It's An Everyday Thing

Because I was working on a documentary, I was sure to keep Pilar and Hornberger, Sheehan, Fuller and Beiter on notice. I would send them emails all the time. Almost weekly. I wanted to have something to flash back to in the movie. Pilar et al. knew exactly what was happening out there. I filed affidavits from law enforcement in the Polyline lawsuit. The Feds called Pilar and she referred them to Kevin Beiter. Beiter told the Border Patrol that "there is nothing out there" and I was making it all up.
From: Elizabeth Burns
Date: February 20, 2010 9:37:20 AM CST
To: pilar gravitt
Cc: pat sheehan, kevin beiter
Pilar -
One of the biggest sources of tension when El Paso Corp arrived on the McGill Bros was the increase in drug and human trafficking and other organized criminal activity like oil and gas theft. With the addition of the McGill Bros to the EL Paso portfolio - El Paso now controls an almost contiguous row of leases from McCook to the Border Patrol Checkpoint. You can get from the Rio Grande River to McCook without even going on a pubic road. This is no secret and your whole area of operation is a federally designated High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and also the subject of OCDETF investigation. (Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force) Numerous individuals on your leases have been indicted, imprisoned, etc. It isn't just the increase - it is the blatant activity. There is a whole lot going on here. You can imagine my reaction when I saw your lawsuit complaining that I carry a gun and how it's a source of ignition and so dangerous. You have gangs walking around your lease in plain sight with machine pistols strapped to their forearms. It's just beyond belief. El Paso has no problem with that. Doesn't slow down your fast-track op at all.
ETB

Another One of My Cast Members

He sees the poor slaves getting marched at gunpoint with the dope, too. Everyone knows.

Production For Sale, Home Invaders and Pseudo Cops included!

All of El Paso Exploration and Production's leases are for sale. No need for everyone to fight over the McGill Bros lease. There is plenty to go around. EP has a lot of great stuff over in the McCook area. I don't know if they have buried marijuana, but they have some other excitement. Janet Napolitano visited McAllen today. She toured the Rio Grande Valley for a few hours and determined that we are all safe. Phew, I haven't felt such relief since ExxonMobil sent the HEB produce stocker to oversee the Kelsey Field.

Production For Sale, Marijuana and Ammo Included!

These photos were taken by Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents in the AMI...low and behold... marijuana and magazines loaded with ammo were buried on a ranch in the ExxonMobil - El Paso Corp joint venture. Hey, El Paso Exploration and Production is selling this property. Anyone want it? Drugs and arms are buried all over the AMI. (and dead bodies) No one knows who works in the oilfield. ExxonMobil and El Paso Corp have so many  farm-outs, assignments, contractors, and sub contractors. The identity of these individuals is confidential and the agreements aren't filed. Only ExxonMobil knows who has the right to come on the ranches because only ExxonMobil knows what the assignments are. The landowner has no information. There is no way to solve this because Texas law gives the mineral lessee right to egress and ingress across any lands and the landowner has no right to interfere with their access.  This marijuana was probably going to be loaded into a tanker or box truck at a later date. (by kidnapped and enslaved illegal immigrants) Speaking of slave labor, I bet that some slaves dug the burial sites. And of course, if this were your marijuana and those were your slaves, you would be sure to kill them promptly. Don't need a lot of people running around knowing where you have stashed all this marijuana. This is why I put the blame for pits of dead bodies on the McGill Bros. lease squarely on the head of Pilar Gravitt and the law firm of Hornberger, Sheehan, Fuller and Beiter. They went to court, got injunctions that prevented the landowner from stopping oilfield traffic into the ranch and then a protective order stating that the identity of the oilfield workers was a trade secret.

Not A Peep

I have heard nothing from my Mexican travel correspondents. That worries me.

Improvising

Well, Pilar Gravitt ignored my plea to be interviewed, as did the fine folks at the esteemed law firm of Hornberger, Sheehan, Fuller, and Beiter. I would really have liked to interview them, but their written statements and court testimony will do in a pinch. Plus, the film is a black comedy, puppets lying their asses off while people are dying is kind of funny. Not really.

Funny, Not Really

I used to live in a remote area. So, when I saw someone hanging around in my turf, I hoofed it over to see what exactly they were up to. You know, see who that was trip-trapping across my bridge. Never did anyone react like it was unusual for me to pop up with a spatula and dig around in their vehicle. They just went along with whatever I wanted to do. When you are in the middle of no where, there is really nothing to gauge what is acceptable. It seemed pretty reasonable to me at the time. Plus, I constantly needed new people to interview for the blog. Now, I look at this old footage and I just laugh.

Immigrants Translated

I know a lot of readers don't speak Spanish. I finally got around to translating some of the immigrant interviews. It's really sad what these people go thru. I'm not for amnesty. These people cause ranchers great grief by wrecking fences and starting fires. People forget that these people are individuals and go through horrible things to get here. I feel sorry for them. There are hundreds of people a day roaming around lost and dying in the ExxonMobil lease It's dangerous having all of these people roaming around lost. And then, there are the people roaming around to kidnap them. And then the people that are roaming around to kill them. I think the exchange where El Paso's attorney, Kevin Beiter, leaves a lost woman to die is really the best example of Hornberger, Sheehan, Fuller and Beiter's attitude towards immigrants. No one looked for her, no one found her, and I'm 100% sure she died. That episode is in my documentary. It's really shocking. When people look at the rough cut, the Kevin Beiter emails horrify them. It will be a real problem for him. I think immigrant advocates will demand an explanation from the law firm.
Speaking of problems, I ran into Gunsmoke this weekend. He griped about how El Paso E and P doesn't seem to care at all about the rampant theft that thrives on their leases. He said on the Coates property in McCook, everything and anything is getting stolen from El Paso. EP put a camera on the gate and keeps changes the entry code, but it does no good. No one cares. It's the El Paso corporate culture - take what you can while the taking is good. There is no such thing as "energy security" - nothing is secure because law enforcement doesn't have training to work in oil and gas operations. It's dangerous because people steal the parts and equipment from El Paso's compressor stations. The fire extinguishers, the back hoes. The remote monitoring gear. (of course the oil and gas, too) Then, stolen El Paso parts are repainted to look like new and resold to El Paso for other leases. It's very unsafe. Who cares because El Paso is selling all their production. It will be the next owners problem.

New Correspondent

Meet Robbie Lebovic and Jeaninne! New blog correspondents. They will (God willing) be sending periodic reports from Mexico during a two month road trip. What the hell is actually going on down there? I met Robbie about 25 years ago in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca. He has a salmon fishing boat in Alaska. He spends 3 months in Alaska working his ass off and then he travels the world for the rest of the year. The last time I ran into him was in Denver. Since then, we have exchanged an email or letter every few years. He's a cool guy. An authentic adventurer. And his girlfriend is nice, too. When I learned that he would be passing thru the Rio Grande Valley on his way to Oaxaca, I made a point to track him down. Previously on this blog, I have toured mobil homes, Border Patrol trucks, Constable leo's patrol truck, dope hauling trucks, immigrant smuggling rigs, and lots of other wheeled contraptions. Never on this blog (or in my life) have I had the opportunity to go inside one of these hippy style converted school buses... until Robbie and Jeannine rolled into town yesterday.

Exciting Development

I am so excited. I got a letter from the state commission on judicial conduct in response to my complaint about Judge Richard C. Terrell. They have determined that my complaint has merit and will move forward with a full investigation. The crux of my complaint was that:
1. He permanently enjoined me and my minor children from areas of the ranch without appointing an ad litem attorney for the kids.
2. I asked repeatedly for him to order mediation and he refused.
3. He locked me out of an ex-parte meeting, made me wait in the hall.
4. I was never served in the lawsuit and did not have notice of the hearings when the injunctions were ordered.
*Those are clearly the events and the public record supports the allegations. I attached all the exhibits.
I am now at Rule 4 in the process. The person who inspired me to pursue this complaint was Jose Angel Moreno, US Attorney for the Southern District. His big focus is public corruption. He said that if I believe a judge is corrupt, it was my responsibility to make a complaint. There is a system to address those concerns. The legal system is the basic rule of law for our society. It's important that people have confidence in it, or else you end up with anarchy. (Too late for me)  I asked him if he thought it would do any good. He replied, "You never know until you try." And then he agreed to do a cameo for my movie.
RULE 4. FULL INVESTIGATION (a) If the preliminary investigation discloses that the allegations or appearances are neither unfounded nor frivolous, or if sufficient cause exists to warrant full inquiry into the facts and circumstances indicating that a judge may be guilty of willful or persistent conduct which is clearly inconsistent with the proper performance of his duties or casts public discredit upon the judiciary or the administration of justice, or that he has a disability seriously interfering with the performance of his duties, which is, or is likely to become, permanent in nature, the Commission shall conduct a full investigation into the matter. (b) The Commission shall inform the judge in writing that an investigation has commenced and of the nature of the matters being investigated. (c) The Commission may request the judge's response in writing to the matters being investigated.

Update on the Documentary

People keep asking me when my film will be done. The schedule is hinging on my orthodontist. I have braces now and we need to film final clips of narration where I talk into the camera in hindsight. And, I refuse to do it with my mouth full of metal.
Up until now, Nicola has been editing video that I shot over the years we lived at ranch. I wasn't in the footage - always behind the camera. Last week, the she asked me, "Do you have any footage of you and your family doing normal ranch things? I want to break up this insanity occasionally and remind people that you are a regular person raising a family."
I look at these old video clips and it brings back good memories. It was an adventure. Its very important to me that the movie show all the beautiful sides of South Texas. People live here because it is a nice place to live. Yea, we've got some crime and contamination. Who doesn't? The bad thing that sets us apart - the extreme poverty. We are one of poorest areas in the USA.
Now we live in town and the kids are teenagers. They just want to be like everyone else. So, I haven't bothered them with the news that they are to be featured in a movie showcasing their screwy childhood.

ICE Raid in ExxonMobil Kelsey Field

ICE raided the Kelsey Unit looking for some stolen equiment that had some kind of GPS tracker installed. On Mr. Marshall's ranch, one of the agents noticed a bright colored scrap of a seat belt in the dirt next to an Exxon work site. He went to look closer. Low and behold...  it was 1400 pounds of buried marijuana bales that had seat belts on each one for use as a back pack. (by slave child immigrant labor no doubt) Exxon needs to mow that La Copita pipeline and mark it because I doubt that these people who bury dead bodies and marijuana on Exxon's leases bother to do the "DIGTESS."
ExxonMobil has been notified by me and Border Patrol numerous times about people storing large quantities of drugs in the Kelsey Field. ICE asked us to put a gate at the entrance of the ranch. The road into the Marshall cuts thru the McGill and is not a public road and has never been a public road. This is the response we got from ExxonMobil's lawyers when we tried to install a gate to the ranch. This is the ranch entrance that is used to transport human and drug cargo.
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This "war on drugs" is really really stupid. Nothing is accomplished besides making  ExxonMobil's leases more dangerous. I wish the feds would quit spending all this tax payer money on border agents and go do something useful. The oilfields are not the place to address the problem. Only ExxonMobil can control traffic on their properties because only ExxonMobil knows who the contractors are. ExxonMobil does not and will never have security on their properties. ExxonMobil doesn't even know who the contractors are because they are subbed out. ExxonMobil has the majority of the land in along the South Texas border held in old leases from the 1930s.
Attorney Pilar Gravitt went to district court in July of 2008 and got an injunction that prevents landowners from stopping any oilfield contractors or sub contractors from entering the Kelsey. At Pilar Gravitt's request, the court ruled that the identity of the contractors and subcontractors was a confidential trade secret belonging to Exxon and the JV partners. So, its up to ExxonMobil to deal with the problem. And, that is just never going to happen.
Meanwhile, on the King Ranch, Exxon's new JV partners set up surveillance and busted a major natural gas condensate theft ring using salt water trucks.

ExxonMobil and Stolen Pemex Product

Gee whiz, Pemex is really persistent and they want the money for all of the stolen oil and condensate that was trucked across the border and sold and piped thru the XOM AMI. ExxonMobil controls the access to the LACTS on the large HBP leases. ExxonMobil builds the roads, maintains the roads, and gives the thieves the access to the market. The majority of the  LACT units in Railroad Commission District #4 are miles into private property. Two million acres along the border is HBP in old leases by Exxon. From 1919 to until 1983, Exxon built the South Texas Gathering system. In 1995, they sold it to Koch who kept the main crude lines to Flint Hills and promptly sold off all of the feeder lines and trucking terminals to third parties. These terminals are inside ExxonMobil's HBP leases and Exxon controls the access.
CLICK TO SEE THE BILL OF SALE
ExxonMobil controls the access and thus the market for Mexican stolen condensate that is sold into Koch's pipelines to the FLINT HILLS refinery in Corpus. Trucks of stolen condensate arrive at the gates of the Exxons joint ventures to offload into the  LACTs. ExxonMobil's little gate guard hobbles out, opens the gate, signs the guy in and lets him drive with his stolen load to deliver it to the LACT.
Turns out that Shell and Conoco have been buying stolen Mexican condensate along with other major US refiners. Some of the refiners of the stolen condensate (AGE, Valero, and Flint Hills) have settled with Pemex. The refiners have reimbursed Pemex for the stolen product. The lawyers forked over all of the contracts, receipts, wire transfers, and records for all the LACT units in Starr, Brooks, Duval, Jim Hogg, Live Oak, and Victoria counties.  (almost all of which are on ExxonMobil leases) Not mentioned in the filing but claimed by the local rumor mill: Harvest - Hilcorp in-house counsel has turned over all transactions for their LACTs in return for not being named in the suit.
CLICK FOR THE LATEST PEMEX LAWSUIT
The fact is that you have people like Pilar Gravitt and the law firm of McGinnis Lochridge deciding the access controls on remote ExxonMobil properties. That is why the theft of oil from Pemex and from Texas operations has always been a problem and will always be a problem.
In 2008, the McGill Ranch sued Exxon for allowing the trade of stolen natural gas condensate to be conducted on the ranch. I have personally reported to Exxon on numerous occasions unauthorized tanker trucks coming and going from the LACT units on the ranch. Here is one of my earlier efforts to alert ExxonMobil
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All Exxon does is have their lawyers send letters such as this:
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So, I asked Camera Shy to draft up a letter and send it to ExxonMobil:
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and this is the response we got from Exxon's legal seagulls.
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At one point, I even had the sheriff department write a letter to Exxon about organized crime on the property:
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Exxon's and El Paso Exploration's lawyers have been notified repeatedly about oil and natural gas condensate being stolen from their properties and the LACT units on their properties being used to trade in stolen oil. The lawyers don't care. It's not being stolen from them - just their clients.
A LACT unit is the "Lease Acquisition Custody Transfer" point - where the truck off loads into the pipeline. It's like the reverse of an automobile gas station - you put the oil in and get paid rather than pay and fill up with gas. This is what the LACT records look like:
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Good-bye Cattle, Good-bye Documents

Cattle Baron returned to the ranch to load his steers onto trucks and ship them off to greener pastures in Dalhart, Texas. (a mere 850 mile jaunt)
For the first time in recent memory, I am currently not the subject of any ExxonMobil witness subpoenas. I figured it would be a good time to do some house cleaning. Upon the advice of Camera Shy, I called McGinnis Lochridge three times to make sure they didn't object to my file purge. They gave me the green light. (Well, they didn't call me back which is a green light in my book.)

And in local news...Last April, I covered the hijack of some oilfield workers in the ExxonMobil Monte Cristo JV. The perps had confused real oilfield workers for a group of cloned oilfield workers that were smuggling merchandise stolen from another outfit that was also masquerading as El Paso Exploration sub contractors.
CLICK FOR THE PREVIOUS POST
Well, turns out this confusion wasn't an isolated incident. Earlier this months, the feds got involved. Here's their criminal complaint:
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Buzzing Around with the Baron

When we moved to town, my husband leased the ranch to Cattle Baron to run his cattle. I've been pestering Cattle Baron about letting me tag along when he's rounding up cattle. He's always got some flimsy excuse like, "I'm working my 300,000 acre spread in Argentina this week." Last night, he came by to see Stephen and I heard him say, "I'll be out rounding up cows tomorrow out at your place." I immediately invited myself along. It was so much fun. On horseback this might take weeks - Cattle Baron has no full-time employees and no horses. He gets it all knocked out in a few hours with his trusty helicopter. That's what makes him a cattle baron.
In other pilot news, after I talked to the pilot in my last blog post, I got busy looking for someone who had flown contraband into Mexico back in the 1980s and I found a guy. I interviewed him last summer and here is what he told me:
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I asked Cattle Baron if he knew any of these contrabandidos because he is a local pilot. He said he did and it was a great era. He's going to tell me what he can remember about the scene and try to scare some other pilot up for me to talk to. Next week, I hope to bring you another report from Cattle Baron. Stay tuned.

A Long Way From Kansas

This is my family home in Cincinnati. What a dump, huh? You can see why I was so motivated to get my ass down to the Texas-Mexican border and set up camp next to Exxon's old Kelsey Gas Plant. The whole house is poured concrete - interior and exterior walls are all 18 inches thick. It sits on five acres of terraced gardens overlooking the Ohio River. When we bought the house, the original plans did not come with it. My father offers the following advice, "If you are going to buy a poured concrete house, the original plans would be very helpful so you know where the plumbing and wiring are when things need to be repaired." The guy who built the house in the 1920s was a banking scion named Harrison. He kept one set of cooked books at the corporate HQ and then the real set here at the house in a number of walk-in safes that we have in the attic and basement. Next week, I will take you to visit the attic and basement.
A lot of publicly traded companies are based in Cincinnati and the CEOs live in my neighborhood. They read the blog, because I'm the only blogger that grew up on their street and babysat their kids. And, they are all retired now so they have time for nonsense. They think it's really funny. That's where I get a lot of my insight into the executive mindset. They all say, 'We would have put a stop to this blog six months in." Oh well, too late now.
On my flight to Cincinnati in June, I interviewed one of the Continental pilots on the McAllen to Houston leg of the journey. It's a very short flight. Just when the story was getting good, we had to land.
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ExxonMobil Drug Crew Pleads Guilty

Some of the Exxon guys that were tangled up in last year's plot to assassinate the Brooks County Deputy Benny Martinez plead guilty to using the Exxon - Chevron AMI to smuggle drugs. Hey, at least they had safety training to be around XOM's stuff. I love how the indictment states on page 11 that the Zetas control the AMI. (Thanks again, Pilar Gravitt) This is just the run of the mill type of thing that goes on in Exxons and EP's joint ventures in RRC District 4.
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Also in yesterday's paper, after a two day trial, a jury convicted some other random dudes for storing three tons of marijuana on the oil and gas lease just southwest of the 755 - 1017 intersection:
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Jailing ExxonMobil's sub contractors does nothing to reduce the amount of crime on our ranch or any other ExxonMobil operation. More seizures lead to more violence in the oilfield. It's a never ending story. Brooks and Starr counties are very poor and the only way to reduce the violence is to address the poverty issue. Seventy percent of the Brooks County budget is ad valorem tax on oil and gas. As long as Exxon, Chevron, and El Paso sell the oil and gas to their own affiliates at a fraction of the true value, the counties will remain poor. The company men are paid a bonus based on how much they can gyp the county going into the laterals. As long as Exxon, El Paso and Chevron pay on the Enron model, South Texas will remain poor.

I Digress

This is my childhood home in Ohio. I moved away decades ago but my parents still live in the house. My father called me last summer and said" We are going to sell the house. You better come get all your stuff out of the attic." I've heard this mantra for the past 20 years. They want to move but it's such an undertaking and they were working all the time and didn't get around to it. Now, they are retired and they want to streamline. The attic and basement of the house contain about 8000 square feet of storage space. My father agreed to go thru the boxes and things with me and let me write a book about his life and the adventure of digging thru our attic and basement. I started that project this summer and I've been kind of sorting thru lots of interesting stuff for the past six months. I think I might switch topics here on this blog for a while and show you some of that craziness.

Primera Texas Voting Turnout Mystery Solved

During local elections, results are reported across the bottom of the screen on the local TV channels. Last May, I noticed that lots of towns had double digit counts for entire cities and sometimes single digits. In one instance, it said something like "City of Primera, 8 votes for substantial tax increase 2 votes against, voting closed." Where is this Primera that only has 10 voters? I googled Primera and found that it was located outside of Harlingen and had about 4,000 residents and the majority were American citizens. (Not that citizenship is a requirement to vote in the Rio Grande Valley by any stretch of the imagination) Why wasn't anyone voting against the tax increase? I couldn't rest until I got to the bottom of this vexing question.
I drove the 25 miles to Primera to see what exactly was going on. I stopped people on the street and asked about the aversion to voting in the town. They all had the same answer - "You register to vote, you get called for federal jury duty at the federal court house in Brownsville. It's 30 miles drive each way. Not only is jury duty inconvenient, it's expensive. You have to take a whole day off of work and pay for gas and your boss gets mad. God forbid you get picked for a two week trial. We don't have anything against voting, it's just we don't want to get picked for jury duty. It's like that all over Cameron County."
Basically only a few registered voters control the whole town. They probably get called for jury duty a lot. The federal courts on the border face a big challenge, a huge docket and a very limited number of people to call for jury duty. Legally, the courts in Texas can select jurors based on a drivers license alone - but the computers are set up to just pull from registered voters and not from drivers license holders. And, bureaucracy being what it is, it's very hard for the Federal Courts to change the mindset and get the state to redo their data. Presently, the driver license lists don't differentiate between US Citizens and non US Citizens. It's assumed that only US citizens would sign up to vote. (Emphasis on assumed.)
I often read that Americans are not interested in politics and this is evidenced by the fact that many do not bother to register to vote. Perhaps they just don't want to get called for jury duty. I rarely get around to voting myself, but I'm registered just hoping to get called for jury duty. It never happens. I've never gotten to serve on a jury.

OTM's in the AMI

The Border Patrol started tracking some pilgrims way down by the Puerto Rico turn off on 1017 this morning. Followed them all the way through the AMI... and then caught them about 5 p.m. on the McGill just when they were about to come out on 755. All OTM's - other than Mexicans. It's a smart strategy because the pilgrims are tired after a long day of walking and they don't run as fast.

Nice Weather

The weather has been gorgeous the last couple of days and I decided to drive out to the ranch. I figured things would be in complete disarray without me there to hold the fort. To my surprise, everyone seemed to be managing just fine. The hunters were hunting, the plugging rigs were plugging, the windmills were spinning, the fence builders were building fence, and Cattle Baron's herd was munching away at the prairie. No one had missed me all. Except maybe Pedro.

Plea To Pilar Gravitt: Let Me Interview You

El Paso Corp in-house counsel, Pilar Gravitt, did zero homework. Imagine filing a lawsuit against a blogger claiming that her camera poses a safety hazard on THIS property. ExxonMobils properties in my area have always been graveyards. It wasn't until Pilar Gravitt got involved that it escalated to really ugly stuff. I had the benefit of knowing what was going on, and I would write Pilar letters saying, "Hey people are getting kidnapped here. People are getting killed here."I think its because these psycho guys were getting chased out of Mexico. A bunch of them hitched rides on equipment coming from the Roleta Field to the McGill. EP was moving all the trailers back and forth between the Roleta and the McGill every 30 days. Plus, Judge Terrell ruled that Pilar could use the prisoners from the Texas Workforce Commission to build more roads around the checkpoint really didn't help matters.
I have sent many requests to Pilar Gravitt to give an explanation for her course of action for the film project. Probably she was just busy and not paying attention. Unfortunately, that doesn't bring anyone back to life. Pilar Gravitt is the catalyst of the story. I want her to speak for herself. We didn't leave the ranch because of drug cartels, we left because of Pilar Gravitt. I realized, "Oh my God, clueless Pilar decides who lives and dies out here?" I didn't want to live somewhere that Pilar Gravitt called the shots. (literally and figuratively.)  I don't see her as an evil person, I just think she is a low level bureaucrat in El Paso Corps lawyer pool. Pilar chose to come onto my stage. I don't have a vendetta against Pilar. My book and movie are autobiographical. I met her once in court, she's a very cute girl. That makes her an even better character. Stylish dresser, too. She has sex appeal. She is a sympathetic character. She is interesting. She makes the story interesting.
I also request an interview with the lovable Judge Terrell:
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The Catch - 22

To be fair, Exxon has made an effort to address my concerns. For instance, XOM requested all my GPS photos (of which there were about 7000) and they have crews out picking up, fencing off, decommissioning every single item in the photographs. Everything (except for the Kelsey Compressor Station, Caliche pit and the SWD well) featured in my youtube movies is GONE.  Exxon has had three plugging rigs working non stop and have plugged about 95 wells that have not produced in decades. It's a big step. And, it's not just on the McGill Ranch - they are doing the same thing for all of the leases around South Texas. Pulling flow lines, marking gas lift, taking down tank batteries. Exxon replaced the head of the the Gulf Coast on-shore operations and they streamlined their process to repair issues once they are reported. Seriously, this is really streamlined compared to the old protocol. It was issued in the summer of 2011:

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(ahh, flow charts, the ultimate in corporate procrastination)

Serious weaknesses still exist -

1. It only kicks in after a notification of a problem is made - and few local supervisors are going to report problems because.... repairs cost money and money spent is money that the supervisor doesn't get in his annual bonus.

2. The process begins only after a work order is generated (i.e. approved by someone.) The process to notify and then get approval is still the same. (i.e. - a black hole of bureaucracy)

***It was only this year that ExxonMobil authorized the ability to email the notifications to start the process. Prior to this update, field workers were only allowed to fax the notifications of problems. However, the Kelsey office fax machine broke in 2001. No one could get a new fax until the issue was reported (via fax machine which was non-functioning). So, the breakdown of the fax machine was effectively the end of any maintenance or repair in the Kelsey field. Theoretically, under the new policy, someone at the Kelsey office could email a request for repair of the fax machine, however, practically speaking, this is difficult if not impossible, because the Kelsey office does not have internet service.

But.... the El Paso E&P wells have gone from shiny and new to just rusty crap in the space of a year. El Paso has pretty much bailed and the only expenditure allowed are soap sticks. That JV is going to be the next heap. EP used the wrong kind of couplings on the buried salt water disposal polyline. They used the ones for fresh water polyline. The heat and the hydrocarbons melt the couplings. It's just constant leaks with that. All along the McGill to the Villarreal. The couplings designed for natural gas are much more expensive. So, they used the polyline for natural gas and the couplings for fresh water. In some places, they don't use couplings, they just use the melted glue stuff.

Transcripts From My First Ever Deposition

Here are the transcripts from my pretty dull federal deposition. Chevron subpeoned me as a witness in some case I've never heard of. I had nothing to offer them.

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Cattle Baron Weighs in on The Border Sitch

A lot of people are chanting this "boots on the ground" mantra and it is getting on my nerves. And, it's getting on Cattle Baron's nerves a little, too. The boots that come are federal agents who hang out on the public roads and push more smugglers on to ExxonMobil's private network of roads that bypass the Border Patrol checkpoint. ExxonMobils AMI is fraught with danger and evil. The criminals are subject to attack by even worse criminals who hijack drug loads and kidnap immigrants and then kill a bunch of people and bury them in pits.

Back in Black

What every Malulo is hoping to find under the tree the year! Gun rack in the front, big knife on the back. Nice matte black paint job for those that hunt at night in the ExxonMobil AMI. Not much room to carry home the kill... just the necessary space for the finger tips and teeth. Ninja costume not included.

Buyer Beware

So, thinking of buying some old production from Exxon's radioactive dump sites, er, I mean HBP leases? Or, one of El Paso's compressor stations saturated with chlorinated solvents? Just be sure to read the fine print:

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Darn It

I talked to Coon Ass Counsel, John Carmouche, today. He said that he hasn't heard a peep from Chevron regarding a court order to seize all my movie material. So, I guess they have backed off on that. I talked to Joe Berlinger who made the movie Crude (Chevron managed to get his unedited footage by court order) about it. I asked him if it changed what he decides to make movies about and he said, (and I quote) "Hell, no!" He did say, however, that he rarely sends emails anymore because Chevron subpoenaed all his emails and the lawyers turned his words around. So, it did effect his life in that way. And, he said it was "a really expensive process." He had some less-than-flattering assessments of Chevron's legal eagles.

I have to admit I am a little disappointed that Chevron didn't drag my ass into federal court because I've never been to federal court and am kinda curious about it.

Dead Deer Drama

Cattle Baron was buzzing about in his helicopter checking on his steers, and he noticed this dead buck on a heap of pipe on a McGill Bros. drill pad where a well had recently been plugged. Assuming that foul play was involved, Game Warden Royce Ilse was quickly dispatched to the scene. He did a field autopsy and determined that the buck was NOT the victim of poachers, but had been chased and killed by coyotes - Ilse theorized that the deer appeared to have tried to go under the pipe as if it was a fence because some of the pipes were overhanging and forming a sort of ledge. It appears the deer came up from under and got his legs tangled in the pipe. And, then the coyotes killed it. It was clear to Ilse that the cause of death was by coyote. Obviously, I was not on the scene because I would have much better photos and videos than this!

What Will Become of Pilar Gravitt?

Pilar Gravitt strikes me as just a young over-worked attorney who believed she wasn't responsible for her actions because she was under the umbrella of the El Paso Corp legal department. Over the years, I would send her notice that immigrants were being kidnapped on the El Paso lease. There was human trafficking, there was murder. I sent signed and sworn affidavits from law enforcement to Pilar. But, all she did was go to Judge Terrell and have all the records about kidnapping, murders, and human trafficking on the El Paso lease deemed as confidential and proprietary property of El Paso Corp. Cut! Next scene! 100's of dead bodies of human trafficking victims dug up in pits in the AMI. Who signs the documents to hide all of this? Pilar Gravitt. And... there is no El Paso Corp to defend Pilar's actions because El Paso Corp has been sold to Kinder Morgan. It's just Pilar's name and signature on the documents from some defunct oil company. But she will be o.k.. She can point out that it wasn't conscious indifference because the Texas Bar Association ruled that she had done no wrong in having all of this information shielded from the public and law enforcement who could have intervened and saved countless lives. Pilar Gravitt set a series of events in motion with the polyline lawsuit and I, personally, hold her accountable for the consequences. I hope that my movie will discourage other young corporate in house attorneys, like Pilar Gravitt, from thinking that they are safe from scrutiny just because they work for a big corporation with a huge legal department.

On the bright side for Ms. Pilar, I think she has a real future in media. She will make more money in entertainment anyway. It will work out o.k. for her. She's cute and people love individuals that come back after committing horrible deeds. She can write her own book and become a commentator on CNN. I suspect she has regrets. With a big corporation, it's very hard to determine accountability, but in court filings, an individual lawyer has to personally sign and take that responsibility.

Zetas Attack Tanker Truck of Marijuana..... In Houston?

When I first heard that some gunmen ambushed a tanker truck of marijuana and killed the driver, I didn't blink. It's a regular occurrence on ExxonMobil and El Paso E&P leases around here. But, then I realized it happened in Houston and, well, that did seem newsworthy.
"Shortly before the marijuana delivery was to be made Monday, three SUVs carrying alleged Zetas Cartel gunmen seemingly came out of nowhere and cut off the tanker truck as it rumbled through northwestern Harris County, sources told the Houston Chronicle."

Another news source reported the tanker had come straight out of the Rio Grande Valley. That guy probably thought he was out of the woods. He had made it through the ExxonMobil AMI without getting ambushed, kidnapped, murdered. (or whatever misfortune can befall those that cross the vortex of evil known as a RRC District #4 ExxonMobil lease) Then, just when he let his guard down and was cruising thru Houston, thinking he was scott-free..... those ruthless and fierce Zetas take him down. Pobrecito!

Spreading The Word

I went to Clear Channel's Cincinnati HQ. I'll go back after my movie is released to do a talk show. I just went to see what radio is all about. Everyone was very friendly. (except the janitor who did not acquiesce to my demand to interview him.) 

Quail Hunters Have Descended On South Texas

It's November and that means quail hunting season is underway. Quail hunters crack me up. They fly in on Gulfstreams and then slum it in these really crappy old hunting camps. They love it. They keep their camps really dumpy so their wives won't tag along.

Like A Good Neighbor, Zetas Are Here

Not that this most recent news will come as a shock to anyone living or working in the ExxonMobil AMI:

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The reality is that the Mexican smuggling organizations are kicking ExxonMobil's butt across South Texas. ExxonMobil has the Texas Supreme Court, Judge Terrell, and the Railroad Commission under control.... but the Zetas control the surface of the ExxonMobil AMI in South Texas. They take whatever oil they want, they do whatever they want, they come and go as the please. The Zetas bypass the hassle of the court system and live by their own laws. Even though I know the traffickers are really violent, scary and bad to the bone, they are the ultimate capitalists and I find myself kind of rooting for them when they are running off Exxon and Chevron. Not that I condone violent crime, but at least the Zetas aren't hypocrites like ExxonMobil. In a region of such poverty, corruption, sickness and legacy oilfield mess, locals are so desperate that anyone looks good compared to ExxonMobil. Some locals justify their complicity with: "Hey, we are all going to die. Getting shot in the head is a better way than a slow agonizing death from leukemia - which seems the only other option. At least it's quick." (And, there is always the Kelsey Curve if you manage to survive ExxonMobil's mess and the Zetas.) Danger lurks around every corner. Theoretically, the Zetas don't bother people who don't bother them. Anyone who breathes air or drinks water is at the mercy of ExxonMobil and Chevron.

Highlights From My Chevron Depo

I won't have the precise details of Monday's depo until I get the transcripts. I jotted down the highlights as I remember it going down.

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I asked Mr. Charpentier to ask Chevron to consider being in my movie. He said he will pass on the request. The nice thing about making a documentary is that it doesn't really matter the outcome on the issues - the story behind whatever the outcome is the value. It's like an oil company defense attorney who is getting paid by the hour. They are detached from it all. I feel like I'm detached from the legal battles. The more radical developments - the better the story.

I think if Chevron executives understood my project better, they would be more supportive. I talk to all different people in the industry. It's not anti-industry. I get credible people to participate to balance out my goofiness. (Like JP, above. One of my favorite folks!)

I Am Quoted In The News Today

Here is an article that quotes Yours Truly.

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I feel totally over-shadowed in the story by another Elizabeth.... One named Elizabeth Ames Jones. Her quote about the "gold standard" is priceless! Who can compete with that?

Next XOM jewel to enjoy the spotlight.... the bubbling caliche pit!

Chevron Depo Report

So, I had the Chevron Depo today. It was just me, the court reporter, and one of the partners from Chevrons hired counsel named Troy Charpentier (of Keen Miller Law Firm). I was kinda flattered they didn't send a rookie lawyer. I repeated my objections and cited my privileges and that was it. We were all very polite. Took about 35 minutes. Really boring. I was so excited to finally go to a deposition. I thought it would be really really fascinating. But, it was pretty dull. Fortunately, Mr. Charpentier didn't have a mustache like El Paso's Corp's attorney. When El Paso's guy was questioning me on the stand, I was so distracted by the mustache, I couldn't concentrate on the subject matter. Mr Charpentier was wearing some spectacles and they had a kind of curvy design on the sides which did throw me off a little. Despite this distraction, I was able to concentrate for the most part. And, of course Mr. Charpentier gave me lots of legal advice and explained the law to me and how it works. That was great since I'm not a lawyer and really have no clue. It was nice for him to help me out with his legal services and explain what information I am required by law to give, etc. Classic.

Truck Recovery

We moved the abandoned smuggler truck left on ExxonMobil's lease on Wednesday. We used the tractor to pull it out of the brush to a waiting flat bed tow truck. Border Patrol and the Sheriff's dept don't have tractors or manpower. They will send a tow truck and you have to deliver the vehicle to the tow truck. If you don't take the initiative, your ranch will be a junkyard with hundreds of abandoned trafficking vehicles in no time. Every time there is an abandoned vehicle, you have to pull your own workers and your own equipment off whatever job you are doing and go deal with it. It gets pretty tedious.

As Seen On TV

Hey, guess what... Border Wars, the TV show, shot a segment involving the rounding up of a big bunch of illegal immigrants by Border Patrol on ExxonMobil's McGill Bros. lease today. One of the hunters spotted a large helicopter landing in the middle of Exxon's ops and went to check it out. A closer inspection revealed that it was a camera crew brought in by the federal government! They were just flying around looking for a group of illegal immigrants to film and, of course, they found some in the AMI. Border Wars is well produced but it is, afterall, government propaganda. ICE organizes the film shoots and sign off on every edit. Perhaps they want to reassure the general public that they have it all under control. The groups that now occupy the ExxonMobil AMI are extremely violent. They have no fear of US law enforcement. Militarizing the border is making things worse for everyone who lives here, but it makes for good television. Until Exxon and Chevron's legacy of poverty and sickness is addressed, people will resort to criminal activity to feed their families in the ExxonMobil AMI. Evil is always more powerful than good.

Action At ExxonMobil's Kelsey Plant

Just like your local mall - the Kelsey Plant is extra busy as the holidays approach. The difference is that the visitors aren't buying gifts - they are hauling drugs on the back of slave labor (a.k.a. kidnapped migrants) around the Border Patrol checkpoint. The reason for this seasonal increase is harvest time for marijuana in Mexico. Bundles of narcotics are stored on the ExxonMobil property and then slave labor is brought in to haul the bundles. C'est la vie in the XOM AMI.

Yesterday, something didn't go according to plan. The handy dandy Starr County constable happened to be driving down 755 at the same time the muleros were turning into ExxonMobil's entrance to the Kelsey Plant. The sight of law enforcement no doubt spooked the muleros and they suddenly took off through the fence between the plant and Mr. Marshalls and began driving cross country heading north. They separated and one truck somehow ended up on the McGill Bros abandoned and the other one was found on fire on the south side of 755.

Most federal, state, and local law enforcement were pre-occupied at the time due to the raging gun battle in western Starr County. No one was interested in chasing the slave labor or finding the drugs.

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Crime in ExxonMobil's Turf

ExxonMobil is the dominant estate for the two million acres between the Rio Grande River and Corpus Christi. They have it all tied up in old leases. Only Exxon can control the access because only Exxon knows who they have joint ventures with. All of XOM's JV's are confidential. There is no coordination with landowners or law enforcement. Sending more federal officers to the border is pointless because they don't know who is authorized by Exxon and who isn't. It is Exxon's roads that bypass the checkpoint and they are built for 18-wheelers. Law enforcement patrols the public roads. They don't patrol Exxon's private network of roads around the Border Patrol checkpoints.

For example, ExxonMobil has a confidential joint venture with a company called Coronado. (which just sold to Kerr McGee) Coronado issued nearly 200 road use licenses for the entire ranch with no notice to the landowner or law enforcement and no public filings. The land owner has no control over access and is thus not responsible for the kidnapping and killings that go on in the ExxonMobil's leases. Here is a sample of one of Exxon's road use license forms that their contractors use:

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Feels Like Home

Now that I live in town, I don't have a drill pad in the backyard to watch for entertainment. I'm kind of at a loss for blog posts until my big Chevron depo on the 14th. We are currently doing some construction, so I do have a bunch of workers hammering away and making a lot of noise. It's no drilling rig, but it is something to film.

This propane tank was in the yard when we bought the house. The construction workers asked if they could have it to make a BBQ pit. I was happy to see it hauled off. And, I busted out my Flip cam to catch the action. It was very suspenseful to watch. (especially since I'm not entirely convinced that the tank is empty of propane)

Chevron's PR Firm's Blog Reading Stats

I feel sorry for the Chevron stock holders because that company is just run by lawyers, PR firms, and PR firms that are lawyers. It's all smoke and mirrors. Here's the Edelman Public Relations firm blog reading stats - they seem to be really excited about my upcoming movie. Ecuador looks pristine when compared to the Texaco and Exxon pits across Texas and Louisiana.

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Issuing a federal subpoena over a housewife's YouTube movies makes Chevron look like desperate jack-asses. That is Edelman's idea of good public relations? This is what the stockholders pay for?

Edelman PR Will Rue The Day!

Hi mr. Gregoire,
I changed my mind and I will not move to quash the subpoena. I have never been to a deposition and I am curious to see what goes on in one. So I will see you (or whoever) on November 14 th at 10 a.m..
Very truly,
Elizabeth Todd Burns
p.s. Will you forward this to the guy at liskow and Lewis because I don't have his email. Or send me his email address?

Old Papers

I went to visit my parents in Cincinnati this summer. I was rummaging around in our library and I opened the closet featured above. My father told me, "Oh, those are all my books and notes from law school. I never throw anything out." He is a heart surgeon, but he considered a career change when he was in his 60s and went to law school. He passed the Ohio bar in 1993, but decided to stick with heart surgery. Now he is in his 80s and he hasn't operated in two years. I thought he might be bored, so I told him to pull out his old law books and notes and write up a protective order or something in response to my Chevron subpoena. I am curious to see what he comes up with. He's my number one blog fan and he was very excited about the new development with the federal subpoena.

My First Ever Federal Subpoena

Gee, don't make any unflattering youtube movies about Chevron because they will issue a federal subpoena to harass you! Doesn't the process server look like Cheech Marin?

Here is the subpoena:
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and here is my response:

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Here is the underlying Louisiana case in which Chevron claims I am a witness of some sort. I have never heard of this case and it has no relevance to my youtube movies. It's just the only case Chevron has where the interviewees are opposing counsel in federal court.

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FAQ

People frequently ask me, "What does Stephen think of all this?" I think he's just glad that I have a creative outlet that keeps me busy and out of his hair.

The Latest With Judge Terrell

Oh, the drama! Judge Terrell has now refused to recuse himself from the family's Brooks County case. Judge Bañales is the judge assigned to review my request. He sent me a letter stating that I must file a "motion to recuse" with the court. Then, he will review it and decide if Judge Terrell will be removed. So, that's what I did this morning:

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Oct 30,
UPDATE: Denied

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R.I.P. In The A.M.I.

This is how it went down.... Federal Government wants to look like they care about the national security. They hire more Border Patrol agents. More Border Patrol means more highway interdiction. More highway interdiction pushes the criminal element into the oilfields where law enforcement doesn't patrol. This makes it more dangerous for the ranchers, oilfield workers, the immigrants, and the dopers! It does nothing to reduce the amount of drugs or immigrants that come across the border. We now have groups moving small loads, kidnapping, raping and killing immigrants. These are not drug cartels. These are not local people. They are thugs who have been pushed out by drug cartels in Mexico. They have come across the river to ExxonMobil's AMI. They are pirates who lay in wait to steal drug loads, kidnap immigrants, etc. They are heavy drug users and addicts. They don't think rationally. They are into satanic ritual killings, they aren't business people. That is what makes them so dangerous and scary. They kill people with hammers for fun.

I lay out a paper trail of depraved indifference from the beginning because I know how the story is going to end. We left the ranch because I realized that the lawyers (on both sides) care no more about life than the human traffickers do. And, every move ExxonMobil makes is on advice of its counsel. A corporation is not a sentient being; but the lawyer who signs off on XOMs business judgement decisions is! The lawyers are the villains in my story - not the drug cartels.

Another neighbor in Brooks County who lives in the XOM AMI just testified in front of congress about the violence on the ranches in our area:

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Here's a press release about Border Patrol picking up slave labor children back packers which they tracked directly from EXXONMOBIL"S Kelsey abandoned gas plant property!

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Here's a letter that was sent to the Exxon and it's partners written by the Chief Deputy alerting them to the fact that the plant property was a base of operations:

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Here's a letter from my attorney to Exxon's attorneys which included all sorts of demonstrative exhibits:

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When this eventually blows up in the media and everyone is running around acting shocked to learn that there are pits of dead kidnapped and trafficked immigrants in the AMI... I will be the first to say, "Hey, don't look at us! Go complain to ExxonMobil, their lawyers and Judge Terrell. This was their doing. They knew it was going on. They allowed it to happen. They got an injunction that prevented us from stopping the perps from entering the property."

XTO to Take Over The Kelsey and A Bunch of Other South Texas XOMan Properties

Big announcement: XTO Energy (a subsidiary of XOM) is going to take over all of the Exxon's South Texas operations. This includes the Kelsey, Marshall, King Ranch, Mariposa, etc, etc, etc. Everything from Corpus to the Rio Grande River. I think that's good news. Anything is better than letting stuff rot, leak, and go to waste. I am totally for this plan. I don't know if it will work out well - but in theory it is good. The problem with Exxon is they are just a morass of bureaucrats and lawyers who don't do anything. And, XTO, supposedly, has maintained their kind of smaller atmosphere but has Exxon's clout and cash to do something. It's a good concept. Don't know if it will actually work. Will just have to wait and see.

South Texas is so poor and has so much mineral wealth that was not developed because the hey day was pre-1970s when the technology to go deep didn't exist. It would be great for the local economy and people if a company developed things. There will be less crime in a prosperous area because people can get legitimate jobs.