Update: I told a more personal story of what I’ve lost HERE. I don’t tell my story often. It’s too painful.
When it all started, I wanted to be like Ellie Mae Clampett with critters everywhere, a garden full of fresh vegetables and my kids running wild and free on our own property like I did when I was a kid.
Scarred by twelve years spent working in the oil and gas industry, I moved to the middle of nowhere in Wise County Texas where–unknown by me–Mitchell Energy was experimenting trying to figure out how to fracking oil and gas from shale. According to Congressional testimony (video), the two technologies, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing were “married” in 2002 right in my backyard. These two technologies release the gas that is tightly packed in the rock formation lying deep under a 16 county area in North Texas called the Barnett Shale. But the shale boom didn’t get started until after the 2005 Energy Policy Act gave the oil and gas industry a loophole in the Safe Drinking Water Act to go along with all the other Polluter Loopholes.
A few neighbors who own very large parcels of land, seemed to be getting wealthy. They drove out their gates one day in old, beat-up, Ford or Chevy pick-up trucks and drove home in new, fully loaded Dodge diesels wearing new 7x beaver hats. They fixed their fences, remodeled their houses, bought new clothes and started taking vacations. I wanted in on some of that action.
I started researching how to get the best lease possible for my mineral rights and thereby realize the most money possible. I soon learned that getting a good lease is complicated, and to make it more complicated, as surface owner, I had to learn about how to protect my surface rights as well as how to get the most money.
My first discovery was that I had an endless stream of new, best-friends-forever. Everyone who learned that I own minerals in the Barnett Shale took a sudden, deep interest in my life and how they could “help” me in leasing my minerals for “only” a small percentage of those minerals. I grew evermore suspicious and wary and decided that no one was going to look out for my best interest but me. So, I quit the lament about not wanting to learn all these dreary details and dove into research.
Horrors unfolded. I found the people whose water wells are now poisoned, the ones who are sick and dying as a result and the near impossibility of holding those responsible accountable. I found the surface owners whose land is severely damaged, poisoned or left unusable and who are powerless against the deep pockets of oil and gas.
The biggest horror of all is the reckless use of water that is polluted and permanently removed from our hydrologic water cycle. This practice is not sustainable and must be stopped immediately because it’s causing water bankruptcy!
The more I learned the stronger my resolve to educate others in the hope that we can find a better way. The more I educate others by writing the more I am slandered by those who want to silence me. Some of the names I recognize because they were once my new, best-friends-forever until I started telling the truth. Suddenly, without changing my core political beliefs, I became known as a radical, far-left lunatic with a political agenda. This despite the fact that I drove a pickup truck with a gun rack in the back and I can ride, rope and shoot.
Just a few comments for your reading pleasure:
There will be a meeting of the communist party this coming Friday at the local Starbucks located downtown. I am going to contact TxSharon to see if she will not post the meeting time and place on her outstanding website…
StalinTxSharon, which left wing group funds your website?
SherriTxSharon has to be the most noble pure individual to roam the earth since Christ. With her liberal band of ultra left wing Apostles she roams the earth blasting anyone who might disagree with her as she brings down the evil Republican empire.
PattyYour research is first grade material Sharon and just a load of crap for your politically based agenda-PERIOD. I’ll be back soon with facts of my own your majesty.
Bethwe find it disturbing that outsiders who have no stake whatsoever and are often ill-informed somehow think that they have the right to influence public policy.
Barnett Shale NewsletterAnonymous said…
It sure is interesting how you lambast the oil companies, but yet you are willing to participate in their ‘evil schemes’ by leasing your minerals to them. Are you the kind of zealot who justifies your hypocritical behavior by using your lease bonus and royalties to fund your political agenda, or are you just like everyone else selfishly using the money for personal use? Is there some hypocrisy here? If you are so against what they do and how they do it, why are you a willing participant? I guess money talks no matter what your political stance. It takes a strong person to refuse that money on the basis of principles. Do you know anyone like that?
3:13 PMReally Braden Exploration? Really?
You will notice that in all of the above comments and in all the additional comments about me at the links above, no one disputes the information I provide. They can’t dispute the information because it’s rock solid so they sling ad hominem attacks at me instead.
My true agenda is a sinister one. I do not want to sacrifice the natural resources we can’t live without—clean air and water—for hydrocarbons that will soon be depleted anyway.
~TXsharon
Edit added on 11/17/08, my birthday, upon reflection.
Maybe I have always been an activist, an agent of change, or maybe just since I was three. In self defense, my mother taught me the serenity prayer when I was three after I made everyone in my family miserable worrying about those starving children in China.
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
The problem I have with the serenity prayer is that I can’t accept the limiting part. That’s why I also relate to this quote from Margaret Mead:
“never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people can make a difference, in fact, it is the only thing that ever has”
But neither of those quotes really fits. I’m often more reckless than thoughtful. I act from fear as often as I do from courage and I’m certainly not always wise.
The quote that most resonates with me is a mock Latin quote that I read in The Handmaid’s Tale:
Illegitimi non carborundum
That’s the quote I keep taped to my computer at work and the one that I carry with me. Translated, it’s supposed to mean:
Don’t let the bastards grind you down.
{ 54 comments… read them below or add one }
Well put, txsharon.
I appreciate your support, superior sleuthing skills and math skills. Much that has happened wouldn’t have been possible without your help.
So instead you will reap the benefits of all the drilling activity, while the gas beneath your ranch get sucked out by one of your neighbors wells. You have accomplished nothing, just like Jim Popp!
I guess you are too ignorant to realize what drives the Wise County economy. Your sad story explains a lot. What would all of the people you asked for help have received if no well was drilled? Were any of the people lawyers, or were they all evil landmen as you claim on the ST blog? Surely you don’t feel the same way about lawyers, at least not Democrats.
Dear Neighbor, have you no imagination or vision? What currently drives Wise County is not what has always driven Wise County. If Wise County were smart, they would diversify because Peak Oil is breathing down our necks.
What people have I asked for help? Your comment makes no sense.
I have NEVER said that landmen are evil. That is what you want people to believe I said. I have written many times that I have friends who are landmen and I know some very nice ones. Some, are vipers.
You don’t really give a rat’s ass how I feel or what I think. You just want me to shut up but I NEVER will until the oil and gas industry behaves in a more responsible manner.
Who is the largest taxpayer in Wise County? Who is the largest employer in Wise County? You are the one who can’t see the forest through the trees. In my opinion Wise County has come a long way since they were known mainly for having a lot of meth labs!
Oh silly me! If Devon is the largest taxpayer and employer in Wise County then it’s perfectly alright for them to:
Use up water that we will need to drink all the while making obscene profits.
Pollute our water
Pollute our soil
Pollute our air
Ruin the night sky
and etc.
What on earth was I thinking?
But then you don’t live here, do you?
I call SHENANIGANS on the legitimacy of those comments. You can bet Karl Rover’s frilly G-string that they were all from Reich Wing Nazi “think” tank sites. The KKKons just do NOT know how to work it kid!
And I’m suuuuuure Devon pays every last cent of their taxes, ain’t that right?! Just like ENRON, eh?! Well, here in this REALM called REALITY, most corporations are paying DIDDLY SHIT for taxes, and YNS, you can bet your neighborly ass Devon ain’t paying even pocket change.
You know who picks up the tab instead?! YOU DO, YNS! Has your property tax gone up in the last 7 years?! How about your insurance?! Oh, and I bet your wages have gone up too…NOT!
Take your damn oil wells, knock them down, AND REPLACE THEM WITH SOLAR PANELS AND WIND TURBINES!
Welcome to the 21st Century!!!!!!!!
What is an obscene profit? If you sell your ranch for 10 times what you paid for it, is that obscene? Who decides? You said you were in favor of charging more for water, so long as it didn’t affect the poor. Do you feel the same way about gasoline taxes even though the poor are probably more likely to drive an older/more inefficient car? Aren’t both positions somewhat hypocritical? My concern is that people like you will be the ones deciding who is exempt from the water rules/decide what an “obscene” profit is for the rest of us, and that is just plain un-American.
Thankfully I’m not concerned about people like you ever making decisions because the majority is more moderate.
Why do you care what I think anyway? For someone you consider to be stupid and ___< --insert adjective-->__ you sure spend a lot of time and effort on me.
Let’s talk about water. Do you have children? Do you ever wonder what the consequences will be for recklessly using so much water?
It’s amazing how DESPERATE these Minutemen/KKK-rejects are! 80% of the country says FUKU to BU$Hitler, and they are flipped the hell out! So now they gotta pour all the hate-filled energy into harassing leftwing blogs! Oh please! They may as well try farting to stop a tornado!
*lol* I think I enjoy reading all the comments left more than I do reading your actual blog!! So did “Beth” ever return with facts of her own?
Ever heard of the saying, “if you don’t have a legitimate argument or a basis to win, Muddy the Waters to confuse the issue”.
I see a LOT of that going on here on both sides. But the one thing for sure is that you have made No argument, “your neighbor” that discounts what this blogger has posted. No experts here, just a bunch of name calling by Industry friendly laymen. If she’s wrong, prove it and bring it on! If she’s right, step aside and help with a good solution. This is what should be the main focus of this blog. Solutions and attention to injustice, not degradation. Attacking others in America, because they simply have opinions is what is “un-American”.
What we have here is a failure to communicate. TxSharon’s Blog has good issues and points, but has proven to be an “in your face” blog that prevents the message from being heard sometimes. Does she have legitimate points? Yes, does she credibility by being unbiased in her duty to bring attention to this issue, NO. The truth is, if we had an unbiased media that would bring special attention to the injustice expressed on this blog and MANY OTHER ones dealing with these issues, then we would have a compromise and Industry would have to find better ways of dealing with environmental issues. As it stands, the truth is being hidden because nobody wants to take responsibility (those who have the ability to communicate the problem well) to report on this issue. I think this has been referred to once before as “corporate Imbedded Media”. Then the frustration from those who understand the unfairness and those of us being robbed of our good health and clean water are discounted as NIMBY’s or habitual lunatics. TxSharon has expressed her hypothesis on issues dealing with the RRC and the Industry and the response has been verbal uneducated attacks to keep this important issue from being noticed by swift boating the blogger.
If this “news” were being reported by a news affiliate, what would you say then?
Hi Tracy.
Sus, Beth has no facts but she does have a big fat paycheck from the industry.
I have noticed that there has been a huge increase in googling TXsharon so they are digging around for–NOT facts on the oil and gas industry or water or pollution but–facts on me.
Well, they need to google stuff like PNAC, Operation Northwoods, 9/11 TRUTH, etc!
There’s always this PATTERN of rightwing LOSERS on these here internetS (right DUHbya?!) where they go from calling progressive radio show trying to start crap with the host(s), then they focus on freeping polls (oh don’t bust me up!), then they go around to blogs and/or yahoogroups (Bruce P. Majors of the Georgetown area of Washington, DC, is a classic example) and harass the bloggers and/or yahoogroups members.
It AGAIN proves that the Cons HAVE NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The water was already polluted in Wise County before the Barnett Shale play. Mitchel Energy did not set enough surface casing in the 60-70’s to protect it. How can Devon pollute it if it’s already polluted? You loose…both ways!
Oh! OK then. We should just let Devon pollute as much as they want to because they weren’t the first ones.
I think my son uses better arguments than that. I remember when he was about 6, I caught him and a friend doing something they shouldn’t. My son said, “He did it first!” as if that would absolve him of all wrong doing.
Watch that inbreeding, or maybe you’ve been drinking too much polluted water.
Now you’ve done it! Went and drug my family into this! My Sister/Mother an’ta gona like this!!!
Now that was funny. You must be a different neighbor.
lu cifer – u r right. desperate! hahaha! & they r dumb! real dumb!
anonymous 10:05 – condescending much? ego large? if u could write better u could have a blog.
TXS – keep er rollin’ i saw ur post on daily kos. nice job.
1st, Devon bought Mitchell & anyone who lives in Wise County and claims to know so much would know that. 2nd, I NEVER said it was ok for Devon could do any of the lings you stated. Some of the things are consequences of drilling, that I think are acceptable little annoyances.If you choose to live near an airport you have to put up with planes. If you choose to live near a railroad, you have to put up with train noise. You seem to be in favor of mass transit, right? Does the FACT that the TRE between Dallas & FW is a diesel train mean you are against it? Does the FACT that they are required to also allow freight trains that carry all sorts of nasty chemicals right through neighborhoods make it a bad thing? Life is about tradeoffs! If you don’t like the small risk that is involved with drilling you shouldn’t live in a county that is so dependent on oil & gas. If you lived in Detroit it would certainly be your right to drive a foreign car & not like YOUR NEIGHBORS who built SUV’s but it would not make you the most popular gal in town, no matter how right you were. KEEP TILTING AT WINDMILLS
I was living here before Devon bought Mitchell. You make huge assumptions and draw illogical conclusions. Ad hominem attacks on me do not change the facts. You don’t like me or what I say but you can’t dispute the facts because they are truth.
It’s been said that the defiition of a liberal is “anyone who dissagrees with a conservative”. And since the days of the “tail gunner Joe McCarthy’s” Red scare, there have been plenty of Conservatives who have a ready answer for every debate….simply substitute “socialist”, “communist”, “radical” or pinko liberal for fact. Such easy solutions allow htem to remain in ignorant bliss. I wonder who they’ll blame when the when their drinking well runs dry? God, or liberals? Oh well.
Glen
Hey, quite a site. You folks are serious. Looking foreward to reading more.
Left or Right it really doesnt matter. We all have to drink the same water and breathe the same air.
Oil and Gas companies are taking what they need and leaving the mess for someone else to worry about. We need to get mad and raise awareness or it will never change.
Hello
I think part of the problem is the reading level in this country. People don’t want to admit they are caught up in something they are too ignorant to understand. What happened America? You are selling the one thing that should be dear to you – your country. Humans are from the earth like it or not and therefore you need to eat and live from its resources. Those resources must be clean or you will die from diseases like cancer called leukemia which is caused from exposure to Benzene. Whis is a by product of drilling. My cousin and so many people I know have died from it recently. It is a terribly painful death I must add. You think you can move away until they finished and come back to your land. Your land will be worthless for generations to come. You will have nothing to leave to your child, their child, or their child. When the oil companies get through America will be no better then those third world countries America love to talk about in a Superior manner. Well get ready to be a third world country. It starts with corruption that is so systemic nothing can win against it. It creates disorder and finally nothing but civil unrest. It’s already happening. I think most of you are angry cause you are too scared to stand up to big Oil. If some of you are old enough or read history you know that they will do Whatever it takes to get their own way. WHATEVER IT TAKES! I hope that we as a country can rise above this mess. But if money is now the new Christ and Wealth the new Religion. I don’t see how. Look closer America. Slow down and look a lot harder and lot closer at what is in front of your face. Not wealth and certainly not health. Be careful what you ask for – you just might get it.
AMEN!
You might want to read two books, Twlight in the Desert and Gusher of Lies.
Solar, ethanol, wind will not meet all the demands. True, the end of oil will occur at some point, but what do you intend to make plastics out of and other necessary items we live with every day? I agree with some of what you say. Industry can be more responsible, but do we throw the baby out with the bathwater? None the less, I enjoy reading your views and learn a few things here and there. Thanks and have a great day Sharon.
Anon 3:54
Thank you for your comment. I am currently reading Gusher of Lies.
I am not against drilling. I am against irresponsible drilling. We need tougher regulations. Some states are light years ahead of Texas on this and we need to catch up. The reason we are so far behind the curve on protecting our environment is because the agency that regulates the oil and gas industry receives money and gifts from that industry. This is not the case in many other states.
I think that as soon as it’s possible we should conserve the hydrocarbons we have left to use for plastics and pharmaceuticals. However, there is a professor at UNT who has developed a very nice plastic made from vegetables, and it is biodegradable! Next-Generation Bioplastics
My bottom line on drilling is that we cannot afford to use up or pollute up the natural resources that we cannot live without–clean air and clean water. It’s gets down to the basics of life or death.
See, this is what I like about your style. Yes, you are in “in your face”. Change doesn’t happen for the spineless. But you always provide the data for me to use my own judgement.
I had no idea we were getting this close with bioplastic. Thanks for providing links and details in your postings.
It’s fairly obvious for this “outsider” to see who is bought by the corporation and who is looking out for basic citizens rights. Keep up the good fight, Sharon!
“…I think are acceptable little annoyances.If you choose to live near an airport you have to put up with planes. If you choose to live near a railroad, you have to put up with train noise.”
And if you live near an injection well you have to put up with cancer! Jeez Sharon, stop being so sensitive about little annoyances like asthma and a shortened lifespan!
Oh I see, You were one of the unfortunate ones who’s minerals didn’t produce. Tough luck Wacko….. I’ll bet if they’d made you a well you would have been singing their praises.
PS Horses destroy our enviroment! Look at your pasture
No replies to anonymous KKKoward McHoover/Karabu Barbie supporters!
http://Lu666Cifer.blogspot.com
What fun it will be to drive the new pickup to chemotherapy appointments. If you lease you’d better take that vacation fast and watch out gas lessees, your kids and grandkids will have flippers.
Yahoo!!!
Boy, I’m gonna run out and join the communist party.They must be a bunch of them darned environmentalists who are holding all of us back from getting rich rich rich.
It would seem we have the very same issues here in Michigan! I've been to some of our wells while they were being drilled. I've asked my "innocent curiosity" questions, taken my pictures & passed them along to our group fighting the gas & oil companies up here. You are OHHH SOOO correct! Out there in the field what they SAY they do and what they REALLY do are two VASTLY DIFFERENT THINGS! The waste of good water to begin with is one thing but the TOTAL DISTRUCTION of the water table left when they leave is horrifing! They SAY they "take the waste water away and dump it safely else where". In reality the plastic pool it is all held in is just pulled up and out to let the waste water drain right back into the earth where it came from. Along with said water goes everything else that was held in that waste pool including gas, oil & other pollutents.
I hope your fight doesn't cost you what it has our group up here. It's cost them all their money, their jobs, their relationships and their health! Yet… they fight on! I couldn't join our group up here to fight in a big way but I do what I can when I can.
I hate to say it but, in my opinion, there's just no winning against the gas & oil companies with the Government in THEIR pockets. But I DO wish you ALL the success in the world! GO get 'em!
I’m incredibly grateful for the work you do, Sharon.
And I’ve just got to quote Ken Hechler–I have had this quote above my computer for years now:
“You are in politics whether you like it or not. If you sit it out on the sidelines, you are throwing your influence on the side of corruption, mismanagement and the forces of evil.”
Good for you for never, ever sitting it out on the sidelines.
It sure is interesting how you lambast the oil companies, but yet you are willing to participate in their ‘evil schemes’ by leasing your minerals to them. Are you the kind of zealot who justifies your hypocritical behavior by using your lease bonus and royalties to fund your political agenda, or are you just like everyone else selfishly using the money for personal use? Is there some hypocrisy here? If you are so against what they do and how they do it, why are you a willing participant? I guess money talks no matter what your political stance. It takes a strong person to refuse that money on the basis of principles. Do you know anyone like that?
You are some kind of stupid! Surely you realize that I have your IP address that it says Braden Exploration.
Look, I leased to your company because your landman made it plain that you would take my gas no matter what. So not leasing would only mean that your company would get to keep more money. I leased and gave a big donation to OGAP, bought a laptop and video camera. I figured I would need it because now I can’t sell my place. No one in their right mind wants to live with all the drilling.
How about this: You start doing things right and quit polluting all over my neighborhood. If you clean up your act, my health, that of my children, my neighbors and their children and all the animals won’t be endangered. Then I can sit back an enjoy my royalty check.
Pretty damn simple.
Live in a small West Texas town, population not more than about 900, but have had 5 birth defects…all the same, Amniotic Band Syndrome, which when wrapped around fingers, legs, toes of baby…cuts off blood supply to limb or digits and doesn't fully develop. Have you heard of this defect and any correlation to fracking?
I've never heard of that before but something is sure going on with that many of the same birth defect in such a small town.
You should email Dr. Theo Colborn at The Endocrine Disruption Exchange. Do you know if the ones affected live in the same area?
Thankfully I'm not concerned about people like you ever making decisions because the majority is more moderate.
"Why do you care what I think anyway? For someone you consider to be stupid and ___<–insert adjective–>__ you sure spend a lot of time and effort on me.
Let's talk about water. Do you have children? Do you ever wonder what the consequences will be for recklessly using so much water?"
If you are so concerned about the use of water resources, then why are you not assailing the forced sale of water from Oklahoma to Texas. I don't necessarily disagree with your point of view on the proper use of techniques that have minimal effect on the environment, but if you are going to choose a resource and say that it is a problem, then attack it from all sides. Don't lambast one group or individual as being environmentally irresponsible when perhaps the real problem is the way Texas manages it "OWN" natural resources. I do appreciate that, on the otherhand, that you have choosen something that you are passionate about and are not affraid to speak out about. For all of those questioning here motives, they are irrelevant as to speak against a majority in the face adversity and backlash is the true definition of an American and a patriot. You don't have to like her point of view, but you can't tell her to be quiet unless you yourself, as an American, desire to be the hypocrit that you say she is.
signed,
Registered Republican
Registered idiot.
this is a wonderful and informative site!!! txsharon you are truly a heroine!
thank you for standing up for my generation!
I am not against oil and gas exploration and drilling. However, I am against the leniency the great state of Texas allows these companies. Minimizing pollution, surface area used and restoration of site, should be required of oil and gas companies. Why are these things not a law for this beloved state.
I live in Leon County and have a gas well drilled 400 feet from my Hanger/Home. Well has 37 PPM of Hydrogen Sulfide. When ever we get a north wind I have to leave the area. RRCT has been zero help. Now they are drilling a second 1000 feet away and want to drill a 3rd 600 feet away. It is a company owned at least 1/3 by a Canadian Company. My feeling our Government officials are selling our country to foreign terrorists who are destroying/raping our great country.
Sad day on the hill.
Time for some change. God we need your help.
Wow,
There is an incredible amount of bile here. I work in the oil industry and my family has made a good living from it over the years. But that doesnt mean I am willing to turn a blind eye to what may be legitmate concerns about environemntal and health safety impacts as a result of that industry. I dont think Sharon is a Nazi or a radical left wing freak. I think she is a lady that cares and would like to see sustainable, thoughthful, business practices used by an industry that makes alot of money and yes does create alot of jobs. We need to quit bickering about the BS and start using the brains God gifted us with to find ways to overcome obstacles and make more responsible decisions. Kuddos to you Sharon for taking a stand and being willing to go a few rounds for what you beleive in. However, I suggest you not let the attacks being hurled at you pull you into a super defensive postion where you get painted as something you are not.
The book of revelation tells of a false prophet named Wormwood who poisons the seas of the world. The subsurface water table is the underground sea. If people believe God sometimes speaks in metaphors, then the word "wormwood" easily approximates a word such as tree or Bush. G.W. Bush is the then the leader responsible, under whose watch, the explosion of chemical contamination & non regulation & testing took place. Bush is the man foretold as Wormwood.
I enjoy how simple indicators expose how transparent your message (agenda) really is. Your photos link to an album entitled "BS in this third world country." Great way to try to separate yourself from a "leftist fanatic" title. You only "oppose irresponsible drilling" but need to refer to our country as "third world" to really drive home the point, I guess. Have you actually been to a third world country? My guess would be no. They actually do need someone with your amount of time and energy to help out there, if you are disliking this one so much. Even better is how randomly and irresponsibly you attack drilling practices. Your laughable youtube video points out easements and drilling facilities that simply in temporary states. The pipeline easements are repaired and landscaped by the companies after completion, and you fail to realize how they share the screen image with power line easements. Are you opposed to electricity and its delivery to your house, as well? Why no mention of how dangerous power checker the landscape a few meters off the ground. No, that would mean you would have to employ logic and self-examination. This method is exactly what Michael Moore uses to pick-and-choose facts and evidence to only support your view instead of providing balance. However, I'm sure you'll take that as a compliment — as you're likely a big fan. Your site is a propagandist's soapbox.
I am not a religious man.I am not a political man.Most of all,I am not an ignorant man.I am human.
Anyone that comes down on Sharon for having a voice,in my opinion,is sub-human.She is trying to open your eyes.I hear alot of people calling her hypocritical.The gas companies come in to neighborhoods offering everyone a piece of the action.The fact is,they only need enough properties to suck the gas right out from under the people that refuse.Simple fact,anyone that supports the drilling are sell outs.If the money means that much to you,check your morality meter.You don't just affect your own well being,but that of those around you.oh,thats right,you only care about your wallet.I hope they pay you enough to cover the hospital bills for your neighbors,your family,and Heaven forbid,YOURSELF!
Texas Sharon opened my eyes to a world of the Big Gas Mafia. Sharon goes out of her way to help every person who needs help. She is brave, honest and I feel honored to count her as my friend.
May the legend of Texas Sharon live on and on!
I know Sharon to be a strong advocate for communities. She assisted our effort in Double Oak in 2010 to stave-off drilling and a gas compression facility by Williams. In part of her efforts, some narrow-minded folks (most of the town) had the opportunity to re-think the situation. The driller abandoned their plans in our town for the time-being and capped the well – abandoning it completely. This time wisdom prevailed.
With an in your face style, Sharon brings common sense and education to the table – the knowledge about an industry that has no conscience or morality. As a result, communities all over North Texas are considering reforms to their local O&G ordinances. One at a time, they’re all beginning to see the light, and it’s not powered by natural gas.
I live in Wise county amidst a bunch of wells and fracking. I’m not a liberal and am not against drilling. I am, however, concerned for the safety of my family. What on Earth is worth having deformed babies or cancer?
It’s clear the energy companies are into promoting how safe they are. I’m just not thinking that shoe fits….
Keep up the good work, TXsharon! I live in Fort Worth and am being surrounded by wells and industrial gas operations. Chesapeake now wants to build a 15 unit gas compressor station 1,000 feet from my house. It’s crazy! Glad we have people like you fighting for what is right.
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