We Were There (**Updated with the MIPA Hearing Video**)

Railroad Commission of Texas  

Monday morning. January 30, 2012. Austin, Texas. 

9:00 AM

William B. Travis Building in Austin, Texas.

We met Commissioner Smitherman, Examiner Doherty and didn't realize Commissioner Porter was in the auditorium. But after all the speakers completed their "informal" comments, Examiner Doherty (presiding from the dais) asked if anyone else wanted to speak. 



Commissioner Porter then rose up, said something we couldn't hear and slowly made his way to the microphone. That must be what made this a an "Informal "Hearing"  for "Informal Comments" (**See the Hearing Notice below**) because up to that point, there was truly nothing "Informal" about any of it. 

Railroad Commission Chair, Elizabeth Ames Jones, was not present. We recently learned that she is running for a State Senate seat from San Antonio, TX.   We know that must take a lot of her time.  But we're not sure why, since we thought she should be a shoe-in. Maybe she should speak to Rick Perry about those shoes. 

{Oops}

After the close of the hearing, both Commissioners Porter and Smitherman introduced themselves to our groups and were very cordial.  During the hearing, they were very attentive to our comments about the Mineral Interest Pooling Act (MIPA), too. You could have heard a pin drop. We brought our own perspectives and research on all of it.  And we had a lot to share. 

Flower Mound, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie and Wise County were all represented by a speaker or two. Representative Lon Burnam (Fort Worth) presented over 400 petitions from citizens of the Barnett Shale who have concerns about changes to MIPA and how rule making needs to protect "citizens" who don't choose to enter into a business relationship with shale gas operators.

Interesting that the room was certainly filled with many people taking notes ~ but not speaking. We suppose these were the industry people.   But we can't be sure about that.  We just wish they would have all said something instead of leaving it up to the numerous membership organizations speaking on their behalf. That would have meant we could have spent another full day in Austin. And then we could have met more of the nice people at the Railroad Commission who have been so helpful during our Rule 37 discussions over the past year. 

We so wanted to visit the mail room where one of our recent Fed Ex packages was left unopened for a full day!  We were told that the mailman was laid off.  But sadly, we needed to get back to the Barnett Shale so there was no time to make that particular visit. Maybe next time.

Overall, we really enjoyed our time at the William B. Travis Building. It was nice to finally have the opportunity to speak to the commissioners who have been making all the decisions about the property takings in the Barnett Shale. And be in the halls of the very building where so many Rule 37 Spacing Exception Hearings have been heard.

We look forward to more visits to the Railroad Commission of Texas in the near future.  That is, unless they take up the offer and decide to visit us in our Barnett Shale.  We would be truly honored by that.  Then they could meet so many more Citizens of the Shale who also have a lot to share with them. 

**Update**

In case you missed it, here's the link to the January 30, 2012 Hearing Notice:

Link

Here's the link to get to the Video of the January 30, 2012 Hearing (Featuring many citizens of the Barnett Shale). You'll need RealPlayer:

Link

New Barnes Assembly A Wells 1H, 2H and 4H (Just Permitted 1/31/11 by the RRC) for Chesapeake

The new ones are kinda short. This may explain some of that.

The longer one you see is API# 113-30193 (3H) ~ The one under Rule 37 Consideration right now ~Meaning: If you won't sign a lease, Chesapeake will just have the Railroad Commission conduct a Hearing at their (Chesapeake's) pleasure and make you travel to Austin on your own dime dollar and then most likely they'll just take your minerals, anyway, and FORCE you into the Pooled Unit with your neighbors and especially the large land owners. Large land owners who really need you so they can make most of the royalties, if any, for the Lease. Nice, huh?

Those pentagon (5-sided) shapes you see are apparently two (maybe three) Pad Sites Leaseholds converging at 4351 Matthew Road with currently 5 different wells permitted and/or drilled from potentially 4 separate leaseholds (that we know of) including...Barnes Assembly A, West Carpo, East Carpo and 2 "Future Wells."  There will be up to 11 wells drilled (at this time) from this location according to the Detail Map Below.  



Notice the Gas Gathering Pipeline (in green) that will get the gas out of there. What was once a beautiful and tranquil cow pasture is clearly now an industrial zone.

Oh, and there's Fish Creek, too ~ see it in bright BLUE on the Map.  A well-known old creek in southern Grand Prairie that runs right above all the drilling and horizontal, hydraulic fracturing that will be going on in that area in the immediate future.

And the latest  "Detail" of this area as currently shown on Railroad Commission Maps for these permits. (This seems to have changed over a short time.  Not sure what happened to Barnes Assembly B that used to show up. Maybe it sounded too much like Barnes Assembly A or maybe it's been put on the Chesapeake shelf for now.)