Arlington citizens sickened by fumes
from Chesapeake hydraulic fracturing flowback
demand independent analysis
of company’s claims
Arlington, TX, Mar 12th – Today Arlington residents, and Earthworks’ Oil & Gas Accountability Project challenged Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) to provide independent verification of the company’s claim that fumes released from Chesapeake facilities in the Fish Creek, Norwood, and Oaks and Interlochen residential neighborhoods were simply steam – and therefore could not have caused harm to area residents.
You can read the full press release HERE.
When Arlington residents were sickened by fumes from flowback operations in their neighborhood, Julie Wilson, Chesapeake Energy PR representative stated in an email response:
“The “vapor” you see from the tanks on this site is steam from hot water. […] Despite the alarming stories that are unfortunately sometimes circulated, we can assure you there are no harmful emissions to worry about.”
They city of Arlington and TCEQ have also been unresponsive.
For background, videos and photos see:
Chesapeake vents fracking Flowback putting another Arlington community at risk
Arlington fracking flowback misery day four
UPDATE: EcoWatch picked up this release and posted it on their site. Thank you!
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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Julie Wilson’s assertion only seemed plausible in a half baked way because this happened in Decemeber when it was cold. Most other months she would have sounded twice as ridicilous.
Also, voting for just about any candidate in the upcoming presidential election will result in elimination of “oppressive regulation” on fracking according to some front page propaganda piece from the DMN. For all candidates this is a neccessity, most likely because they all plan to invade Iran and need some sort of scheme to reduce gas prices back to current levels after they skyrocket to 9 bucks a gallon. Even voting for my favorite and only horse in the race, Ron Paul, will result in at the very least more conventional oil and gas exploration but less “trillions of dollars we’re spending on these wars!”.
Ron Paul is against any regulation of the oil and gas industry. EPIC FAIL. =(
My point more or less is that there isn’t a candidate to vote for president that opposes fracturing or even regulating it better. So its as if you cant vote for that issue in the presidential race, so Id rather vote for sound money and an end to all foreign wars and illegal occupations.
I get your point but I don’t think it’s totally accurate. Obama does want regulation.
Some of the roughnecks working on the rigs went from making nothing to raking in $120K per year. It’s going to be hard to sell any regulation to those folks so the political territory is treacherous.
BTW, Tad, where the heck have you been?
Went through one of those fatalistic streaks of thinking theres no more fighting the good fight.
And honestly has anything come of Steven Chu’s looking into the safety of fracking like Obama promised? SO he convened his panel of experts in May of 2011 and gave them six months to “provide consensus advice to state and federal regulatory agencies to ensure protection of public health and the environment.” Does anyone know what came of that?
Plus Obama seems just as eager as everyone else to buy into the pipe dream of 150 years of energy freedom, in his state of the union speech for example. Not to mention giving his stamp of approval to it before rather than after the extensive scientific research is completed. And lets not forget he only recently cut the tax incentives to oil & gas, which seemed more like a budget neccessity. We all applaud this move Im sure but in 2012 rather than 2009?
Ron Paul wants to do away with quite a few government agencies, some I agree with-however, when pressed, Paul states that individuals. lacking support/regulation from EPA (one of the agencies he wants to eliminate) people can turn to the courts for relief. If you know anything about the Texas court system, especially the Texas Supreme Court, you’ll know this is not a viable option.
That’s ridiculous for so many reasons. The average American does not have equal access to the courts against a billion dollar corporation. Plus our courts are soaked with oil and gas money.
Watch the documentary “Hot Coffee.”
Here’s how this works: Someone contacts the TCEQ regarding odors/emissions. TCEQ has up to 12 hours to respond. Part of the TCEQ rules are that the TCEQ must contact the operator in regards to the site, and often do this well before arrival. This gives the operator plenty of time to shut off, shut down or otherwise temporarily fix the problem before TCEQ can do any testing. The TCEQ arrives, smells nothing, sees nothing, detects nothing. TCEQ submits a report that says as much, and Gasholes like Julie Wilson and Matt Pitzarella tweet “No Violations Found.”
Here’s the solution: Industry cannot keep all of their sites in good order 24/7, and have no desire to. It’s costs too much to be bothered with. So, residents need to band together and get the TCEQ on speed dial, and call them every 15 minutes if that’s what it takes. The TCEQ cannot ignore dozens of calls complaining about headaches, nausea, blurred vision, burning eyes/throats, difficulty breathing, rashes and on and on. I am by no means telling anyone to state these problems to the TCEQ unless they are actually experiencing these. What should happen at this point, is that the TCEQ will start to monitor this site much more closer, and then will be able to actually see/smell/detect for themselves and take the appropriate action.
During flowback, it’s not the steam from the tanks you need to be asking about but the gas from the wellhead..that would be the sickening part.
I thinking both.