Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Want to give them a piece of your mind?

We have received emails asking us if letting the Texas Railroad Commission know how you feel about Rule 37's is okay. You always have the right to voice your concerns.

Here is some info we would like to share.

If your letter is general in nature and you just want to voice your opinion on the Rule 37 process, you may want to send your email to:
Chairman Elizabeth Ames Jones: commissioner.elizabethjones@rrc.state.tx.us

If the letter is specifically about the Flower Mound/Titan Rule 37's, you may want to send an email to:
Colin Lineberry: colin.lineberry@rrc.state.tx.us

Please Note:  
If you may be a part of a Rule 37 in the future and plan to file a formal protest to appear at a hearing in Austin if needed, let the Commission know.

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will definitely write them a letter. Also, we need to ask them if they would live by a drilling operation.

Anonymous said...

So now private property isn't really private in the private property rights capital of the US, Texas.

Anonymous said...

I am going page by page thru the history of the Tx RRC -- I'm up to 1975 now. I may have some really good arguments to add to your letter in a couple of days. Ck with the administrator.

Anonymous said...

The RRC doesn't care about good legal argument, they care about getting their industry money.

Boiling Frog said...

This is a big issue in the Barnett Shale. I do not know what is happening in other states, but the State of Texas in hand with TRRC has taken away private property rights and the right to free trade from hundreds if not thousands of citizens. They are not stopping with individual rights but are taking businesses, school districts, and cities. Where will this madness stop? The Natural Gas Industry has too much power, with exceptions to Environmental Laws and now legally stealing personal property. It makes me wonder what has happened to Constitutional Law in the United States. Where is this country headed??? With a large foreign investment in this industry and their money in the pockets of our legislators it makes one wonder who is really running this country?

Anonymous said...

Ufortunately Boiling Frog, you are correct. China's energy sector, CNOOC, is already operating on our soil here in Texas Rick Perry also welcomed their communications sector, Huawei, into Plano last fall, which has Iran as a client.

Why are Tea Partiers and Republicans for this?

The oil and gas industry, the State and the Texas Railroad Commission have not been legally challenged, so therefore, they are going to do whatever they please until the people rise up and do something.

Who's in?

Anonymous said...

Class action?

Anonymous said...

Yep.

Anonymous said...

@Anon August 10, 2011 4:39 PM

How much money are you going to put in?

What's in the Fine Print? said...

Did Titan, Cherokee Horn or Llano put any verbiage in their leases warning of a substantial drop in the value of your home and property or that you may have to pay higher insurance premiums or can't get coverage for explosions due to living in close proximity of a drilling operation?

If you live close to Hilliard and your home is devalued due to the drilling operation or you cannot sell your house--whether you have signed a lease or not--maybe a class action lawsuit is in order. All you have to do is prove a monetary loss folks.

Anonymous said...

lol..you want to try to prove a monetary loss due to drilling in a down economy after the real estate market crash....good luck with that

Anonymous said...

@ Anon August 13, 2011 10:07 PM

You must be a real rocket scientist. l-o-l! A down economy and crashed real estate market is not going to emit VOC's, cause earthquakes and subsidence, explosions, high noise decibels, etc. However, a drilling operation next to your neighborhood and schools does many of the above and puts your private property rights at risk. But of course, you do not live close to a drilling operation or have a child who attends school by one, do you?

Anonymous said...

actually, yes I do and i'm fine with it.

Anonymous said...

@ Anon August 15, 2011 8:12 AM

Well, as long as YOUR ok with it, f*** everyone else's kid, right?

Who cares about that unoderized gathering pipeline that will be within hundreds of feet of LISD property. I mean it's not like a schoool has ever blown up in histo...oh wait, one did. New London, Google it.

Anonymous said...

at Anon August 15, 2011 8:12 AM

What a piece of work you are. Hope that you are not my neighbor and do feel sorry for your children.

Anonymous said...

I am your neighbor as we are all apart of this community. No need to feel sorry for my family, we are great.

Anonymous said...

We had a community, until Titan came to town.

Anonymous said...

Good luck selling your house when the rig is up (or for the next 20 years for that matter)

Anonymous said...

I will never sign because of trying to get a mortgage on my home in the future will be easier without a signed lease.
Area realtors are now having to get signed letters stating that no gas lease exists for the property to get funding.
They can rule 37 me and I will fight it but at least I won't have a signed lease!!

Anonymous said...

Looking at some of the comments made by the latter posters, glad that the majority can see the selfishness of one poster, who has no problem with the Titan drilling operation next to their own neighborhood in Flower Mound and where their own child(ren) go to school at Cornerstone, Bluebonnet and/or Shadowridge. That is if that anonymous poster (Aug 13, 10:07 p.m.; Aug 15, 8:12 a.m.; Aug 18, 8:11 a.m.) is telling the truth.

One of the council people in Flower Mound, Kendra Stephenson, said that it was a Supreme Court decision that an individual cannot necessarily expercise their will if it harms another individual. I think she was speaking of property rights. With the Citizens United Supreme Court case of 2010, which asserts that corporations are now legally recognized as people, how can a corporation exercise their will to harm a person or persons?

Would Kendra Stephenson please share her knowledge of the Supreme Court case she wrote about a few months ago--the decision which does not allow a person to cause harm to another? It could help many people, especially those who live around Hilliard Field in Flower Mound.

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

I am selfish because I don't have a problem with Titan?!?! you have got to be kidding me, especially since every assumption you have made is wrong.

Anonymous said...

@anon August 18, 2011 7:24 PM

I think they were referring to the fact that when you sign a mineral lease it has impacts that extend beyond your lot, so in that context, yes, it is selfish. Not that you don't have a problem with Titan, but that you don't have a problem causing other people problem's. Your right to swing your fist, ends where our faces begin. That has held up in court time and time again, except in Texas, where mineral rights are involved, then it seems minerals have more rights than people

Anonymous said...

Just for the record, I didn't sign a lease with Titan. See how you automatically assume if you don't have a problem with drilling then it must be because you have a lease. wrong!

Anonymous said...

@ Anon August 18, 2011 11:15 PM

Allow me to assume further. If it is not Titan, then it is another operator in which you leased or possibly you do not own your minerals at all. But this is not an assumption--you are an ass who cares about nobody but yourself.

So happy that you are monitoring this thread, so that you are aware that most people do care about their neighbors and especially the children of this community.

Anonymous said...

@ anon August 18, 2011 11:15 PM

You didn't sign a lease but you don't have a problem with Titan. You are the only one of those, if that is even the truth. Which we can't verify you don't have a lease unless you use your real name.

Anonymous said...

says the anonymous poster lol

Eric Jellison said...

The last one (and only the last one) was mine. Checkmate.

Anonymous said...

so,Eric, this is all a game to you and you think you have won with that checkmate comment? How very sad for Flower Mound.

Susan said...

Anon 8:09 am. Eric has unselfishly helped more people in this area than you can imagine. I don't know who you are because you don't have the guts to put your name on your snarkey remarks. Coward.
Eric on the other hand has no problem with being honest and generous.

FMCAUD said...

Susan, you are correct about Eric. He is a good guy. He made a little joke. No one has a sense of humor anymore....

Eric Jellison said...

@ August 20, 2011 8:09 AM

Ask the 17 homeowners who's property is being stolen from them without consent or compensation or with respect to a free market by the heavy hand of state government if I think this is a game or a joke. Ask the technical and legal examiners at the RRC if they think I am joking. Ask the general councel at the RRC commission if he thinks I am joking. Ask Mr. Hammack from Titan Operating if he thinks I'm playing around. What's really sad for Flower Mound and our country is when someone, such as yourself, hurls out comments and then doesn't have the courage to put their name to them or say them to my face. Your cowardice is both uninspiring and pathetic.

Anonymous said...

says the person who posted anonymously. you can't post that way and then complain/call people names when they make the same choice you did. makes you a hypocrite.

Anonymous said...

Nothing hypocritical about Eric Jellison. Just a person who has taken a bold stand, along with 17 other courageous individuals to protect their property rights. This country is moving in the wrong direction and is refreshing to know that there are those like Mr. Jellison, Louis McBee, Jerry Lodbill and all the others who are leading the charge to protect their and my constitutional rights.

It is whomever is making all the nasty comments who wants our great nation undermined by the liberal movement of "what is yours, is mine."

Forever indebted.

Anonymous said...

Everyone in this community should be thankful for someone like Eric Jellison to take a stand for what is right in this country and the surrounding communities. If we don't stand up now we will have nothing for later. Go...Eric! Keep them guessing and running.

Eric Jellison said...

So, Mr/Mrs Anonymous, how long does it take you to remember your name? A day and a half and counting. To everyone else, thanks for your support. To NON-anonymous opponents, I respect you as much as everyone else, this has never been personal for me, only one of certain principals. Theft is wrong, and state sponsored theft is not Constitutional. For those who would cite the "greater good". The Constitution does not have an exception clause for "the energy sector."

iSeeker said...

I am a frequent reader of this blog and infrequent commenter. I am saddened to see the dialogue in these comments. I know this is a touchy issue but why let one person get under your skin. I believe civil discourse and facts are best to educate those with differing opinions. Name calling only causes people to emotionally reject your arguments without hearing them on the merits.

Eric Jellison said...

You cannot have civil discourse with anonymous entities. You can have discourse, but it won't be civil.

Anonymous said...

and again Eric, you say this yet you admit posting anonymously. can't have it both ways. why did you not put your name on it in the first place?

Susan said...

Last anon poster. What is your problem? I have a pretty good idea of who you are. Did they kick you off Flower Mound Cares? It is easy to attack when you hide behind "anonymous".

Eric Jellison said...

@Anon August 23, 2011 2:19 PM

As soon as you use your real name, I will tell you. What are you so afraid of?

Anonymous said...

When people start attacking you and not the issue, that's when you know you're winning.

Eric--you've won. Thanks for your integrity. There are many reading this blog that appreciate your hard work. And not only in Flower Mound.

Anonymous said...

Why would one not be able to file a complaint with the police after the fracking is done stating that property was stolen? And to follow it up in a Federal court that the fifth amendment (takings clause) was being violated? That clause says "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation". Here private property is not being taken for public use but by a private corporation and without just compensation and certainly not for any appreciable benefit to the community.

Eric Jellison said...

@ August 24, 2011 3:45 PM

If you split the cost 50/50 by way of contract, your on. Please contact the admin of this site.

Anonymous said...

Eric,

I am not one of the 17 so my property won't be stolen.

I would also check on the first section of the 14th amendment: "nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws".

From what I am reading on wikipedia:
If Titan/State of TX argue that this takings for public use (jobs, economy, etc.) they would be violating the just compensation clause of the fifth amendment.

If Titan/State of TX argue that this was not for public use, this may be deemed a state issue and as such covered under the 14th amendment. The risk then is that the state would argue that the 17 were granted due process through the RRC hearing before they were deprived of their property. But EVEN THEN they would be violating the just compensation part of the fifth amendment which extends to the states.

So net is that there would be a constitutional violation here in any case. And the shameful part is that average citizens have to fight the state govt. to defend their property from being stolen by corporations.

Also read from Wikipedia for Kelo v. City of New London: In the dissent, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor argued that this decision would allow the rich to benefit at the expense of the poor, asserting that "Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms". How prescient of her !!!

Anonymous said...

The theft of the 17 mineral rights owners is definitely a Kelo abuse. The newly legislated Senate Bill 18 allows Kelo abuses to continue to happen at the hands of the State and private corporations/entities and/or Public Private Partnerships. These particular mineral rights owners are not even being compensated for their minerals, so once again we come around to pure and simple theft by Titan. Mineral rights ARE property rights and should be legally handled as such under any current eminent domain laws.

Anonymous said...

Eric: We have a lot of respect and admiration for what you have done and are doing for Flower Mound. Thanks !!!

Anonymous said...

@ Anon Aug 27 3:07p.m.

Are you stating that the RRC is not treating minerals rights as property rights? And that the RRC is going against the very legislation, SB 18, that Rick Perry recently signed off on to ensure that land owners, and in this particular case with the 17 minerals rights owners here in Flower Mound, are fairly compensated if their minerals are to be extracted? I thought that mineral rights trumped land surface rights in the state of Texas, so why aren't these 17 people being compensated?

Maybe questions we should ask of Rep. Tan Parker and Sen. Jane Nelson? The Republicans seem to be so concerned with protecting property rights, but allow these 17 mineral or property rights owners to be screwed by a private company without compensation.

Eric Jellison said...

@Anon August 27, 2011 11:20 AM

Neither am I, although that is certainly a possibility in the future. If the RRC ignored the
5th amendment, do you really think any court in Texas would find differently? The 17 homowners rights were [supposed to be] considered at these hearings. Since the RRC took all of 8 minutes to dismiss their rights, you can be the judge if they were even considered, let alone ruled on appropriately. In a "greenmail" war, the industry will win every time, since they have more cash than anyone (except Apple for a short time). So if you want to step up to the plate and put some of your own scratch at risk, let's roll, otherwise, this discussion is moot.