Open Letter to Gary Wortel

Welcome to Fort Worth and congratulations on your new position as publisher of Fort Worth's only daily newspaper. I know you are really busy right now, so I'm going to cut straight to the chase. I'm kind of an anomaly among those in online Fort Worth -- I actually subscribe to the newspaper. That's right. Sometime in the small hours of the morning, a real person inserts a real newspaper in a real plastic baggy and leaves it somewhere in the vicinity of my front porch.

That makes me kind of a Luddite because most of my friends don't subscribe to or even read the paper. Maybe they look at it online. And I know that is one of the problems you are trying to solve. So I'm here to offer some advice.

You see, I believe in newspapers in general and your newspaper in particular. I believe that a free press and education are two of the essential ingredients of American democracy and for most of our history, the newspaper has both informed and educated. I worked there for almost 10 years, and I believe the Star-Telegram is an essential part of this community. It's like Ol South Pancake House, except without a smoking section. Yeah, the Startlegram is that important.

I know you are buried under opinions about how to move the Star-Telegram forward in 2008. So I figured I would throw a few on the pile. Here goes:

It's about the local: The people I talk to want to read local news but they don't feel like they are getting it from the Star-Telegram. If you tell this to your editors, they will tell you that what I just said is a bunch of bullshit ... there's plenty of local news. But that's how a lot of people feel. So who's right? I think the people are. If so, where is the disconnect?

Call out the liars: OK, I do have an idea about the disconnect. I wish I could take credit for this one, but credit goes to the Online Journalism Review. Lemme read a little. I highlighted a few of my favorite parts: "How do you distinguish yourself among all this information competition? Don't rely on the value of and goodwill toward your publications "brand." If that was gonna bail you out, it would have already. No, news publishers need to provide information that is more timely, more accurate, and above all, more useful and rewarding to their readers in order to claim a larger share of what might be in 2008 a shrinking ad revenue pie. Readers today are drowning in lies ... The news sites that prosper in 2008 and beyond will be the ones that do not leave their readers hanging with 'he said, she said' coverage, but that report aggressively to reveal to readers who's lying and who is telling the truth. The online medium is changing journalism. But not just to make it a 24/7, global, clickable and interactive. By unleashing fresh competition on the field, it is pressuring established newsrooms to wake up from their lazy practice of stenography-as-journalism, and start calling out the liars again." There's a pretty good roadmap right there. In a sort-of-related topic, a step in the right direction would be disclosing the terms of the gas drilling lease that the Star-Telegram signed a gas drilling lease agreement with Chesapeake Energy. If the S-T has a business arrangement worth a lot of money with one of the most controversial companies doing business in Fort Worth, the public has a right to know of a potential conflict of interest. It's the right thing to do.

Make the paper smaller: I know, I know. I've read the stories in the paper. People love the redesign. But the people I talk with think that there is too much clutter to find what is really important. Be respectful of readers' time. You aren't just competing against other news sources, you are competing against the Mavericks game, YouTube, IM, 30 Rock, dinner, sleep ... just about everything. You are the filter. Make it more efficient for readers to go through you than gathering news on their own.

Give me a Web site worth clicking on: The paper was redesigned last April. We are still waiting for the new Web site. Why? If anything, the Web site is even more important because that's where the future of newspapers is headed. If you'd like some very specific ideas about how to fix it, please read my post from last summer. I know the Wall Street Journal recently enthused about McClatchy phasing in Yahoo services in 2008, citing that early tests in Fort Worth produced a 4 percent traffic increase the first month. Imagine what those numbers could be with a clickable, searchable, truly interactive Web site?

Moderate the comments: The comments I find on your Web site make me shudder. For some reason, it draws out the bottom feeders who dispense the most vile tripe but don't add any value to the great conversation of Fort Worth. OK, that's pretty esoteric. Lemme break it down another way. It prevents your Web site from building affinity with its readers. I think that's how they say it in newspaperspeak. Look at it this way: its the online equivalent of a bunch of teenagers hanging out in front of the store. It drives people away.

A little link love, please: I blog a lot about what is written in the Star-Telegram and I follow Fair Use guidelines -- paraphrase a little, provide proper attribution and insert a hyperlink (BTW, permalinks, please.) And I do this with any other blog or news site I refer to. It's proper netiquette and really not that different from what your reporters do every day. However, that hasn't proved to be a two-way street. When your reporters find out about things from my blog or aother local blogs, there's no mention of where this insight came from. It is passed off as original reporting. I know the ethics of blogging have still not fully gelled, but I think this is wrong. If I reporter finds out about a story from a local blog, a little attribution would be nice. There are lots of bloggers in Fort Worth who work hard to record the world as they see it around them. Give them a little recognition.

That's enough to start with. Good luck with the new job, Gary. I'm rooting for you.

S-T's a Wee-Bit Touchy on the Barnett Shale

The Star-Telegram has taken lots of licks lately for its coverage of urban gas drilling -- both from me and from the FWWeekly.

And that why it shouldn't surprise that the paper felt the need to defend its coverage with this post on the Barnett Shale blog. So, does the S-T have a point?

Meh.

Although I think the S-T is showing more enterprise and less boosterism in its reporting over the past three months, I think there is a long way to go. The S-T hasn't been asking enough questions and tended to be more rah-rah about gas drilling than anything else.

I expect our daily newspaper to hold government and business accountable for their actions. Freedom of the press is an important component of a health democracy. But who holds the newspaper accountable? We do -- the people of Fort Worth. And I think that's what is going on. The readers are demanding better and the paper is hearing it.

I'm not saying that there is nothing good going on at 400 West 7th. I think the Barnett Shale blog is generally good. However, in spite of the Sunday story, I think there is a lot more to report on injection wells. Hell, go out to Wise County and find out why people are so pissed off about the environmental impact of gas drilling because they are already at where we will be in a few years. There's a great story idea right there.

Injection wells are the issue flying under the radar at City Hall right now. There is a lot of backroom movement of this, but the public is generally shut out of the process. We depend on the newspaper to shine the light into the dark corners of public policy and help us find our way.

One issue that hangs over the Star-Telegram and its relationship with Chesapeake Energy. I think the readers of the Star-Telegram would be well-served if the paper would disclose how much money the paper received from Chesapeake Energy as a signing bonus on the lease for the 40 acres at the South Plant. The paper should also disclose the terms of the deal.

If the paper is in a business arrangement with Chesapeake that could potentially net the paper hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars, the readers need to know this information so they can weigh for themselves whether or not the business arrangement compromises the objective coverage of urban gas drilling.

The S-T earned its Turkey Award this year, but at least the paper is trying to make some changes in its coverage. I applaud these efforts. I would encourage everyone in Fort Worth to be a part of the conversation. Continue reading the paper and share your opinions -- positive and negative -- with the editors.

Stuff from the Paper

Fort Worth to Rick Perry -- Thanks for nothing: In a not-very-surprising move, Governor Goodhair chose Dec. 18 for a runoff election for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, rejecting a request by Tarrant County election officials to hold the runoff on Dec. 11 to coincide with the District 9 City Council runoff. After learning of Perry's decision, the City Council moved the District 9 runoff date to Dec. 18. I figured that Slick Rick would do this because the thought of all of those Democrats showing up to vote for Juan Rangel or Joel Burns are probably also going to cast a vote for Dan Barrett. Burns told the S-T that he is concerned that a date closer to Christmas will hold down turnout. Rangel said he is concerned that no early voting will take place on a Saturday.

FW is gay-friendly: Not new information here, but still it is a positive trend that deserves noting. Sez the S-T: " "Fort Worth, long known as one of the nation's more conservative communities, is home to 10 times as many same-sex couples than it was 16 years before, a new study shows. ... In Fort Worth, the number of same-sex couples in Fort Worth jumped to 2,254 in 2006 from 196 in 1990, the study shows." Why is this positive? Richard Florida said in his book, The Rise of the Creative Class, thriving, growing cities attract culturally and ethnically diverse people — artists, gays, people who are physically fit and open-minded and anyone who thinks and creates for a living. I see this trend as a positive indicator of the city's economic health.

Barnett Shale Weekend Roundup

A busy weekend of Barnett Shale news in the Star-Telegram:

An interesting read on the injection well issue in Fort Worth. Gas drillers frame their argument this way: "Lack of available, accessible, affordable saltwater disposal wells is a deal-killer for the Barnett Shale in Fort Worth." God if that were only true. But it ain't a deal killer, it just cuts into their profit margin.

Gas companies have said that they need as many as 15 injection wells, connected by a network of pipelines. Although gas drillers claim injection wells are safer than having trucks with wastewater on our streets, this argument overlooks a few things. If a water truck tips over and spills its cargo -- how much water is spilled? 10,000 gallons? If a pipeline leaks and goes undetected for a week or more, how much water is spilled? 10 or 100 times as much?

However, this argument is getting some traction at City Hall and, unless something changes soon, the current moratorium against injection wells won't stand up. If you care about the environment in Fort Worth, I encourage you to write the Mayor and your City Council representative and let them know that you do not want injection wells in our city.

Injection wells are easier and cheaper for the gas drillers, but this disposal method is not in the best interests of the people of Fort Worth or our natural environment.

Whoever wrote the headline for this story must also dot their i's with smiley faces or little hearts. I mean, talk about looking on the bright side: "Johnson, Wise county residents say benefits [of gas drilling] outweigh costs." How about this -- "90 percent of those surveyed in Wise County say that gas operators MUST adopt and use more environmentally friendly drilling practices."

A video from the S-T's Barnett Shale blog shows us that gas drilling is noisy and -- what a surprise -- people who have gas wells on their property like it and their neighbors don't.

Mitch Schnurman writes about JPMorgan's deal with the City of Fort Worth to manage its gas lease paperwork will undoubtedly raise more than a few eyebrows. The money quote: Gene Powell -- that big ol' teddy bear for the gas industry -- sez "They're always asking me, 'What's the best deal you've ever seen in the Barnett Shale?'" Powell says. "That's easy: JPMorgan's contract with the city of Fort Worth." Yipes!

In The Spirit of Turkey Day

... the FWWeekly offers up it's Turkey Awards, and all the usual suspects are there for (well-deserved) roasting -- Mayor Mikey, Chuck Silcox, and Kay Granger. My personal favorite:

"Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Gas Drillers: The city’s daily newspaper has celebrated gas drilling from the outset of the Barnett Shale phenomenon several years ago. With so many millions at stake, it’s not surprising that Fort Worth city officials have kowtowed to the industry so far. What’s less easily explained is the Star-Telegram’s motivation for cheering on drillers erecting rigs in bustling neighborhoods. Gushing editorials were nauseating enough, but then we got columnist Bud Kennedy’s view that allowing a high-impact gas well in a tree-covered area near a Trinity River hike and bike trail was A-OK, no problema. More than a thousand residents rallied against the permit, trying to convince the company to drop the proposal or at least reduce its impact on the property. But that passionate show of democracy in action was just so much fuss to Kennedy — the company had a legal right to drill, and nothing more needed to be said.

"That column aside, the paper’s coverage has some people wondering how much Barnett Shale money is making its way to the Star-T’s bank account, either through advertisements or from drilling royalties from its properties. The newspaper has practiced boosterism since chief booster Amon G. Carter founded it. But no newspaper worth its salt should act as uncritical apologist for an industry that has thus far shown little concern for the environment or citizens’ safety and quality of life and shown every indication that it’s willing to bully citizens and, in many cases, lie, cheat, and steal to get what it needs. (No, of course those injection wells won’t affect water wells; 300 feet is plenty of clearance from houses and schools; officer, please arrest those legal demonstrators for daring to express their opposition to our arm-twisting.)

"Recently, however, the newspaper has begun offering a little more balance in its coverage and on its blog site devoted to the Barnett. So in the spirit of the day, we give thanks for small wonders."

Someone give Gayle Reaves a hug. Or buy her a beer. Or both.

More Questions Than Answers in the Pipeline

OK, I need to modify a comment I made yesterday.

Specifically, this one: "While the Star-Telegram toils relentlessly to tell you about the horse race to sign neighborhoods in the Barnett Shale, the Dallas Morning News and the Denton Record-Chronicle are busy doing actual journalism."

I still find most of the Startlegram's coverage of the Barnett Shale to be too much on the rah-rah side, but I think that my comment is unfair to Mike Lee's reporting.

I think Mike is doing good public service journalism on Barnett Shale topics, and he did so again on Sunday with his story on how little say communities have on the natural gas pipelines that run through them.

One of the more interesting points of the story -- a subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy has applied for permission to run a pipeline under the Fort Worth & Western Railroad tracks. The tracks run through Trinity Park, then southward past Lily B. Clayton Elementary School and the Mistletoe Heights and Berkeley Place neighborhoods.

That pipeline will run about a football field away from the elementary school. Plus that right-of-way might carry a future commuter rail line -- that is if you can build a rail line on top of a pipeline. Doesn't sound like a great idea, does it?

Lee's story also shines a light on the lack of effectiveness of oversight from the Texas Railroad Commission. Recent reports from WFAA and The Dallas Morning News indicate that the commission watered down a report on defective gas pipe couplings that were involved in several fatal explosions.

Although the Railroad Commission contends it is doing a good job on pipeline safety, the facts show otherwise. Mike Lee writes: "In 2000, the Commission directed Texas natural gas utilities to remove all Poly 1 pipe in their systems, after finding evidence of substantial material failures. ... Poly 1 was a type of plastic pipe used in the early 1970s. A Star-Telegram investigation in 2004 showed that Lone Star Gas, a predecessor to Atmos Energy, knew the pipe was prone to cracking even before the company began using it. The Railroad Commission learned about the problems with Poly 1 pipe in 1983, 17 years before ordering the pipe's removal."

17 years. Wow.

If that doesn't scare you about the quality of the oversight we get from the Railroad Commission, consider this: the Texas Railroad commissioners receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from the oil and gas industry. In 2006, Michael Williams received $106,765, Victor Carillo received $164,154 and Elizabeth Ames Jones received $640,388. And to think, I was worried about Railroad Commission inspectors getting free lunches from gas companies.

Jones is my favorite commissioner by far. Her qualifications for the job? She's a former interior decorator. Kind of reminds me of Michael "Heckuva Job Brownie" Brown, who parlayed running horse shows into mismanaging the Hurricane Katrina response. Isn't America a great country?

Anyway, this a roundabout way of pointing out that not everybody is asleep at the switch at 400 West 7th. My apologies to Mike, but Mike's only one guy. Maybe his editors ought to throw a few more bodies at covering public safety and environmental impact aspects at the Barnett Shale coverage. I think this could be a Pulitzer-winning topic for the S-T. I think the issues are there. All they have to do is report the facts.

Star-Telegram News

Allow us to bid farewell to Wes Turner, who is stepping down as publisher of the Startlegram at the end of the year. Although I have A LOT of quibbles with the S-T, I always respected Wes. I liked him a lot personally and thought he tried to do right by his people. I wish him a long and happy retirement.

The McClatchy-ization of the Star-Telegram begins! Gary Wortel, president and publisher of The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C., will succeed Turner. I'm a little surprised that they selected someone from another old Knight Ridder paper. I'm not surprised that no one inside the building at 400 West 7th was selected. This line jumped out at me from the press release announcing the move:

"Gary did a stellar job as publisher in Myrtle Beach, one of the fastest-growing, most attractive markets in the country," said Lynn Dickerson, McClatchy vice president, operations, who oversees 11 McClatchy newspapers in Texas and the South, including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and The Sun News. "Under Gary’s leadership, The Sun News delivered excellent revenue and profit growth, circulation growth and editorial excellence over the past few years. Weekly Surge, an alternative newsweekly, was started last fall by Gary and his team, and they have been innovative leaders in online traffic and revenue growth," added Dickerson. "Gary is an excellent candidate to lead the Star-Telegram during these challenging times in our industry."

Indications of things to come in Fort Worth? Obviously, something has to give. McClatchy earnings have been in the tank since the Knight Ridder acquisition and the pressure from Wall Street to do something about it will only continue. Online revenue growth will be essential to that solution. And right now there is a lot of room for improvement. I'm also wondering if an alternative newsweekly will also be in the cards. Stay tuned.

Although this here blogger and Bud Kennedy don't see eye-to-eye on every issue, sometimes you just gotta put down the brickbats and say Bonne chance, mon ami. The occasion? Bud's getting hitched. The 52-year-old Kennedy proposed to Shelly Seymour, 47, in Austin on Saturday. It will be the first time jumping the broom for both of 'em. No date is set yet. Congratulations, Bud. Best wishes!

The best and worst of the Star-Telegram on Sunday both came from the op-ed page. The Best: Bob Ray Sanders' excellent defense of Huckleberry Finn as it relates to the recent Birdville controversy. Well done, Bob! The Worst: J.R. Labbe's column on labels in local political races seemed to deplore the use of party affiliation in other knee-jerk labels, but then went to label just about every damn candidate running. Thanks for helping cut through this issue for the voters. In a word, lame.

What Then Must We Do?

I'm a little late on this one, but kudos to J.R. Labbe for an outstanding Sunday column on the homeless in Fort Worth. She wrote:

John Peter Smith Hospital spent more than $19 million during the past three years on emergency treatment and medical care for homeless people.

Otis Thornton, Fort Worth's homelessness coordinator, says that's a conservative number.

The top 10 chronically homeless users of emergency medical services at JPS last year cost $500,000.

Ten people. A half million dollars. That's $50,000 per person.

Tell me again why it doesn't make financial sense to put these people into permanent supportive housing with wrap-around services that cost between $14,000 and $17,000 a year?

An excellent point. This is a financial issue, it's a public health issue, but it is also a moral issue.

I once heard an interview with the director of the Presbyterian Night Shelter in Dallas. The director said that there are many reasons for a person to become temporarily homeless -- domestic violence, addiction, unemployment. However, 100 percent of the chronic homeless at the Dallas shelter were mentally ill. 100 percent.

I urge the city to get involved. But we also need to get involved as individuals who live in this community.

So what then must we do?

I'm not much of one for quoting the Bible, but in Luke 3:10, the multitudes asked Jesus this same question, and he answered them: "He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise."

Fort Worth, that's a good place to start.

More Slash and Burn at the Star-Telegram

Allow me to refer you to this post on Bernie Scheffler's campaign blog:

It's tough being a small-money, by-the-rules-playing, non-partisan city council candidate. Here's an example of what we're up against:

Most of you have probably read the story in today's Star-Telegram about City Council member Chuck Silcox bringing party politics into this campaign by questioning another candidate's sexuality.

Well, my wife got a call today from a friend of ours explaining that she had written a letter to the editor lambasting the use of party politics in what should be a non-partisan campaign. In the letter, she said she mentioned that she was friends with both me and Joel Burns and that we were both excellent candidates for the city council position.

But here's the frustrating part: the Star-Telegram called her and told her they edited her letter for space, and in doing so removed any references to the Bernie Scheffler Campaign.

This is isn't the first time the Star-Telegram has altered the message of a Letter to the Editor on a contentious issue either... I'm just saying.

No, it's not the first time -- the S-T badly butchered a letter to the editor last month to the point that they completely turned around the author's meaning.

The S-T apologized and reprinted that letter to the editor. They should do the same with this one as well.

Even though the Star-Telegram has made up its mind who District 9 voters should choose, allow me to remind the Wizards of 400 West 7th, there's still a campaign going on. Don't assume it's over yet.

I'm Not Interested in the Horse Race

I missed the League of Neighborhood Associations gas drilling "education event" on Tuesday night. But when I say "missed," that's a little misleading. It sounds like I didn't miss a damn thing.

What I hoped for was an honest exchange of information based on the first-hand experiences of people who have experienced gas drilling in their neighborhoods. What actually transpired sounded more like propaganda. That's part of what I am frustrated with today. Where do concerned citizens turn for accurate, objective information about gas drilling? AskChesapeake.com doesn't count.

Maybe they need a Web site. Maybe I'll build one.

Anyway, I've got issues with what I read in the Star-Telegram. While I generally like the Barnett Shale blog and I think Mike Lee's reporting has been pretty solid, what bothers me is the underlying assumption that urban gas drilling is good for Fort Worth. The question posed isn't whether or not to sign, it's how much to sign for.

You can see it in the headlines. It's all about the horse race. Chesapeake is offering this many thousand dollars per acre or XTO is offering that much royalty. Most of the coverage centers on companies jockeying for position in certain neighborhoods.

What seems to be lost is the fact that decisions today will be lived with for decades. The functional lifespan of some of these wells could be 20 or 30 years. Most of the people who sign these leases will have moved along down the road or to the great hereafter long before these wells are gone. Yet the long-term impact seems to be little consideration.

Using the following assumptions, the average signee could expect to make a little under $50 a month in royalties, or about $11,695 over 20 years. That's about $1.62 a day, or barely enough to buy you a coffee at Starbucks.

So for most of us, the financial gain is nil. However, we will have to live with the safety and environmental impact for decades. The decisions we make will shape the Fort Worth that our children and our children's children live in.

So, please, a little perspective, Fort Worth. Please take the long view on this issue. I'd like to see the question asked: should people sign in the first place?

And Star-Telegram, a little less about the horse race and little more about the reality. Take a more aggressive approach to your reporting. Some things I wonder:

Serious questions exist about the independence and effectiveness of the Texas Railroad Commission to regulate oil and gas operations in the state of Texas. As the newspaper sitting square on top of the Barnett Shale, you should own this story. Go get it.

Injection wells in Fort Worth are in a holding pattern, but they aren't dead. Serious questions exist about using these wells to dispose of waste water from the fracing process. You have a short window to do important reporting. In the next six months, Fort Worth will know for better or worse the caliber of your reporting based on this one issue alone.

What is the long-term infrastructure cost to Fort Worth of urban gas drilling? Sure, there are giant royalty checks, but what about the stress placed on city streets from the water trucks and the oil field equipment? There is a cost attached to this. What are those costs?

And there's more, but this is a start. Actually, a start would be a lot less horse race. Feeding the gold-rush mentality does not serve your readers, Star-Telegram. Providing diligent reporting on living in the Barnett Shale in over the long term does. Go get it.

What Would Jesus Do?

The Star-Telegram reported this morning about a group of East Fort Worth residents who were ticketed by police on Thursday as they tried to hand out informational fliers at meeting organized by a gas drilling company at Handley Baptist Church.

According to the S-T, the confrontation involved Paloma Resources of Houston, which has plans to drill a high-impact well on the property of New Beginnings International Church on East Loop 820 (pictured above). If the company gets the permit, the well would affect dozens of nearby homes - more than any other drill site in Fort Worth, Rita Vinson, president of the Brentwood-Oak Hills neighborhood association, told the Startlegram's Mike Lee.

Paloma Resources President Chris O'Sullivan said company officials called
police as a last resort. "We asked them politely, not once, not twice, but five or six times," O'Sullivan told the S-T. "They wouldn't leave; they were being disruptive. Ultimately, we had to get the cops involved to get them to back off."

Jim Lawrence, one of the men ticketed, disputes that description. He said that he and Roque Manrique would not leave until the police told them to leave and told them they would be arrested if they didn't. Until that point, they refused to leave because they believed they were exercising their right to free speech, handing out fliers as neighbors arrived at or left the church. Lawrence told me that he was not disruptive.

"You know what we were handing out? Fliers telling people to know what they are signing. Fliers telling people to have a lawyer read over their lease agreements. We are just concerned citizens who are trying to help our neighborhood know their rights. We want them to know what Tanglewood and other neighborhood associations are getting."

"We believed that we had a right to be there. When the police asked us to move, we tried to move to the easement, then the street, but the police told us we couldn't stand there either."

Louis McBee, president of Eastern Hills Homeowners Association, contacted Captain Sudan on Friday morning. Jim Lawrence forwarded that e-mail to me. Here it is:

"I talked with Capt. [Bryan] Sudan and Sgt. Blankenship just a little while ago and the Capt. asked that I relay his sincere apologies for the way the guys were treated. He also stated that the officers were wrong about the trespass warning, and that our people had every right to be on the sidewalk or in the street handing out fliers. He also stated that he would talk with his officers and make sure everyone understood, because I said that if it happens again the officers would have to arrest me ... if not others....

"I thought that apology would be mentioned in the reporter's interview with Sudan and get printed in the newspaper article. Since it didn't appear in the article, I ask that Capt. Sudan issue that apology in writing to Louis McBee and to me on behalf of Manrique and Lawrence. An e-mail response to this message would be sufficient."

"I am a deacon at a Baptist church. I believe that we should look after our neighbors," Jim Lawrence told me. "But look at what is happening. This gas drilling money is becoming the root of evil."

I am not as shocked by the hardball tactics of gas drillers. I expect this. I've seen with my own eyes how landmen bully people at meetings. This is just another example of how First Amendment rights don't apply as far as gas drillers are concerned.

As Matthew Hudson, president of the Fort Worth League of Neighborhoods, told the S-T in this morning's article about how one company canceled a meeting with the Ridglea North neighborhood association when residents complained about a proposal for a high-impact well. "Their exact quote was, 'If we can't control the meeting, we don't want to be there,'" Hudson said.

What is really shocking is how two churches are taking sides with gas drillers over people in the surrounding neighborhoods. What would Jesus do? I guess they believe that Jesus would sign a drilling lease with the moneychangers.

This is what gas drilling is doing to Fort Worth. And it makes me sick.

Bud Kennedy -- Nature Lover

Bud Kennedy, who I believed never met a park that he actually liked, had a nice little valentine to urban gas drilling disguised as a love letter to Tandy Hills Park.

He calls Tandy Hills "our most endangered park. But not because of planned gas wells nearby. The wells will bring inevitable development to adjacent private land around the TV station on Broadcast Hill. But gas wells will also raise public park money to help improve Tandy Hills."

Bud, stretch your memory waaaay back to August when Chesapeake Energy was trying to play Rat Patrol with its seismic testing trucks through the park before community activists got the city to put the kibosh on that.

Then, stretch your memory even farther back, all the way to the year 1989. That's when a master plan for the park was completed. It's not unlike the one that this gas money bought. Except the 1989 one was paid for with taxpayer money.

Bud, we don't need gas money to save this park. If anything, the people in Fort Worth who actually go to parks need to save Tandy Hills from the gas drillers.

Oh, and by the way, MU-2 is still not an industrial designation. Haven't seen that correction yet.

Barnett Shale Update

I've got say I feel a measure of satisfaction from some of things I've read in the Startlegram over the past few days -- not because they are doing such a damn good job, but they finally seem to be listening to the community's concern about urban gas drilling in the Barnett Shale.

A few examples:

City residents voice drilling concerns: This made the front page on Saturday, or at least the teaser did. I thought Mike Lee did a good job with this story, even if parts of this was old news to my regular readers.

Mayor says oil and gas income is not a conflict: Another buckeye for Mike Lee for this one. This was the sidebar to the story above. Here's the meat: After reviewing the latest financial disclosure forms for all nine City Council members, the S-T learned that Mayor Mikey is the only one with significant income from oil and gas. The mayor earned at least $620,000 in royalties or other income from 54 oil and gas entities, including two family trusts, according to the disclosure form. Wowza. But it gets better. "The form shows he earned more than $25,000 from 20 companies, including Chesapeake Energy, one of the biggest drilling operators in Fort Worth." How is that not a conflict of interest?

What do Fort Worth and Wise County have in common? One of my new blog buds, TXSharon, tells us.

Railroad Commission taken to task over well inspections: Again, Mike Lee. Seems that state inspectors who check oil and gas wells for safety and environmental problems work under little supervision and need specific rules about accepting gifts from well operators, according to a state audit. Forty-six percent of the 169,000 oil and gas leases in Texas have not been inspected for five years, reducing the agency's chances of preventing environmental problems. Also, it appears there IS such thing as a free lunch. That is assuming you are a state gas well inspector. UPDATE, 10.4.07: Mayor Mikey sends a letter to the Railroad Commission saying, in effect, get your shit together.

Woman warns city of suit over drilling: Melissa Kohout and her lawyer threatening to sue the city if Fort Worth allows gas drilling in the Trinity Trees site. And her dog, Barbie, will tinkle on the Mayor's yard. OK, I made that last part up. Again with the Mike Lee. But seriously, I would hope that we are not at the stage of waving lawyers at each other. Why won't Chesapeake and Union Pacific sit down and talk with Wendy Davis like they promised? Chesapeake Chairman Aubrey McClendon was supposed to meet with Davis weeks ago, but apparently that meeting never happened, even though he was in Fort Worth and had time to chat with the Startlegram.

New Startlegram Barnett Shale blog: Guess I am going to have to go back to linking to YouTube videos of cats riding bicycles and compiling lists of my favorite breakfast cereals. You can get all you Barnett Shale blog needs met right here.

So I guess the Star-Telegram is putting me out of business. I'm not writing about the Barnett Shale anymore.

The End.

















Just kidding.

Here's why I'm not done yet -- Star-Telegram signs gas lease: I missed this back in May, but the Startlegram signed a gas lease with Chesapeake Energy. "Publisher Wes Turner said the newspaper signed a lease on nearly 40 acres just south of Interstate 20 at Hemphill Street, site of its printing and distribution center. Turner declined to disclose the terms but said the company got 'an outstanding deal.' The company owns a number of other sites around Tarrant County, including its offices downtown and in Arlington. None are leased, but 'we will lease the mineral rights under all' those locations as the opportunity arises, Turner said. " How much is that worth? Who knows, but if you assume a signing bonus of $10,000/acre -- not an unrealistic amount -- that's $400,000.

How is this not a conflict of interest? While I've been very impressed with Mike Lee's reporting this week, I am a little bit skeptical of the S-T editorial board's stance, especially when I read editorials supporting Chesapeake Energy over the people of Fort Worth. Unfortunately, I think this business arrangement is a bad idea. Even if nothing inappropriate is going on, you don't have to stretch your imagination very far to detect the appearance of impropriety. Unfortunately, the people of Fort Worth are the real losers here.

I'm encouraged, Fort Worth. You aren't just buying the company line from gas drillers. You are asking appropriate questions about what is happening in your community. So keep speaking up and getting involved. Your work makes a difference for the better.

Chesapeake Energy: Doing Fort Worth

If this is Chesapeake's idea of being good to the environment, I'd hate to see what they do if they ever got in touch with their dark side.

Tuesday's Startlegram reported that Chesapeake Energy got a permit from the state Railroad Commission to operate an injection well near East First Street and Oakland Boulevard.

What's an injection well?

Natural gas drilling in the Barnett Shale results in millions of gallons of production water, which contains salt, crude oil and other waste, sometimes including cancer-causing chemicals such as benzene. The gas industry prefers to dispose of production water by pumping it into the injection wells, also known as saltwater wells. The wells are more economical than recycling the water; they also avoid the problem of trucking the waste for disposal.

So rather than trucking this waste out of the city, they are just going to shoot it into the earth underneath our city. So just days after telling us about how much they love Fort Worth and love the environment, Fort Worth finds out about this injection well, which could potentially contaminate groundwater.

City officials have imposed a moratorium on new injection wells. The Fort Worth City Council is tentatively scheduled to discuss the moratorium in mid-October.

District 9 Dirty Campaigning

Tuesday's Star-Telegram revealed that the candidate behind the District 9 City Council race phone poll was ... Joel Burns.

Burns, a city zoning commissioner, acknowledged that his campaign conducted the poll but said it was not a push poll because it targeted only 360 voters. He said he approved all the wording in the survey.

"It was a poll to test a wide variety of things and potential perceptions," he told the S-T. "It was testing positives and negatives."

All five of Burns' opponents -- Jim Beckman, Mark Pederson, Juan Rangel Jr., Bernie Scheffler and Chris Turner -- criticized the campaign tactic. Some said the survey straddles the line between a legitimate poll and a "push poll" -- a survey that loads questions with potentially negative information about a candidate.

"It seems to me that, so far, Joel has run a pretty slick campaign but hasn't said much about where he stands on the issues," Scheffler said. "It seems unfortunate that he is more interested in painting candidates in a one-dimensional way."

I agree. Joel, let's make this campaign about issues, not labels.

UPDATE, 10.01.07: Joel seems to have too much money on his hands. If you visit www.berniescheffler.com, you'll find that you get pointed to Joel's Web site. Is that really necessary? I'm extremely disappointed in Joel's campaign for moves like this. Unfortunately, that seems to be the tone of his campaign. And there's a whole other month to go. Wee.

Why I Don’t Believe You, Chesapeake

I woke up to a Green Living section my Sunday Star-Telegram, including a full-page ad from Chesapeake Energy. “Go Green by Turning Blue. We All Win,” the ad reads. “Chesapeake understands the need to make the drilling process equally friendly. That’s why we all go above and beyond to treat essential green space and groundwater resources with the utmost of care. The environment wins. Texas wins. Our children win. Together, we all win.”

I’m not sure what turned my stomach more -- the cynicism of placing the ad in this section, or thought that Chesapeake might actually believe their own spin.

Chesapeake, you say you’re doing Fort Worth a world of good. You point to the revenues that the city and private citizens will receive as a result of your work. You point to your $100,000 donation to Eagle Mountain Lake Park. You point to the importance of producing a clean-burning energy source that is acquired right here at home and not in the Middle East. And I grant you all some of these points [tip of the Stetson to Texas Sharon].

You see, as much as you’d might like to believe it, I’m not some extremist who is never going to agree with anything you do. Not at all. I like to think of myself as a realist.

But I am interested in deeds, not words. Just because you say you’re doing Fort Worth a world of good on big ads in the newspaper, on billboards all around town and on lots of television commercials doesn’t make it true. But as Stephen Colbert would say, it’s got the ring of truthiness.

And I guess that’s what you are counting on – the appearance of truth. Tell people you are good for Fort Worth enough times, and eventually they’ll believe it. I know that's your hope.

But Cheseapeake, I don’t believe you. Here’s why:

Green space: Carter Burdette told a story at the Trinity Trees public forum. It went something like this: I have some trees in my yard. They’ve been there for years. They offer shade to my house. They offer shade to my neighbors. But one day, I decided I want to cut those trees down, and my neighbor says I can’t because he enjoys those trees, too. Is that right? Should my neighbor have a right to tell me what to do with my property?

That is the heart of the private property defense in the case of the Trinity Trees. Funny thing is this -- I’ve heard your VP Tom Price tell a version of that story. I’ve also heard Mayor Moncrief tell a version of that story. I’ve also heard Bud Kennedy at the Star-Telegram tell a version of that story. One thing I learned in my years working in journalism was this: you can tell which people are talking to each other because the same words, phrases and stories keep popping up. It makes me wonder. Is it coincidence? IJS.

Be that as it may, I’ve got a story, too. It goes like this. I bought a house once. There were lots of trees on the lot where this house stood, but they hadn’t been cared for in many years. I called an arborist who came out and looked at the trees and said, “You need to take down three of your trees. They are old. There’s nothing that can be done.” My wife and I talked about it, and we decided this: if we move into this house and the first thing we do is cut down those trees, our neighbors will hate us. And rightfully so, So we talked to another arborist, and we saved those trees. Was it easy to do? No. I could easily have cut down those trees. But saving those trees was the right thing to do.

If you are serious about green space, the Trinity Trees are your litmus test. Do the right thing. Find a way to save those trees.

Ground water: I know the chances of you using the Eighth Avenue drill site have gotten quite a bit less likely, but I want to talk about that site and ground water. I was talking to a business owner not far from that site one day and he was complaining about water damage that he had experienced on the floors of his shop. At first, he turned to the city, thinking the culprit was a broken water main. As it turned out it wasn’t. The source of the water was a long-forgotten Artesian Well that used to be a source of water for area residents.

Barnett Shale wells require fracturing of the limestone formation to release the oil and gas trapped within. Water, sand, and hazardous chemicals are injected under high pressure down the drilling hole to fracture the limestone. What are those chemicals? Some are known and include potentially toxic substances such as diesel fuel, which contains benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, xylene, naphthalene and other chemicals; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; methanol; formaldehyde; ethylene glycol; glycol ethers; hydrochloric acid; and sodium hydroxide. Some others remain unknown because they are considered “proprietary company information.”

Is fracing safe? It’s hard to read this article and say yes. One Colorado resident says that a 2001 fracing accident less than 100 yards from her home, blew up her water well "like a geyser at Yellowstone." For a time, the company paid for drinking water for her family, then assured her that the well water was fine. Later she became ill and was diagnosed with a rare adrenal gland tumor, which is linked to 2BE, a benzene derivative, and a chemical used by the drilling company for fracing.

Can you tell me that using processes like this one are safe for ground water all over Tarrant County and the Barnett Shale? Will you swear that it is in a full-page ad?

Together We All Win: I believe in win-win for everyone in the Barnett Shale, but in the way you conduct business in the Barnett Shale, I’m not seeing that you feel the same way. Like how one of your executives, Tom Price, tries to tell us that natural gas is good for the environment but, oh, by the way, global warming doesn’t exist. No global warming, eh? Then I wonder why the sea ice in the Arctic shrank 1 million square miles more this summer than the average melt over 25 years, an area larger than Alaska and Texas combined, according to NASA satellite data released Thursday.

Why is global warming important? In this debate, it tells me what is in your hearts. What I hear is environmental concerns are overblown. And it makes me wonder why you have tried to do seismic testing in Tandy Hills Park? And I wonder why you seek high-impact variances to bring your drilling closer to our homes and schools? Because I believe in your hearts you don't really believe protecting the environment is important.

When I put these things, I don’t think Fort Worth is dealing with a company seeking a win-win situation. I think I’m dealing with a company that will say anything to close a deal.

In spite of all of the ads you buy and the things you say, I don’t believe you Chesapeake. If you want to earn my trust, give me deeds, not words.

Agreement from an Unexpected Source

Last week, I wrote this: "I believe we can't leave it all in the hands of developers who are more concerned with maximizing profit than making this a better community. The fact is that green space matters -- and I'm talking trees, not money."

In today's Fort Worth Business Press, someone wrote this: "You could say the Barnett Shale bonanza is a case of trading green for green. Somewhere along the way, it seems, the environment and the beauty of the Texas landscape in these parts loses as much as individuals and corporations gain."

Wow, sounds pretty similar. What right-thinking individual could that have been? Some other tree-hugging pinko in the Fort?

That person was Rich Connor, former Star-Telegram publisher and current publisher of the Business Press. Way to go, Rich. Now, how about helping us save some of Fort Worth?

Urban Gas Drilling Is Safe

Pay no attention to that giant fireball in Hood County. We repeat ... Urban Gas Drilling is safe. This message brought to you by Chesapeake Energy -- your good corporate neighbor in Fort Worth.

S-T Takes The Edge Off LTE

Bud Kennedy ... are you editing the Letters To The Editor now? Local blogger Texas Sharon in Wise County doesn't support gas drilling, but you'd never know that from her Letter to the Editor that was published in the Startlegram. The Wizards at 400 West 7th botched the editing of her letter pretty badly. Reader, beware.

More From Bud

More from Bud Kennedy this morning:

Hi Steven,

Forgive me if I sent this yesterday.

But this is the actual plan already approved 8-0 for an office-industrial park in the Trinity Trees site, long before the current gas well proposal.

This is what will be built if the gas well falls through.

Thanks for your reply, Bud. I hadn't seen that yesterday, but I had heard that reasoning before. In fact, Jim Marshall and Rick Collins addressed that issue in an interview they did on my blog last week. Here's what they said:

"That, too, would have resulted in a tragic loss of this special green space. Often the argument is made that the destruction that Chesapeake is planning is not as bad as what the developer was planning. However, it doesn’t have to be an either/or decision. There exists a third alternative. If you check our Web site you’ll see we have sent a letter to the Mayor and City Council proposing said alternative: Chesapeake decides to move its pad site to the already industrial area a few hundred feet to the north; the developer agrees that putting in its buildings is not the best use of the grove of trees; steps are taken to convert the eight acres to a public park. To make this happen, we need three things from all vested parties (including our city leaders): consent, cooperation and compromise."