not going to be
getting any royalty checks in the mail.
I
spoke with several young mothers who live in that neighborhood. One of
them told me she is keeping her children indoors to try to avoid the pollution.
She thought the fracking was almost over and was dismayed to learn it had not
even yet begun. The other woman has a three year old son whose immune system is
compromised and has been to the hospital twice since the rigs came to the area.
Another woman told me she can watch the fumes come right into her yard. Both
her and her children have been sick the whole time the rigs have been there. All
of them were angry about the lack of notice and scared about the impacts. They
talked about wanting to sell their homes, and about how they would not have
moved there had they known this would happen.
One woman wrote an e-mail to me saying, “I would have
thought that before these wells were even permitted, that there would have been
some communication with the homeowners to allow us some type of say in what is
being done in such close proximity to our homes.”
Another woman writes, “I am currently home during the day
due to illness and I can neither sleep during the morning much less at night
due to the constant drilling noises. This is very disturbing and it is
literally impossible to get any rest. We moved here because it was a peacefully
quiet neighborhood, now it is not.”
Another woman writes, “I
am almost due with our first baby [which] makes me even more upset with the
situation. Not thrilled at the thought of bringing our baby home to this.”
A
man writes, “I have seen over and over the damage this truck are doing to the
road and the sides of the roads…No one was notified ahead of schedule of the
events that took place. No Environmental Impact study was done to ensure the
safety of the environment prior to allowing the permit to be granted. There is
no set warning notification process to residents if there is an accident. We
were told the “danger” ring is 1000 ft around a site. This basically means the
entire sub-division is as risk with no set notification process.”
You need to deny this
permit so that you are not complicit in all these injustices. The people of
Denton can see that although you do not agree with drilling so close to homes,
there was nothing you could do about these gas wells. But if you let them
transport their water over our land you give the appearance that you actually
consent to the project as a whole. Could you possibly be legally compelled to
give them this permit? They are asking and you are free to just say no. Let
them get their right of way through someone else’s land.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Where Denton Dumps its Fracking Waste
To hydraulically fracture a gas well around here you need
about three to five million gallons of water laced with fracking chemicals.
When the well starts to produce, some of that toxic water stays below. But some
of it comes back up, carrying not only the fracking chemicals but also
naturally occurring radioactive materials. The stuff that comes back up is
called “produced water.”
Now, in Pennsylvania they often try to treat this produced
water, but it doesn’t
work too well. Around here on the Barnett in Texas, operators contract with
trucking companies to haul produced water to salt water disposal (SWD) wells
also known as injection wells. ProPublica’s Abram Lustgarten has a great series on
these wells, showing how they are under-regulated and based on sketchy
assumptions about what happens to the wastewater once it is pumped down the
hole.
Across the country, there are over 680,000 of these wells
(52,000 in Texas), and they have shot about 30 trillion gallons of toxic liquids
deep into the earth. Here’s a blurb from one
of his articles that should get you concerned about this issue:
"In 10 to 100 years we are going to find out
that most of our groundwater is polluted," said Mario Salazar, an engineer
who worked for 25 years as a technical expert with the EPA's underground
injection program in Washington. "A lot of people are going to get sick,
and a lot of people may die."
The nearest injection well to us is the Casto SWD well [API
#121-32954] permitted and drilled in 2007 by Chief Operating, LLC. This well is
currently operated by Bridgeport Tank Trucks, L.L.C. The well was permitted by
the Railroad Commission to accept up to 25,000 barrels of water per day. Tanker
trucks unload their produced water into one of about eight huge tanks on site
where sediments settle out. They then pour the water down the hole, where the
Ellenburger sandstone formation (below the Barnett) wicks it up like a sponge.
The disposal range is between 8,600 and 12,750 feet.
Here's a picture of the tanks - you can see a couple of tanker trucks (white cabs) behind the yellow construction vehicle.
Here is a GIS picture. The well is in the red circle. Robson Ranch is in the green square. Ponder is up there at the blue triangle:
I can't find the figure for how much produced water has been dumped down this well. But I can do an estimate. They claim in the permit that they expect to average about 15,000 barrels per day. The well was validated in late 2007, so let's say it started accepting waste in 2008. That would mean that about 22 million barrels of toxic liquids have been pumped down this hole.
The permit notes that there are no wells within a ½ mile
that go that deep and “thus there are no avenues for the vertical migration of
fluids (zonal isolation).” Of course, the well casing may lose integrity (Lustgarten
notes that one well integrity violation was issued for every six injection
wells inspected). But also note there are several wells surrounding this site
that go over 8,000 feet (sometimes 8,400 feet) deep. That’s pretty close to the
disposal zone.
This is where most of the produced water from Denton's wells is dumped (we don't allow injection wells within the city limits). It's worth wondering what is actually happening to all that toxic waste. Will it come back to haunt our kids?
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