Again, WHAT royalties?

Lots of folks showing up here looking for the information on the WFAA.com report about gas drilling companies not paying THE PEOPLE as promised.

(Their next one should be, those WHO did get paid, HOW much was it?)

It's our understanding WFAA.com made a video that shows you how to look up your well on the Texas Railroad Commission to find out if it has been producing, for how long and how much.

Shouldn't the TRC do that?  WHY does a news outlet have to get involved to help the people get what they are due?  Isn't that the job of TRC?  To oversee gas drilling?  To protect the public?  (Okay, that last question went to far...)

While, WFAA has dropped the ball more than once protecting the public, on this one they hit a home run. 

Go, Brett, Go.

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How quickly they forget...

In 2011 the Fort Worth Star-Telegram picked their People of the Year, one was the head guy from the National Weather Service.  His "standard line" for Texas weather is -

"Episodes of drought punctuated by periods of catastrophic flooding."

The Fort Worth Weekly does a good job at reminding the local politicians about all those water restriction promises they were making just a few short months ago.  You know, when we were in a drought.

As an advocate for water conservation measures, including restrictions on homeowners, Burgin knows from experience that politicians often talk tough on water and then avoid real action.
Which is exactly what happened in North Texas.

The mayors of Fort Worth, Dallas, Irving, and Arlington met in April to demand mandatory watering rules by the end of the summer.

Soon after, Fort Worth’s council discussed water restrictions at a pre-council meeting. They never made it to a vote. Same thing happened in Irving.

A spokesman for Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said there would be a public hearing during the summer. That never happened either.

The four Metroplex mayors were all too busy to return calls for this story. Dallas is sticking to its toughened regulations, despite the rest of the region’s unwillingness to follow suit.

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Two-faced?

This silly blurb in the Star-Telegram made us laugh.  It also made us wonder, if you're a Democrat turned Republican, but you have a "Republican look"  what does that mean?  A commenter summed it up eloquently.

Kay Granger was a Democrat, does that mean she is "two faced" ?

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/10/13/4333692/if-theres-a-republican-look-she.html#storylink=cpy

Also, if a Tea Party is endorsing a Democrat candidate for Commissioner because their tired of the reckless Republican spending, how long will it take for them to do the same in the Congressional races?

Kudos to the Boiling Point for being open enough to listen to a candidate, not a party.

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WHAT media? WHAT jobs?

If you believe the TransCanada pipeline is good for us...well, there's a name for that, but we'll refrain.

We've read three articles on it today, by far the best being Fort Worth Weekly.  No surprise there.

Eminent domain, unsafe practices and does the word export ring any bells?

The first article talks about the New York Times reporters that were detained for trying to report on the protesters that have been in the tree tops (literally) since September 24th, and the tactics used by the Keystone cops to stop them.

The next was in the Star-Telegram where no reporter bothered to find out WHY...
WHAT do they pay you people for?

TransCanada shut down the 2,100-mile pipeline Wednesday after tests showed possible safety issues. Company spokesman Shawn Howard said Friday that no leaks have been detected but declined to provide more specifics until the pipeline is inspected.

And the Weekly, tells you the scoop.  Be sure and check out the text message from Judge Bill Harris.

But the blockade group includes Texas ranchers, property owners, business owners, and environmentalists — some of whom have endured pepper spray, dangerous Taser jolts, and chokeholds administered by local law enforcement officers in attempts to remove them from the path of the pipeline construction.

The oil extracted from those sands won’t be used to lower gasoline prices in this country because, the blockaders charge, it’s all going to be shipped overseas. The pipeline’s intended southern terminus is Port Arthur, a designated foreign trade zone where the oil products can be loaded onto oceangoing tankers.

Most importantly, the protesters say, TransCanada has already shown itself to have a terrible record on pipeline safety, as have other tar sands pipelines already in operation. The blockaders say it adds up to a Canadian company seeking to transport the most dangerous and difficult-to-clean-up oilfield product across thousands of acres of land, much of it being taken by eminent domain or the threat of eminent domain, with almost no benefit being derived by the U.S.

However, that reassurance was quickly undermined in the first Keystone line’s initial year of operation. The pipeline had 35 spills in the U.S. and Canada, a figure that Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute put at “100 times higher than TransCanada forecast.”

“The reality is that the Keystone XL is a pipeline through the U.S., not to it. We will simply be allowing the transport of the dirtiest source of oil on the planet for a foreign company, a product with environmental risks that don’t exist with conventional crude.”

 TransCanada had the right to acquire land by eminent domain only if the company could prove that its pipeline was a “common carrier,” which means the company would sell capacity on the line to other companies to carry their petroleum as well as TransCanada’s own. If TransCanada was a private carrier, carrying only its own petroleum products, it wouldn’t have the right to take land through eminent domain in Texas.

The decision meant the judge was taking TransCanada’s word that the Keystone XL pipeline would be a common carrier, although the company had presented no evidence to back up that assertion.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/10/18/4346227/transcanada-temporarily-shuts.html#storylink=cpy

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Fort Worth PD & TRV

If you have Facebook, you should check out the posts being left on Betsy Price and the Fort Worth Police Officer's Association page. 

Seems not all Fort Worth citizens are blind to the fact that the Trinity River Vision and friends are soaking up all the money in Fort Worth.

The Fort Worth City Council voted today, all of them (but the member who abstained) voted against the FWPD retirement. 

Now we know there are some cops out there that give PD's a bad name, we also know there are hero's on each force, and heaven forbid, should you ever need to dial 911 - it ain't the council WHO will show up.

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Bridges for sale

Don Woodard does it again. 

His recent piece in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram asks Susan Combs some good questions.  WHERE is the response?  Maybe some of our elected and appointed ones should answer.  Perhaps they are too busy following the Fort Worth ship around the country.

Meanwhile back on the ranch, crickets are chirping as Fort Worth debt grows by leaps and bounds.

State Comptroller Susan Combs is alarmed about the growth in state and local government debt in Texas during the past 10 years. Alarmed? Rightly so. (See: "Scary numbers on local government debt," Sept. 28)

In Fort Worth, the city's general bond debt, serviced by property taxes, grew by 102 percent from 2002 through 2011. The total went to $574 million, up from $284 million in 2002.

Twenty-six million of that figure can be attributed to the city fathers' gung-ho embrace of the $909 million Trinity Vision Rube Goldberg boondoggle with its hydraulic dams, three bridges to nowhere and a silt-collecting, unfishable stock pond called Town Lake.

That is just the beginning, Susan. What will it be like in 2020?

But not to worry. One lone councilmember, Mayor Pro Tem Zim Zimmerman, says $26 million is our limit. Not a dollar more.

Believe that? I'll have three bridges in 2020 I'll sell you.

-- Don Woodard, Fort Worth

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Fay for Prez

One of our favorite letter writers is back.  Read Betty's latest in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Keep in mind, there are no jobs where there is no water and no air...

The rocks that our homes are built on are being cracked apart, water underground is poisoned, and across Texas, Canadian oil sludge is piped to the gulf. Nuclear waste that is trucked through towns all the way from Vermont is now dumped on our state to pay more dollars to billionaires.

All the while, politicians worry about babies not being born. I worry about those that are born.

-- Betty W. Fay, Fort Worth

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WHO didn't see that coming?

The company from Spain owns the roads in DFW.

Does that mean they own YOU?

How's that for conservative?

Didn't all these same groups meet with a 'conservative' recently?

How'd that work out for ya?

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Still voting for a RINO?

WHY?

Check out Dave Robinson. .

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For whom the road tolls...

A few days after Terri Hall spoke at several events around town, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram actually said something about toll roads. 

Don't be fooled by all the highway construction you see around you in Tarrant County. Texas roads are in bad shape, and there's not enough money to fix them or build all the new ones needed.

Wasn't it just today Mayor Price was thanking lucky stars that we're going to start construction on I35 next year?  From Fort Worth to the airport...torn up and tolled. 

 The three big highway projects in Tarrant County -- the DFW Connector in Grapevine, the North Tarrant Express along Northeast Loop 820 and the Airport Freeway in Hurst, Euless and Bedford, and the Chisholm Trail Parkway from near downtown Fort Worth to Cleburne -- all have been made possible because they will be a toll road or include toll lanes.

Tolls on the North Tarrant Express will go to the private company that put up money to help build it. The North Texas Tollway Authority will collect the tolls from the Chisholm Trail Parkway. Only for the DFW Connector will the Texas Department of Transportation receive the tolls.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/10/05/4315213/the-rising-cost-of-bad-roads-in.html#storylink=cpyThe three big highway projects in Tarrant County -- the DFW Connector in Grapevine, the North Tarrant Express along Northeast Loop 820 and the Airport Freeway in Hurst, Euless and Bedford, and the Chisholm Trail Parkway from near downtown Fort Worth to Cleburne -- all have been made possible because they will be a toll road or include toll lanes.
Tolls on the North Tarrant Express will go to the private company that put up money to help build it. The North Texas Tollway Authority will collect the tolls from the Chisholm Trail Parkway. Only for the DFW Connector will the Texas Department of Transportation receive the tolls.

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The Doctor is in.

"An election based on merit?"

Not in Texas.

But a letter writer to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram gets it.  It's good to know someone does.

As a physician in Tarrant County for more than 30 years, I'm embarrassed by the attack on Sen. Wendy Davis by a colleague from my profession. The accusation of corruption against her and the prestigious law firm where she works is absurd. Why now? Must be losing! When are we ever going to have an election based on merit? I am tired of electing go-along, party-line representatives. I will vote for Wendy Davis!

-- Lee S. Anderson, Fort Worth

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When will 820 be complete?

Better yet, what's it going to cost YOU?

Those lanes in the center of the picture above are what the new "managed lanes" will look like.  What is a "managed lane"?  Read it and weep...

Managed lanes are toll lanes in the middle of an existing freeway, unlike traditional turnpikes that are brand new roads where every lane is tolled. Congestion pricing is where the toll rate varies based on the level of traffic using the road. If the speed of traffic slows below 50 MPH, Cintra can hike the toll rates for the purpose of bumping cars out of the lanes in order to guarantee a speed of 50 MPH. So the price of the toll varies based on the time of day.

Since it costs so much to drive in those lanes, people can't afford it.  So what is the Spanish company that owns them doing?  Partnering with people like the NCTCOG to use taxpayer dollars and make commercials.  Not to worry, they say it's "educational". 

Where does Texas rank in schools again?

Pay attention, people. 

See the article on the Cintra commercials here.  And here's a good take on the Terri Hall meeting from last week. 

Notice the names of the players never change. 

TxDOT and the North Texas Council of Governments (NTCOG) and its Regional Transportation Council have been promoting the contest using taxpayer resources. Amanda Wilson, Communications Supervisor for the Transportation Division of the NTCOG said the contest is also “an educational effort, not just naming the lanes.”

Still don't believe it?  Check out the North Tarrant Express site.  Read between the lines.  You'll see it.

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WHO is Eleanor Fairchild?

She's the 78 year old Texas grandma who was arrested, with actress Daryl Hannah, for trying to protect her own land.  In Texas...

We know some Texas grandma's like that. 

Tell us, what would YOU do if they came to take your land?

Better call grandma.  Or Hannah. 

"I was peacefully protesting the unwanted advances of Trans Canada on Eleanor Fairchild's land. She has stated very clearly that she doesn't want them there and they insist on bullying her and taking away her land through eminent domain," Hannah explained to KLTV, adding, "We just sort of stood in front of them and held our hands in a stop motion. I'm holding my wrist because there was this private security guard hired by TransCanada and he injured my wrist."

For the scoop on the pipeline from those in the know, click here.

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A "culture of deviance"

Sound familiar? 

These are the boys up north, in Canada, that are taking land from Texans.  They sound like the ones that are already here...


Occupy Canada

October 1st - A TransCanada pipeline engineer, the man responsible for ensuring that pipelines were constructed safely, has come forward with shocking information about TransCanada’s unscrupulous safety practices. In his own words: "Someone is going die and they just don't know it yet."

"Drawing on examples from the records of Enbridge and Kinder Morgan, Vokes is going public with his concerns about an industry facing unprecedented growth and what even the National Energy Board (NEB) describes as "an increased trend in the number and the severity" of pipeline incidents.

Vokes has stellar company. In particular, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has accused Enbridge, a Canadian company jointly regulated by the NEB and the U.S. Pipeline Hazardous Materials Standard Administration (PHMSA), of nurturing a "culture of deviance" on safety and integrity issues after a dramatic Michigan pipeline rupture in 2010. That debacle caused the largest and most expensive onshore oil spill in U.S. history.

In addition to "multiple findings of non-compliance and non-conformance" with regulations, the NEB also documented that Enbridge didn't have a process for "defining and evaluating the level of qualification and competence of contractors and consultants."

The company also didn't know how valid and effective its assessments of corrosion and cracking were in its pipeline safety program."
 http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/10/01/Cracks-In-Pipeline-System/

-- Kris

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What does PBS stand for?

We thought it was 'public'...

After the exchange in the Dallas Observer between KERA and John Jay Myers, one has to wonder.

John Jay Myers, Texas' Libertarian Senate Hopeful, Barred from KERA's Debate.

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Sooner or later...

All bubbles burst

Special Report: The casualties of Chesapeake's "land grab" across America.

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Fracking Texas

Oh wait, that's North Dakota.

Same story, different state.

The drillers dump their stuff into creeks and waterways, or private land.

Those that oversee are elected or appointed by the industry. 

Therefore, it's YOUR problem. 

"It's happening often enough that we see it as a significant problem," he said. "What's the solution? Catching them. What's the problem? Catching them."

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