Everyone’s favorite interior decorator turned Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, who never met a check from an energy company she didn’t like, opined about the majesty of the Barnett Shale in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal. To hear her tell it, we love having gas wells next to our homes and schools. Really?
Mayor Mikey shudders
Lexuses fill parking lot
Standing room only
This just in from Don Young: “Jerry Horton called me just now to report that she was served papers today by Texas Midstream [ Chesapeake Energy's pipeline company]. The court date is August 21 at 9:30 a.m.” Evidently, she can’t afford a lawyer. Should be an interesting hearing.
Today was the first day in a long time that I felt any sense of optimism about urban gas drilling.
This may surprise some of you, especially considering that as our city creeps closer to the dog days of August, tempers on the gas drilling issue have been flaring. To support my point, I reference Ms. Horton’s outburst at Mayor Mikey the other day. I believe you are going to see more of that. The Mayor and the City Council and the gas drilling interests have been unwilling to deal with this issue and it is starting to get out of their control. If you drive south down Oakland Boulevard from I-30 you will see what I mean. Yard after yard of anti-pipeline signs. One asked the Mayor how he would like a pipeline in his front yard.
And really that places the blame squarely where it belongs. Mayor Mikey — you made this happen. you didn’t protect Fort Worth neighborhoods and now you have the makings on an insurrection on your hands. Way to go.
And as much as I would like to see this whole thing blow up in your face because you deserve it, you actually have an opportunity to pull your ass out of the sling and fix this whole mess. And I’m going to tell you how to do it.
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Incisive journalism … it ain’t. Check out the comments.
BS Blog reports: Mayor Mikey got yelled at by an old lady. Please tell me this is going to be on TV.
A friend of West and Clear in Berkeley — yes, our spies are everywhere — provided us with a recap from last night’s meeting with Chesapeake and the Fort Worth & Western Railroad.
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A Gas Pipeline Informational Meeting is scheduled for 6:30 Wednesday evening at Meadowbrook United Methodist Church at 3900 Meadowbrook Drive. The event is hosted by the West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association and Fort Worth Mayor Pro Tem and District 8 Councilmember Kathleen Hicks, as well as state represenatives Lon Burnam and Marc Veasey.
This meeting will allow residents to get answers to questions, voice concerns and find out what steps can be taken to protect our neighborhoods. Experts in the field as well as elected representatives will be presenting information and responding to questions.
If you wish to read an interesting email from a concerned Carter Avenue resident who can’t attend the meeting, click through to the jump.
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Memo to Julie Wilson: Have someone translate “Let’s Get Behind the Barnett” into Chinese immediately.
The South China Morning Post is reporting that China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the state-owned energy company of the People’s Republic of China, is considering bidding for minority stakes in shale gas assets owned by Chesapeake Energy.
It is worth noting that CNPC has extensive and problematic operations in Sudan and highlights on its website the new deal it has with the government of Myanmar and also does business with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Would superpatriot Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon really consider a business arrangement with the CNPC? It would kind of undermine the whole national security argument about the benefits of gas drilling if he doesn’t tell them to go pound sand immediately.
Another day, another house.
This is another house along the route of the TCU pipeline. It’s at 3500 South Drive. When I drove by and took some pictures tonight, I wasn’t sure if this house was part of the pipeline “improvements” to the neighborhood, so I asked a neighbor. He told me that when he spoke to the fire marshal during the demolition, the fire marshal said that the house was being razed “because of extensive mold damage.” However, a search of the Tarrant Appraisal District website reveals that 3500 South Drive is owned by Texas Midstream Gas Services LLC, Chesapeake Energy’s pipeline company. I’m doubting the mold damage claim, but it sounds better than, “Chesapeake and TCU are tearing down houses in your neighborhood for their gas pipeline.”
Great. When you can’t trust a fireman to tell you the truth, isn’t that a sign of the apocalypse? And Wendy Davis isn’t allowed to comment.
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