Before I threw my name in the hat and let go of $100 towards my son’s braces, I interviewed most of the men running to see if we could expect more of the “blindly blessing drill sites mantra” of the existing council.
Rick Collins admitted he was not a drilling expert and said that drilling should not be allowed just anywhere and should be away from people. He felt that the drillers needed to participate in full chemical disclosures of fracking fluids. I asked him if he felt the 600 ft set back was adequate and what to do about the numerous sites where that has been violated, and he responded that a rigorous “sniffer” technology exists that sniffs one thousand times better than a blood hound and how that technology should be mandatory for those living and working closer than code…too bad Rick dropped out because the rest of the boys in the game that I interviewed (Ron Smith, & Bill Verkest), are pro drilling and see no issues of unnecessary public risk.
I did speak to Charlie Parker‘s wife who said Charlie was for urban drilling and couldn’t speak to me at the moment-they were in Arizona at the Rangers Training Camp…When I called Cliff Richardson, I got the recording that he works at Taneska (in the related natural gas industry), and so I didn’t even bother to leave a message.
I have yet to interview Karl Warren and Ben Bruce. I was thankful to the candidates for their time and grateful for their ear when I gave them instances of past emission events in neighborhoods like when the electric NG Compressor Station lost power and affected two drill sites where both well’s auto shut in failed.
I also complained about how I know of two instances where the TCEQ investigators notated their own health effects responding to odor events when their hand held devices recorded VOC’s “off the charts”. Two readings that I know about like that were at 1.1 and 1.2 million parts per billion, and yet both their suma canister air samples taken 1) didn’t screen for methane losses and 2) both tests came back no violations.…so if the state investigators can suffer health effects, but no changes are made via violations/fines, then residents are
A) being legally exposed even if they are to suffer health effects and
B) have no legal recourse but to co-exist or move away.
That is not what Arlington residents, schools, churches and businesses deserve (for signing away their minerals).
Urban drilling should be more regulated/costly (best technology) to implement because much more is at stake if (when) things go wrong.
Arlington TX Barnett Shale Blogger 
Kim….re: cancer cases near Martin High School……I have always been a very healthy, active, strong, busy mom of two incredible kids. I am a General Manager of a family owned Flower Shop. December 2011, I went to see my Dr. with what I thought was a spider bite on my leg. He told me it was an infection and gave me a Rx of antibiotic. I continued to get worse. New Year’s Eve 2011, my Dr. called to let me know he thought I had early stages of Leukemia. We live slightly north and west of the Bruder Site. I did a couple of rounds of chemo while getting ready for a transplant. I was diagnosed with AML which is rare and very unusual for someone like me. AML usually strikes older men who have had factory jobs with long term exposure to chemicals such as benzene. My transplant was done at the same time as the little boy Ethan from Pantego. He attended school at Grace Prep which is just across I-20 from the Bruder site. Also, while I was in Houston at MDA for my tranplant, my kids participated in a money drive to help a teen-age girl at Martin help cover the medical expenses for her transplant. There are alot of other things that have me believing that there is something very wrong in this area…..when they are fracking, if my 6 year old plays outside or sleeps with the window open, she has terrible headaches so bad it leaves her in tears. She also has unexplainable nose bleeds during those times. When my son was 5-8 years old, approx. 2008-2012 he suffered from Idiopathic Eosinophylic Esophagitis…..big word for ulsers and severe swelling in the throat and intestines…..horribly painful everytime he would eat or potty. After exhausting food allergy tests, blood tests, 4 colon/endoscopy tests….literally years of testing….his GI Specialist told us there was a 30-40% chance it was enviromentaly related. After 11/2 years worth of heavy meds…4 x’s the adult dose of Prevacid and steroid inhalers to reduce swelling, he is better. He used to be in pain 80% of the day, now only about twice a week. I’m not sure if there is anything that you can do with all this info…..I just had to tell someone. Thanks for the hard work you are doing to try and curb the out of control fracking business. It’s hard to wrap your mind around what’s happening to the town I used to love. I have lived in Arlington for more than 35 years and 7 years ago, I swore that this is where I would live forever….where I would raise my kids….I was proud to be a resident of this wonderful town. Now I just feel sick and betrayed….betrayed by my city, my state and my government.
Yesterday I went to take my husband to see a nutritionist for what I think caused his neck to swell (lymph node enlarged/mass per MRI) which I think was fracking related (I live within 1/2 mile of an active drill site)…when we got to 360 and Ave H, there was an active frack going on and I grabbed my respirator and filmed it while the doc saw my husband…it is a sad day when you go to get de-toxed from fracking and have to endure being across the road from fracking while trying to detox from fracking…this is so fracked up.
Thank you for sharing your Martin cancer cluster story…when my husband and I went to his oncologist appointment, I asked a senior citizen lady visiting the same doctor where she lived and she said near Martin Highschool and I said that I thought there was a cancer cluster in that area and the lady’s daughter waved to me and put her finger on her lip to politely warn me not to talk about it (like her mom would worry too much or didn’t need to hear that).
This is really scary.
I know how overwhelming these appts. can be. You want to scream at the top of your lungs (but you have to sit there quietly with your hands in your lap) and it’s heartbreaking when it seems like no one wants to hear it. Take one appt, at a time. Don’t try to figure out what’s going on with all the testing. Every pt. and case in different. I will pray for you and your husband……some things only God can take care of.
You are not alone!
Thank you Sharon, he got the iodine dye injection today….I cried about that. We’ll know more this Wednesday-I’ll stay in touch.
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I just have to post more details of Sharon explaining her conviction of the drilling causing her leukemia….. Tuesday 9:17pm
When I was waiting for chemo today, I met another young Mom, 36 with two little kids, that had a transplant at MDA for Leukemia 3 years ago. Like my Dr., the first thing her Dr. asked was what changed in the last 3 months. What have you been exposed to? I can tell you without a doubt what “changed” for me. They started fracking at the corner of Ridgmar and I-30 which is one block south and uphill from where I work in July 2011. We are at the bottom of a valley where the fumes settle. (There is a large hill on either side of us.) By Oct. 2011 I started getting sick, struggled through Nov. and was diagnose Dec. 31, 2011. It is a major drill site. The frack pond is by far the largest (approx. 400’x1000′) and the deepest (approx. 75′) I’ve ever seen. I absolutley KNOW that they caused my illness. I don’t know how to prove it. Benzene only shows up in your systems for a few days after exposure. I didn’t have enough time to ask her where she lives, but just before they called for me to come back, she told me that she was there with her Mom who was recently diagnosed with blood cancer also.
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