Friday, December 31, 2010

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood #2



Is anybody else thinking what I am thinking?
Our wonderful neighbor has decided to let Titan use his property to store equipment for drilling at other Titan pad sites like Lewisville?
Welcome to Flower Mound and Have a Nice Day!!!!

IMPORTANT: Natural Gas Leak at Bob Smith #2

A near explosion from the Bob Smith Williams site. Residents said it sounded like a loud jet engine. From the Flower Mound Website:

At 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, December 30, 2010, the Flower Mound Fire Department responded to a natural gas leak from a valve at the Dr. Bob Smith #2 well located at 4000 Shiloh Road. A resident reported a loud noise coming from the well pad site. The FMFD responded within three minutes of notification and confirmed the noise as well as a vapor plume coming from the equipment area housing the dehydration units. Air monitoring began immediately to detect any gas plume and two additional fire units, from Stations #1 and # 4, responded to provide additional air monitoring equipment. Police assistance was requested to briefly shut down FM 1171 and Shiloh Road to allow for monitoring to verify no hazard existed downwind.


The Williams Company, operators of the well site, were notified and arrived to close the valves to stop flow. It was determined the leak was a result of a deteriorated valve located on the well side of the equipment before it reaches dehydration/sedimentation separation. Sand and fine grit contained in the gas moving through the pipe created friction causing wear. The valve remains closed and will require maintenance to bring the production back on-line. A Williams Petroleum Engineer inspected the site to be certain no other issues were present. The Town’s Gas Inspector is working with the Williams Safety Division to begin documentation of the incident. Based on additional analysis, and as the Town was unable to verify at the time the amount of gas released, the incident was reported to TCEQ. Additional information should be available early next week.
Posted 12/31/2010.

Click here for press release.
Click here for air quality report around the time of the leak.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Substandard pipe steel pipe used for U.S. pipeline companies

Pipe mills produced substandard steel pipe during 2007 and 2009 for some United States pipeline companies. Some question whether or not all that defective pipe has been found. Here is a paragraph in a report from plainsjustice.org

Even though the documents released show that certain pipe mills provided most of the defective pipe, none of the documents describe any systematic approach to defining the scope of this problem or identify the final disposition of pipe provided by these mills during this time period. Thus, it is not clear that PHMSA has tracked down all of the potentially defective pipe joints and confirmed that they have been tested and, where necessary, replaced. Accordingly, this report provides recommended actions, accomplishment of which would assure the public that PHMSA has responded fully to the threat created by low-strength steel.

Click here for a report from plainsjustice.org

In the late spring of 2009, the government issued a warning about the defective pipe.
Click here and here to read a report on the warning.

In Shale Country, miles and miles of pipeline is used at high pressure. It is frightening to think that some of the pipes may not have been tracked down.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Flower Mound Oil & Gas Board of Appeals Deny All Variances

Last night, or should we say this morning, the Flower Mound Oil & Gas Board of Appeals denied all variance requests for the Titan/Powell pad site and the Keystone/Smith pad site.

One of the issues was the proximity of the Titan/Powell pad site to the Oncor Sub-Station and property line. Just over 105 feet. There were other concerns at this site.

On the Keystone/Smith pad site, 7 variances were needed. This pad site would sit very close to Lake Grapevine, a drinking water source for many DFW municipalities including Grapevine and Dallas. Variances for environmentally sensitive areas were requested and denied as well.

Many citizens spoke in opposition for both pad sites. Some coming from the City of Dallas Council. The organized opposition presentations were well thought out and delivered in a very professional manner.

The Titan/Keystone attorney came out of the gate threatening the board members with personal law suits. Apparently the board stuck to the criteria and did not let the intimidation sway their decision.

On a sad note, a Flower Mound mother spoke about receiving blood test results right before the meeting. These tests showed 3 different chemicals that may be linked to local drilling sites in her daughter's blood.

Click here for a brief news article about the meeting

Monday, December 13, 2010

487 measurable earthquakes near Guy, Arkansas since September 20th!

Arkansas State Geological Survey is investigating whether there is a connection between the earthquakes and the half of dozen salt water injection wells in the area. Since September 2oth, there have been 487 measurable earthquakes near the town of Guy, Arkansas. Last year at this time there were only 39 earthquakes in the whole state!!!

Click here to read the article from cnn.com

Remember DFW had earthquakes and a SMU study pointed to salt water injection wells.

Click here for more info on earthquakes and salt water injection wells.

Flower Mound and Surrounding Communities...Important Meeting Wednesday, December 15th

The Flower Mound Oil and Gas Board of Appeals Meeting will be held Wednesday night, December 15th, at 6:30pm.

The meeting will be held at Flower Mound Town Hall, 2121 Cross Timbers Road, Flower Mound, Texas 75028.

This meeting is extremely important because the board will hear requests for two different pad sites. One is for the Keystone/Patty Smith property which is located very near Lake Grapevine and Flower Mound neighborhoods. Lake Grapevine is the main drinking water source for the City of Grapevine and the City of Highland Park. These communities have to be concerned. There are numerous variances being requested.

The other pad site is the Titan/Powell. This one is extremely close to Shadow Ridge Middle School and Bluebonnet Elementary. Closer than the Titan/Hilliard site. This site will require variances as well.

Click here for the agenda.

For more detailed info about requested variances, click here for agenda packet.

Thursday, December 2, 2010