"The Moron's Guide to Fracking in Dallas"

Check it out at http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2012/09/a_morons_guide_to_the_fracking.php



Reprinted from the Dallas Observer, 9-13-12

A must read for folks who are tired of the games the gas industry plays.

Our First Responders

Have these men been trained?

Has the city of Dallas budgeted the cost of training for its first responders to gas well accidents?

The Fire Chief of Arlington, Texas has submitted a Plan for over 40 of its first responders to receive training and new equipment to protect citizens from gas well accidents.  The Plan will cost $800,000.00.  Is Dallas considering these costs, when they consider all the costs for allowing drilling in Dallas?  Read:

Fire Chief Presents Gas Well Preparedness Plan

February 8, 2012 | Filed under: Community,Fire,Government,Headlines,Mayor & Council,News,Public Safety | Posted by: City of Arlington, TX

Fire Chief Don Crowson presented a Natural Gas Well Preparedness and Response Plan to the City Council on Tuesday during their afternoon work session.
The chief told the council a gas well plan is needed due to the unique challenges for public safety, the rapid growth of drill sites, and the fact that they are located in urban settings near neighborhoods, schools, and businesses. The chief expressed the need for additional well oversight, and expertise and emergency response capacity.
The chief’s plan calls for a system approach of three elements to be addressed: oversight, inspection, and response capacity. It also calls for a unified partnership between the departments of Fire, Community Development and Planning, Water, and Public Works and Transportation.
“We see it as a system approach issue,” said Crowson. “An active and continuous partnership with other City partners as we approach this issue from a preparedness and safety perspective, which is key to the Fire Department’s mission.”
The plan is expected to cost $800 thousand per year and be funded by a Natural Gas Well Operational Permit Fee, which is expected to be around $2,400 per well. The plan costs will include hiring a natural gas well program manager, a natural gas well site safety and security fire inspector, and six fire fighters assigned and specially trained to handle natural gas well incidents.
Under the councils direction, Chief Crowson will report back at the next council afternoon work session on February 21 with information on the number of calls or incidents the Fire Department has responded to regarding natural gas wells, as well as feedback collected from gas well drillers.
For more details, click here to view the Chief’s presentation.
By Michelle Rice

GAS WELLS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD ....

.... only if you let it happen.

Mountain Creek Neighborhood Alliance residents have been attending the Dallas Gas Drilling Task Force's meetings at City Hall from July, 2011 to February, 2012.  All 22 meetings and 2 Public Hearings.  The Task Force has made their recommendations.  And we're not happy with them and you're not going to be happy with them either.

Here is a chart we made for you of the key areas we're not happy with and they MUST be changed.

Task Force Recommendations that Must be Strengthened:

ISSUE	TASK FORCE	SOLUTION
Too close for comfort	Separate and unequal protections: 1000 feet from homes, schools, hospitals and places of worship, but less for offices, shopping centers and restaurants—and gas companies can ask for a “variance” of just 500 feet for any of these!	Dallas should proceed with caution. The Army Corps of Engineers recommends a setback of 3000 feet for the protection of a dam. Dallas should use this as a guideline to uniformly protect its residents where we live, work, worship and play.
Secret toxic chemicals	Gas companies can keep the full list of toxic chemicals they use to frack permanently hidden, calling it their “trade secret.” Not even Dallas police, firefighters and medical professionals would be given this information.	Dallas’ first responders are on the front lines every day and will be put at high risk of exposure to these toxic chemicals. Dallas should demand full disclosure of all chemicals with no “trade secret” exemptions.
Water for drinking, not for fracking	Fracking uses 1-8 million gallons of water for each new gas well—and this water is permanently contaminated with toxic chemicals. Gas companies would be allowed to do this even during severe droughts, and even use drinking water from Dallas to drill in other cities.	Dallas should charge gas companies twice as much for using our water since it will be contaminated and lost forever, ban the exporting of our drinking water to other cities for the purpose of fracking and ban water for fracking as a part of Dallas’ Stage III drought restrictions.
Save our parklands & floodplains	Reverse the current gas drilling ordinance in order to allow fracking inside Dallas parklands and floodplains—as well as all compressor stations, storage tanks and other industrial equipment.	Allowing industrial development inside our parklands and floodplains is dangerous, risky and costly. Dallas should keep the existing prohibition on fracking inside parklands and floodplains, and protect these with 3000 foot setbacks.
Protect the  air we breathe	Allow fracking operations to continue contributing as much CO2 as all the cars on D/FW roads, which would all but eliminate the recently adopted Dallas climate action plan.	Dallas should require the gas industry to  use their own Best Practises so as to not add to the smog producing and poisonous gases in Dallas' air.
Effective oversight	Continue relying on failed state and federal efforts to police fracking operations in the D/FW Metroplex, and these outside agencies to handle problems when they arise.	Dallas should establish its own industry-funded office of gas drilling oversight. This office must have enough trained personnel, equipped with the latest technology, to be able to provide help to residents 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Mountain Creek Neighborhood Alliance Leaders  Stand Up by Attending:

Citywide Organizing Meeting on Gas Drilling in Dallas
Tuesday, March 27th
7 to 8:30 pm
Center for Community Cooperation
2900 Live Oak
Dallas, TX 75204

Email mcnadallas@yahoo.com with any questions.