All my hard work might be finally paying off.

On November 17th, 2009, I sent a letter to the EPA requesting they investigate PCB contamination in XOM's Kelsey Gas Plant, Compressor Station, and associated pits.

CLICK TO VIEW

Today, I got a call from the RRC saying that the EPA had called the RRC and instructed them to go to the Kelsey Gas Plant Purge Pit and get GPS coordinates and they wanted me to take them to the pit. I will do it when I get back from vacation.

The EPA won't fall for XOMan's tricks and they do all of their own testing! Once you see one old ExxonMobil Gas Plant and Compressor Station and pit, you have seen them all. XOMan's junky King Ranch Plant satellite facilities are cookie cutter replicas of each other. Looks like I'm finally out of the dirty gene pool, a.k.a the TCEQ and RRC. (The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Railroad Commission). ExxonMobil and Chevron are pretty confident that the RRC will never require any action on their part - so they carry on in the usual fashion. Of course, the EPA could come in at anytime and kick everyone's ass. They never have - but maybe they are about to start. If the EPA does something, I guarantee you that everyone around here would shape up. The current political climate at the EPA is very similar to that of the Carter years. ExxonMobil and Chevron stockholders are going to have to cough up. All of the Carter era statutes are still on the books, all have criminal sanctions. PCB's never break down. I declared my intention to go for PCB's in a blog post in October 31, 2008. Arrogant ExxonMobil did nothing. I guess they didn't believe I'd get around to it. I wonder if they are worried now. Big Oil told me, "Exxon absolutely fears the EPA." The Rook disagrees. He says, "Exxon has so many lawyers between the company and the regulators - they might not even notice." I hope their stock holders notice.

Here's my original PCB post:

I decided I'd call BIG OIL. He's an old-timer who still takes pride in being BIG OIL. Doesn't hide behind this "Natural Resource Company" jargon. I had not spoken to him in ten years. I said "I am really angry with El Paso Corporation. I hate them. I must act." He was quiet for a moment, "I forgot what a bad-tempered little brat you can be." I think he was concerned that I might pull some Nigerian stunt if he didn't offer an alternative. (Which, I assure you is not my style.) He pondered a bit, "Very few people can cross the ExxonMobil nuisance threshold but I think you are one of the rare few that have the potential. It will take time and focus and work. Maybe three years." I assured him I was sufficiently irked to devote whatever time necessary for the task. That I had gotten more patient with age. He sighed deeply and told me, "PCB's will bring them to their knees." BIG OIL is an attorney from back in the day when oil companies broke people's legs, ran people off curves in the road, and knowingly buried and lied about PCB's.

What is up with the pigrims, you ask?

Just a quick FYI - I have a new influx of viewers emailing and asking why I have the illegal immigrant movies. All the movies are filmed on the ranch. We live on the Mexican border. While out digging around the oilfield, I kept finding people abandoned and beaten in the brush. They would tell me about being kidnapped and held for ransom. (it's just a common practice in these parts). I would tell people but no one believed me. Kind of like no one believed that ExxonMobil and Chevron are such slobs. So, I decided to start interviewing the illegals when I could. Usually, I can't interview them because it's dangerous and I'm afraid to get close when I am by myself. Other ranchers and oilfield workers have been ambushed when they stop to help people lying in the roads or ditches. I can only interview the few that come up to the house or the oilfield gate and others people are around and armed. It's really sad. I find it kind of funny that no one even blinks when I walk up with my lavalier microphone attached to the spatula and start interviewing them. They just act like it's totally normal. I guess they don't know what it's like in the USA and just think people walk around with spatulas interviewing people.

So, anyway, in the middle of all this leaking stuff and battles, we have 1000's of illegals marching thru daily to bypass the border patrol checkpoint. (Lately, our pilgrim traffic has slowed dramatically) Not only do they get kidnapped in Mexico and held for ransom, they also get kidnapped again in the brush as gangs lay in wait for them to pass thru ExxonMobil's leases. It's just a sad mess. ExxonMobil, Chevron and El Paso Corp refuse to have security or help in anyway.

The deferred costs of gas exploration.

The sad reality of the oilfield: wells don't last forever. Big companies come in and drill wells. They hold on to them for a few years while the production is roaring along. With time, the pressure falls, the big companies sell them to medium size companies. The medium size companies operate them until the production falls to a marginal level. Then, they are sold off to smaller companies. Often, stripper wells (real marginal producers) are bundled into packages with other assets and forced upon companies. No one wants them, but they hold old leases that have proven reserves booked on big company balance sheets. Generally, a scrappy judgement-proof group operates them. They make money by not fixing things. Often they illegally dump produced water in pits to save on disposal costs. They intentionally let the produced water leak out of their miles of old pipelines so they don't have to pay for disposal.

When I first started to post photos of ExxonMobil's old Kelsey wells, the friends said, "Wow, that's what you expect from these little stripper well operators - but who knew ExxonMobil had stuff that looked like that?" The RRC is totally ineffective and will never go against oil companies. There is no real legal recourse for landowners. The RRC and the TCEQ do absolutely nothing. (those are our regulating entities. The TCEQ is supposed to be doing the EPA's job - but they don't want to get involved in oilfield mess. They say it's the RRC arena.) Across our area, there are thousands of old wells with careless operators. These old wells are on huge HBP tracts owned by ExxonMobil, Chevron, Kerr McGee, Conoco Phillips and Shell. The larger companies may drill new wells on the tracts. Or like Chevron, they just swab the old wells every few weeks to hold thousands of acres in proven reserves to keep on their balance sheets. Often, they have farmed out the old stuff to stripper well ops and they keep a percentage of the marginal production from the wells. They don't care if things leak or their contractors dump the drilling fluids in the nearby Federal Wildlife Reserve. If the company doesn't have to pay for maintenance, it's all good and the field supervisor gets his end-of-the-year bonus. The thing about leaking old oilfields, they pollute the groundwater with BTEX, chlorides, metals and TPH and the mess spreads and sickens people who have no clue what is going on. Around here, 98% of the people are indigent, so the taxpayer has to pay the bill for their medical care. It's just not nice. These are the deferred costs of oil and gas exploration and they are paid for by the American taxpayer. It's not just the surface owners that pay the price. People seem to think, "Oh well, who cares if oil companies screw some rich ranchers. That's not my problem." In fact, if you are a tax payer, it is your problem. The RRC will do nothing and the problem just continues. The infrastructure continues to break down and the contamination intensifies. The older the field, the more produced water, the more dumping and leaking. There is nothing to stop the latest round of wells from joining their ancestors in the stripper well category.

The drilling in Ft. Worth and Pennsylvania has been going on for a few years. I think people will be shocked how fast things deteriorate and you end up with the chaos you see here on the McGill Bros. lease. Bad news folks - it only goes downhill from here. With each successive transfer of the property, you can expect further decline in the equipment. The well won't make enough money to keep it in good repair and clean up the ever more frequent leaks and spills. I see people in these newer areas devoting a lot of worry to hydraulic fracking; which I know nothing about and have no firm opinion on. I wish they would think about the proven hazards of older wells. That is where you will absolutely have groundwater issues and surface issues. Contamination that people will most certainly come in contact with. People are worried about problems miles underground. Perhaps, rightfully so. They don't seem to realize that there are very real problems on the surface that aren't hypothetical.

I asked my lawyer friend, John McFarland, if he had any literature on the problem for my blog. I'm going on vacation and I need some reading material to keep my demanding audience busy in my absence. He said he had written something on the topic some years ago but the Texas Supreme Court had refused to rehear the case for which he had drafted the document. I didn't want John's work to go to waste, so I'm posting it here on the blog.

CLICK TO READ JOHN'S AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF

John is a well-respected oil and gas attorney in Texas. He has his own blog. He's a serious sort of fellow - it's not all fun and games like my blog. However, it is very informative.

CLICK TO GO TO JOHN's BLOG

The latest from Bubbling Road.

For those of you that are new to the blog - here's a previous post that sums up the drama known as "THE BUBBLING ROAD" - Really - this never-ending saga of the bubbling road is kind of one of the main plots of the blog. Newbies should get up to speed by reading this old post.

CLICK FOR POST

In regards to the bubbling road, I found this letter today in my post office box from those fine folks at the Texas Railroad Commission:

CLICK TO VIEW

Wow, what do you know. Another groundwater Benzene contamination here on the McGill Bros. ExxonMobil lease! Benzene located, letter written and put in file. End of story. ExxonMobil doesn't actually clean anything. The RRC just sends letters and ExxonMobil sends letters back. Meanwhile, people are dying of leukemia and other rare blood and bone disorders out here. It's a rural area. Most of the people in these parts are poor Hispanics - no one seems to really notice or care. I wonder if anyone will notice when it's half of Pennsylvania and New York. Apparently, that's XOM's new focus.

More groundwater contamination in Starr County

We get our supplies at the San Isidro Farm and Ranch. While driving to the Farm and Ranch last month, I saw crews installing these groundwater wells here on Farm Road 1017 between La Gloria and San Isidro. I think this gear is to skim the free product off the groundwater. Word is that Kerr McGee is finally dealing with some of the old Sun Oil groundwater issues. Today, I noticed the new wells were now across the highway in someone's front yard. I bet some Kerr McGee landman knocked on this person's door, paid them $100 and got them to sign some kind of insane release past, present, and future. The poor person probably doesn't speak English. Maybe the landman told him everything was fine. Nothing to worry about. Just going to skim several inches of hydrocarbons that are floating under your house. Next time I drive by with a few extra minutes, maybe I will go introduce myself. People tell me that the contamination and leaks were discovered back in the 1970's and Anadarko delivered water to the residents for years. People still have oil coming out of their faucets in La Gloria and San Isidro. In this area, the water wells are really shallow - between 30 and 60 feet because there is a thick layer of caliche. As the crow flies, this is about 4 miles southwest of our southern fence line. This is the N.R. Montalvo lease - it's an old lease - Exxon and Sun were the operators in the old days. All over Starr County these groundwater wells are popping up -- it's stuff that's leaked for years. But, there's a class action suit filed over the Delmita Gas Plant now and everyone is wising up. The main lawyer, Chris Amberson out of San Antonio, is my friend's brother-in-law. He's in town for the holidays. I will see him in a few days and get the whole story. I'll ask him for the discovery for the blog. I think he'll say yes as he's a blog fan.

I've been getting emails from nice people in Pennsylvania and New York saying that XOMan is coming to drill Marcellus Shale wells in their area. Listen all you nice people from Pennsylvania and New York: here is what you have to look forward to when you get in bed with ExxonMobil!

XOM stockholder to do list: clean up the Kelsey

I won't have the lab tests back from the environmental firm until mid January. Not much to do between now and then but wait. The firm bailed water from all the existing McGill Ranch monitoring wells -- all of which have confirmed BTEX, metals, or TPH in the groundwater. (These wells were installed by ExxonMobil, Koch, and El Paso at various sites) The tacks in the image above are the confirmed groundwater contaminations. The green outline is the Ranch property boundary. These are the only places tested so far - they were all contaminated with BTEX (among other things)

Here's a map of XOM's old Kelsey operation on about 30,000 acres to give you an idea of the extent of their land use and likely extent of the contamination. Almost 500 wells were drilled here before 1966. Nothing has been remediated. Just buried.

CLICK FOR MAP

We got a shock at El Paso Corps Kelsey Station groundwater contamination site -- El Paso Corp has 18 monitoring wells with BTEX vents in a five acre area. They have been sending the ranch their results indicating that the wells are clean - oddly when our environmental firm went to test them..... some had a 1/2 inch of free product floating on the top of the water!! This is so illegal as, even the lame TCEQ requires that all free product (oil, natural gas condensate) be removed. This should be expected - so many of El Paso executives have been sentenced and served time for lying to regulators about just this sort of thing.

Also a few of the wells that were installed in El Paso's PCB pit (where they drained the the compressor condensation from 1959-1979 and dumped the sludge from the pig recievers) had collapsed casing at 13 feet. El Paso used PVC pipe for their monitoring wells and PCB's melt plastic. Compressor oil was 100% PCB. So those wells can't be tested. The collapsed wellbores act as drains from the PCB pit to the groundwater which is at 44 feet. It's great, couldn't be better! Just what I had always hoped for - PCB's in the groundwater. By the way, I live in the field RIGHT NEXT DOOR to this El Paso Corp mess. (which is now operated by Enterprise Pipeline) Enterprise did it's best to lock us out and prevent the well sampling - however, Enterprise doesn't have any valid agreement to operate and was unable to stop our testing. We got samples of the free product and will get the exact make-up to determine if it's condensate, oil, or PCB compressor oil.

The ranch has hired the firm to drill an additional 5 test wells at 8 additional locations. (40 test wells). For more than a year on this blog, I've been claiming we have a big mess here. Soon, we will know more about the chemical make-up of this mess. I'll put the lab results on the blog when they come in.

Note to self: buy some XOM and CVX stock!

O.K., I feel for Ecuador. I really do. But, seriously, the scope of the mess in South Texas' Railroad Commission District 4 is so much larger and more serious. The Rio Grande Valley is the fastest growing area in the USA. ExxonMobil and Chevron mess is just everywhere you look. Word is going to get out. XOM and CVX stockholders will be thrilled to learn that they are going to pay to clean all of this up. It's on display along the public roadways. People are dying left and right of strange stuff. Sorry about the herky jerky camera moves in my movie. I just filmed this with the IPhone while driving in the ditch on the highway. This installation is located on the east side of 281 around Premont, Texas. Isn't it lovely. This is where Mobil used to have one of their huge RCRA "best practices" pits - like the 1000's of RCRA pits ExxonMobil and Chevron have across the land. The property owner is a senator, so he managed to raise enough hell to force XOM to install some groundwater vents. Doesn't really help with the metals. The rest of us? Well, we are working to bring public awareness to our plight.

Oh, to be a Chevron Texaco lawyer.

While reading about the Chevron Texaco Ecuador lawsuit, I saw some suggestion that Texaco junked the rainforest because it was poor tribes in the Amazon that couldn't help themselves. I beg to differ. We are white ranchers and get mowed over by Oil companies, too. Chevron Texaco and ExxonMobil and El Paso Corp (and the rest of their ilk) behave the way they do because they have money and lawyers and think they can drag out court battles until the other side dies. It doesn't matter if you are Black, White, Indian, Chinese, Angolian, Rain Foresterian,.... whatever. Unfortunately, for companies like Chevron, the times, they are a changing. No one cares what courts and lawyers say. Getting a summary judgement doesn't convince anyone of anything. Stock holders can understand the changing political climate and realize that the EPA has no statute of limitations. Without stockholders funding the legal battles - Chevron and XOM can no longer drag things out in court! Cleaning up the historical mess is going to be huge business. South Texas is notoriously corrupt - what makes the locals money is what will prevail. The clean-up will make the money. The old fields aren't producing - so no paid-for-in-production override is going to to help anymore. (back in the day, it is said, that the majors doled out paid-for-in-production over rides to make sure the political climate in South Texas was always favorable to them) Big Oil companies won a lot of the time because they were always threatening to leave the area if they didn't get their way. Exxon and Texaco were creating the jobs and putting food on the table back in the old days. That all changed in the late 1980's. They cut back. Moved on. When the trucking companies and environmental firms are generating the money - they will be King. For instance, Chevron's 7,110 acres is held by one well that has to be swabbed every few weeks just to produce a few MCF. Lets say you are a Texas decision maker: What do you want? Some production over ride on Chevron's McGill Bros. lease or a bunch of cash for that trucking company you own with your brother? Will you push for a clean-up? I think you will. You will put the pressure on the regulators to pick up that mess. The nearest disposal facility is Robstown - it's more than 100 miles each way!

It doesn't effect the new companies in the region drilling their wells - as it's about legacy mess. It's a win for everyone - except the few majors that were here in the old days. Chevron and Exxon aren't drilling wells anymore. They have moved to other regions of the worlds and have been remiss in their payments to judges and politicians. There is no way to discreetly skim the money from the local production like they used to be able to do because there is only a drop of production. They have lost their influence and they no longer provide any tangible benefit to the local economy. In fact, they are a huge drain because they have so contaminated land, that it condemns it for the deeper production. There is now technology to go in and get more gas from the old fields - but no smart company wants to venture into the old pigsty because of the liability. XOM's JV partners cherry pick their spots and it doesn't include the dirtiest areas. XOMan and ChevMOron had their day. Now, the bill is coming and they will have to pay it.

The holidays in the oilfield.

I went out on the ranch yesterday and asked some of the people I ran into about their plans for Christmas. Watching this movie, I realize that I SUCK at interviewing people. I just say, "OK" all the time and sound like an idiot. I decided to put the movie on anyway because the truckers do a good job and come across well. Most of the people out here are just regular folks trying to earn a living to provide for their families. I live in the middle of no where. No one here but us and 22,000 truckers.

Sorry, about the wind noise. I just used the little FLIP camera - it doesn't have a microphone jack for my spatula.

Chevron's enemies might become my friends.

Chevron has a website and big internet presence to defend their position of innocence in Ecuador. Here, you can read crazy Chevron claims like "produced water is not toxic". I find it really funny that Chevron is blaming "greedy trial attorneys" for all their woes. Greedy? Ouch! Big Oil calling trial lawyers greedy. Does Chevron have an exclusive on greed? While going thru one of the Chevron publications called "The Amazon Post" - I came across this:

CLICK TO VIEW

Here, Chevron identifies by name these greedy individuals that are trying to "extort" them. So, I googled all the players, in that circle on the bottom entitled "US Lawyers and Lobbyists". I had no luck finding the Christobal guy, but I found everyone else. I emailed them, made follow up phone calls, sent links to my project and movies..... and Karen Hinton called me back! She said there was a big snowstorm in the East and it was very chaotic but they all got my messages and want to chat and review my project after the holidays when things settle down. Oh, that would be great if someone took me up on my open invite to come tour this oilfield dump! Who knows, maybe she was just returning my call to be polite and has no interest. I don't think people understand how serious the situation is around here. You can't get a feel for the scope of the area and the stench in a few youtube movies. I think when the movie about Ecuadador (Crude) hits the USA - it will bring a lot of attention to the problems we have right here in the USA with legacy oilfields. Ecuador might look very shocking with green lush rainforest juxtaposed with black crude oil. However, South Texas is much worse and more sinister. It's been going on since 1919. Invisible things like 100% PCB compressor oil and hexavalent chromium dumped in open pits are a lot more deadly than crude oil. Chain of title is very clear on the properties, we have laws and paperwork where companies flat out lie to the agencies to have RCRA sites closed - claiming a full remediation. South Texas is basically a third world country. The area effected is bigger than Ecuador.

I asked Big Oil if he thought Chevron would sue me. He said, "No, they will just try to ignore you."

What is Chevron thinking? Let's ask!

I want Chevron to make a website for the South Texas litigation like the one they made for the Ecuador litigation. Chevron can explain why their legacy oilfield operations in South Texas pose no health threat. (ExxonMobil and El Paso Corp can chime in, too) Chevron can tell us how these clusters of leukemia have nothing to do with their open pits. In fact, there is a reasonable explanation - plain old bad luck. Well, at the very least, Chevron might give me some comment for the blog. In the spirit of whacking a hornets' nest, I went to the Chevron website and I sent some general inquiries. I hope someone over there writes me back! Maybe I'll cross Chevron's nuisance threshold in record time. We will know I am making progress if they sue me for tortious interference next week. Maybe they will just send a hit man. ExxonMobil and El Paso Corp could share the cost.

1. To the general contact link - I wrote a note that directed them to my latest movie featuring Cheveron.

2. To the investor's relations link:

Hi,
here's a movie I made on our ranch in South Texas yesterday. Chevron has been operating here since 1935.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLEuaAChjnQ
Can you give me some information about how many dollars CHevron has booked as an assertable claim liability for their legacy oilfield clean-up fund in Texas's Railroad Commission District 4?
Chevron seems to have misrepresented the extent of the contamination to regulators - and I'm thinking they are also misrepresenting it to their stockholders.
Thanks,
Elizabeth Burns
3. To the media relations link:

Hi,
I have a blog about our ranch. Texaco has been operating here since 1934. Yesterday I made this movie for my blog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLEuaAChjnQ
(the blog is located at www.RanchoLosMalulos.com)
Does Chevron have any comment about the historical stuff that I am finding and writing about?
Thanks,
Elizabeth Burns

Scoot over Ecuador! Texaco is from Texas.

Since the Chevron Ecuador lawsuit is in the news, I think I'll shift my focus to the McGill Bros Chevron lease for a few days. The Texas Company (a.k.a. Texaco) leased 7,110 acres here in the 1930's before the McGills bought the ranch. Texaco operated tank batteries just like ExxonMobil (then known as Humble Oil and Refining). Only a certain grade of oil was marketable. Oil was gathered into tanks and chemicals were stirred in. Chemicals used in this operation included -- sulfuric acid, potassium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, ammonia, lime, mercury salts, metallic mercury, magnesium hydroxide, sodium silicate, dry lead sulfide, copper salts, cadmium sulfite, aluminum chloride, metallic zinc, arsenic, lead oxide, maganese.... to name a few. These additives would bind with the impurities in the oil. The oil was then drained from the tanks into huge pits - in Texaco's case 300 feet by 100 feet. Then the chemicals sludge would drop to the bottom and the desirable grade of oil was skimmed off. These pits were also used to dump oil that congealed in tanks. After the oil was skimmed off, the pits were left to drain into the groundwater and then the sludge was burned.

This week's round of environmental testing was just for screening -- finding the right spots to drill the groundwater wells. Samples were taken of this sludge in the movie and when I get the results back I will put them on the blog. Usually, that takes 10 working days - but with the holidays - it might be the second week of January. Either way, I plan to give Ecuador some serious competition. I'm going to call the movie company that made the movie about Ecuador. I will see if they want to do a sequel here on the McGill Ranch of Chevron's operations.

Chevron: "Produced Water is not Toxic"

Chevron has their own website to justify their actions and defend their position in the Ecuador international contamination lawsuit. Here is a quote from Chevron Texaco:

"One of the plaintiffs' attorneys' most-repeated claims is that "Produced water contains some of the most toxic and dangerous chemicals known to man." and that Texpet illegally dumped 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the rainforest, equating it to an environmental disaster 30 times greater that the Exxon Valdez spill.
Produced water is not considered "toxic waste" in the United States nor in any other part of the world. Rather, it is the brackish water that is trapped within the geologic formations that contain crude oil and brought to the surface during oil production."

That explains why Texaco and ExxonMobil dumped their produced water in open pits here on the McGill from the 1930's until the 1980's. Now they usually use injection wells. I don't know why they aren't still dumping it in open pits as its apparently harmless. As you can see by the above movie - Chevron still sometimes dumps in open pits. We are testing Chevron and ExxonMobil's open salt water pits -- so I'll be sure to tell you exactly how squeaky clean produced water is. Here on the McGill, I saw salt water gushing out of a pipeline once. The Exxon supervisor at the time, Not-Her-real-Name-Sandra, assured me it was just like the ocean. "You've been to the beach, haven't you? There is no difference." That's what she said. Exxon has 30,000 acres leased on the McGill and Chevron has 7,100. Both have been here since 1935. No one else has ever operated on Chevron land - they have no Petroequador to point the finger at!

To read more from Chevron Texaco, visit their site devoted to debunking the plaintiff's arguments-

CLICK TO VISIT SITE

Rained out?

Looks like we might have to delay the environmental drilling today. Everyone is here - crews are camping out in various guest houses. It rained all night and looks like its going to rain all day. It's just not the kind of weather that makes drilling groundwater wells easy. Since I have the guys here - I'll see if I can't interview some of them about how to find your mess.

One thing people don't realize - lab tests aren't exactly definitive. ExxonMobil uses a cheap testing procedure (approved by the RRC) that reads "no detect" if there is any sort of matrix interference. (other things in the mix) We are going to experiment and thru trial and error find the best testing to find the chemicals common in ExxonMObil and Chevron's legacy oilfields. We can run whats called a Mass Spec test. They are very expensive - $1000 but pick up everything. Then, we will back track and find which of the cheaper / readily available tests work. I'm going to teach everyone how to find and identify their oilfield contamination.

We have several confirmed groundwater contaminations where Exxon, Koch, and El Paso have already installed numerous groundwater monitoring wells around the ranch. No one from the ranch has ever tested them. Now, we are going to have the pros test them and see how the "mass spec" test compares to the $70 BTEX test that the companies run. Koch and El Paso seem really shocked and disturbed that we are testing their groundwater wells. These companies think, "No one is going to spend money testing the wells when we give them the results." The companies know that the $70 isn't very accurate. Lets see what you get with the $1000 test v. the $70 test. Hopefully, the rain won't hurt the bailing of the groundwater wells on the schedule today.

I heard that there is a law firm out of the Northeast that will pay for the mass spec testing of any existing groundwater monitoring wells and give the results to the landowners -- they are working on some bigger project and just want the data across the area. I don't have any further info on that. If someone is familiar with the effort, please comment with the details.

The uncertain fate of Exxon's Kelsey Compressor Station

I protested the renewal of ExxonMobil's Kelsey Compressor Station Grandfather permit back in October. The groundwater at Kelsey Compressor Station has 6400 ppm parts Benzene and 4700 ppm xylene and a bunch of other crap. (refer to my protest). This is in the designated Rio Grande River tributary, it's the aquifer recharge zone, and it's an area and governed by an international treaty with Mexico. It's just not allowable. Except if you are ExxonMobil - then you can do whatever you want. It's such a big problem. We are just 38,000 acres of millions of acres of land with the same problem in Railroad Commission District 4. All the agencies know. The oil companies know. The problem is just so vast and such a hazard to human health - no one wants to even think about how to handle it. The older the infrastructure gets, the more it deteriorates and compounds the problem. ExxonMobil, Chevron and a few other companies had their heyday in South Texas - and this is what we are left with. It's a poor area, high rates of cancer. The tax payer picks up the bill because we are one of the poorest areas in the nation with more than 90% of hospital visits by indigents. I hope other areas with new production learn a lesson from South Texas - this is what will happen if you don't have strong rules and public pressure to enforce the rules. ExxonMobil operates this facility today and 100's more like it across Texas. This is what an ExxonMobil operation looks like in the USA in 2009 - get used to their "Standard of excellence".

CLICK TO VIEW

and I attached 414 photos to demonstrate the operation

CLICK TO VIEW PHOTOS

I show the same crap leaking, workplace hazards, etc for months and months - it's all time and date stamped. Oh, what disaster it is. Now the TCEQ and the RRC are both aware of the mechanical problems, groundwater contamination, and air violations. Whatever will they do? I'm not sure when the decision will be made. I have no doubt that both the TCEQ and the RRC will do nothing. Doesn't matter that ExxonMobil violates the RRC contamination levels and the EPA contamination levels. These groundwater levels are way above TRRP standards. Action is mandatory - but the RRC and TCEQ take no action.

The Rook talks real bombs.

Listening to Big Oil Jr.'s Cousin reminisce about stealing dynamite from drill sites got The Rook chatting. Now, I will share his funny tale on the blog. I'm repeating it because it's a good story and I like good stories. The Rook grew up in River Oaks. (a nice neighborhood in Houston) He and his pals liked to build little explosive devices when they were kids. You know, boys will be boys and build tennis ball rocket launchers or whatever is handy. The Rooks best pal's father was in the oil business (doing some kind of geology stuff) and tended to have C4 hanging around. If your parent has some C4 around the house from his job... and you're a young boy that likes building bombs - chances are you are going to be tempted. This is exactly what happened. This nice young boy (who recently served as the CEO of a publicly-traded energy company) steals a big wad of C4 from his father's office. He builds a little bomb and then he wraps the entire thing in C4. Then he rolls it in BB's. He covers the entire surface with BB's. Then he gets scared. He hides the bomb in his closet and forgets about it. He gets busy with middle school, high school, college, and then law school. The weekend The Rook and the Bomb Builder graduate from UT Austin Law School, they return to Houston to celebrate. Turns out the Bomb Builder's childhood home has just been sold and his parents are packing up the place to move. His mother has pulled the stuff out of his closet and asked him to look through it before she throws it all out in the move. He sees the bomb which is roughly the size of a bowling ball. He takes the bomb. The Rook and the Bomb Builder get really drunk, drive to a construction site in Houston, detonate the bomb in the port a potty. Bomb goes off. BB's rain down. They take off. This was in the 1980's - pre Oklahoma City or 9-11 - homemade bombs weren't in the news so much. A hung-over Rook and Bomb Builder drove by the site the next day and it was crawling federal agents.

Living in the oilfield does have it's perks. The people on the exploration side tend to extremely smart, hilariously funny and big risk takers. It's a business that attracts folks like the Bomb Maker and The Rook. You get into the production side and compliance positions - you run into duds/ arrogant bureaucrat types. The people in exploration don't understand the contraversy - because they see the brand new exciting stuff. They don't understand the mentality of the production teams. Dump whatever you want where ever you want and lie about it. Anything to save a buck. Until I moved to the ranch, I only knew people on the exploration side. I had no idea how ExxonMobil operated after the rig was gone. All I knew were the smart guys drilling the wells.

Now, El Paso is shifting it's focus to the Eagleford Shale around Cotulla. I'll be left with nothing but XOMan's dreary Smithsonian-era production operation.

EL Paso Corp's beloved polyline lawsuit.

Big Oil Jr.'s Cousin and The Rook came over yesterday. "From the latest transcript, it appears the judge is starting to think El Paso is wasting his time with that polyline business. Judges take a dim view of that kind of thing. What's up with the hydro excavator? Did you take that thing out for a spin or something. Why did El Paso bring that up in court."

Pat Sheehan (a.k.a. El Paso's attorney, a.k.a. Honest Pat) doesn't know a damn thing about the oilfield. So, he has to just pretend in court and throw what he thinks are dangerous sounding contraptions around. In one court hearing, he told the judge, "Look judge, this is a working oilfield operation with heavy equipment such as hydro-excavators." When I read that, I just fell over laughing. So did Big Oil Jr.'s Cousin. Hydro excavators? Yes, in fact El Paso does use hydro-exavators - it's a truck with water that you shoot to dig around pipelines rather than a backhoe. Everyone uses those. Even the landowners. I would hardly use a hydro excavator as an example of dangerous equipment - there are so many really serious things to choose from. If I were Honest Pat, I'd have said, dynamite. Oil companies use dynamite. Sometimes pesky landowners, such as Big Oil Jr.'s Cousin steal the dynamite and go shoot it up at their caliche pit for cheap thrills. ("Although Dynamite is harder to come by these days," lamented Big Oil Jr.'s Cousin. "You used to just call over to San Antonio and they'd ship a box to you.") There are real dangers in the oilfield. I agree. But a hydro excavator? That's what El Paso's attorney uses as the example of danger? Too funny. Well, maybe I can get Honest Pat to send me another letter with some more dangerous examples of what's going on because I drove over to the latest drilling pad today. I went to check out the action at the #629. The rig is just arriving and being constructed. I like when the rigs come. I like the hustle and bustle and the hammering and building. It's a serious military type operation. I live 8 miles from a neighbor. It's creepy out here when there is no rig. Sadly, I think El Paso's operation is coming to an end in March. All the drilling rigs seem to be congregating out in the Cotulla/Laredo Eagleford Shale play.

Testing, testing, testing

Well, well, well - this is going to be interesting. A rather ambitious environmental survey of 11 sites on the McGill Bros lease has begun. The sites were surveyed, marked and the one calls/Dig Tess made. That took all of this week. Next week, the drilling and sampling begins. Usually, the labs have about a two week turn-around time. Probably with the holidays, it will be closer to 3 or 4 weeks before the whole world knows what kind of crap ExxonMobil and Chevron-Texaco have left across South Texas. (Probably the whole state - but I'm just a RRC District 4 kind of gal)

**something cool - the RRC requires a certain lab test which runs about $70. They aren't very definitive - very susceptible to matrix interference. There is another type of soil and water test that runs $1000 and uses some high tech equipment. It should pick up EVERYTHING in a burn pit - multi-chain benzenes, etc. Oh, I can't wait.

Now, here is where XOMan and Chevron are screwed. The companies think that the RRC will not force any sort of clean-up so they have nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, the Clean Water Act/CERCLA and RCRA have Citizen Suit provisions. One must give the RRC the results and 60 days to start corrective action. The RRC is a huge bureaucracy that couldn't do anything in 60 days. When the RRC fails to act, a private citizen can take over with all the powers of the government, assess fines, force clean up and HAS NO STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS constraints. Big trouble for XOMan across the land.

Here are the soil and water results from a few sites previously tested.

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We already have groundwater issues above TRRP. These sites were picked prior to having the historic aerials. Now people can really find their contamination. ExxonMobil and Chevron really need to talk to their stockholders. They should explain that abatement of legacy oilfield contamination is really PRICEY and they need to have that liability on the books as an assertable claim with a HIGH PROBABILITY OF ASSERTION. Because, that's what is coming down the pipe for them. I'm sure that once the McGill Ranch does it, others will follow all around the neighborhood. ExxonMobil's mess is state wide - and all the money they spend on cleaning it up goes directly to the communities that live here in the form of jobs. There is no reason for municipalities and landowners not to file citizen suits. The mess is there and there is no recourse in the traditional courts as ExxonMobil has McGinnis Lockridge and cash to drag things out until eternity. I don't even know why people bother suing. Just get your $13 aerial photo from the USDA and grab a set of post hole diggers, find your spot, drill a well and file a citizen suit. You can force ExxonMobil to clean up. Also, incorporated municipalities can fine ExxonMobil for any violation and keep the money. Fines are expensive. It will be a great source of revenue for the poor little towns in South Texas with all those VOC's in their public water towers.

note - private citizens can also assess fines but the money goes to the government. Citizen Suits do allow for recovery of all legal bills and testing - that's why large law firms with the cash are teaming up with smaller firms on these sorts of projects.

***Here's a previous post that explains where and how to get the old aerial photos.

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Gate Guard murder on Mines Road in Laredo?

The Webb County Sheriff never returned my call about the rumored shootings of a gate guard and toolpusher in the vicinity of Galvan Ranch. Yet, people continue to insist that two oilfield workers were shot by guys dressed in black with back packs in the style of drug mules. Numerous sources say that a female gate guard was shot but either managed to call for help or a witness took off to the rig. Then the tool pusher came to see what was going on and got shot, too. The assailants supposedly stole the truck of the tool pusher and the car of the female victim. If any readers have more info, please comment.

About two years ago, one of El Paso Natural Gas's gate guards got shot and killed at the Jeffries Lease at the gate on 681 outside of McCook. That one was on the local news here. The oilfields of South Texas are extraordinarily dangerous because of their proximity to the Mexican border. Of course, ExxonMobil and EL Paso deny they have any knowledge of criminal activity on the Mexican border. Even with their own gate guards getting shot dead. One ExxonMobil gate guard died here on the McGill when XOM was doing their big seismic shoot in the mid-1990's. It took ExxonMobil three whole days to even notice he was unaccounted for.

The most interesting lawsuit yet on FM 755

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Wow, this is really a must read lawsuit. I found the brief factual background (beginning on page 4) so touching.

The Jones Ranch is right north of the McGill Ranch. Most of the pilgrims on the Jones Ranch have to go thru the McGill Ranch first. Here, the families of 4 dead pilgrims sue the Jones Ranch and the oil companies working there for the death of their kin folk. According to the lawsuit - "The defendants knew from past experiences that the ranch was commonly used by individuals in traversing the U.S. - Mexico border and defendants could reasonably anticipate the deceased presence on their ranch."

Hence, it's now ranchers and oil companies job to protect the illegal immigrants crossing thru the ranches. In our case, El Paso Corp has an injunction that prevents the McGill Ranch from stopping anyone from entering. El Paso is responsible for the security of the ranch and the safety of illegal immigrants crossing. El Paso has the injunction. They are doing a really crappy job of things because there were 40 dead bodies and two live raped beaten left for dead women found here since the injunction in July of 2008. A lot of illegals die out here - the hot sun, snakes, victims of criminals who lay in wait for them to pass. It's always been that way, they say. The old timers call the Kelsey Field "the Killing Field".

But, it's o.k. because El Paso is making money hand over fist and ExxonMObil gets half of it after 200% payout. ExxonMobil and El Paso's silly tortious interference lawsuits against me will come back to haunt them when illegals get hurt on any of their operations - they go into such detail about the danger of facilities, drill pads, pipelines, etc. Yet, the only person they try to keep out is moi - and they get injunctions for absolute open flow of human smugglers. Good thinking.

My latest discovery.

This is off topic, but I have a consumer product review: I tried the new Neosporin Lip Health and I LOVE it. I saw a commercial for it - the selling point was, "Why keep applying lip balm when you can use the Neosporin and heal your lips". (something like that). This immediately caught my attention. Being out in the hot South Texas sun digging up XOMan and ChevMORon's mess is very hard on the lips. I've been a loyal chapstick user since elementary school - but that's all about to change. You all need to run out and get some of this Neosporin product. And, extra bonus, it's 20 SPF.

This afternoon, I was interviewed by some website that features creative exploits. One of the questions was about gifts I received and did I feel pressured to feature products sent to me. Huh??? Are other bloggers receiving free gifts? I haven't gotten gifts! No one sends me squat! That would be nice if people sent me products to review. There are some Benzene patches available to detect benzene -- I could review those out in the field. Perhaps Mercedes could send me a G-wagon to test out in the sand and brush. I wonder if I could get some sponsors. That's what I need.

XOM, Chevron, Ecuador and RRC District 4

Back to My Own Private Ecuador theme. ExxonMobil and Chevron did the exact same practices in South Texas that everyone is freaking out over in Ecuador. We have 7000 acres of old Texaco land on the ranch, too. Seems that a state wide class action suit paired with citizen suits is brewing and what better place to establish a pattern of abuse than here on the McGill Bros. Lease. Both ExxonMobil and Chevron Texaco have been here since the 1930's - no one else to blame. And, they are still here. Lets not forget those Railroad Commission sunset hearings in the works, too. I think the McGill Bros Lease is a great lesson in the deferred cost to Texans of the oilfields and how the regulators turn a blind eye to large corporation's misdeeds. Ultimately, the taxpayer suffers as we pick up the check for all the sick indigent people. There is nothing special about the McGill Bros. Kelsey Field. It's the same practices that were done across South Texas. I'm just out digging up the mess and putting it on the blog. I have access to a huge area and I'm yapping about it. The historic operators on the McGill are Chevron and XOM - but I imagine you will find the same crap on all of these old South Texas fields. The other big players back in the day: El Paso Corp (as Coastal, Tenneco and Sinclair), Shell, Anadarko, Conoco, and Sun Oil (which I think is Kerr Magee now). There weren't a lot of players - just big acreage HBP leases covering a vast amount of country side.

Here are the open pits just in the KELSEY. These are all Exxon's pits on the McGill. Aren't they lovely. Exxon had huge open pit dumping for almost 60 years. These pits are used continuously and some are larger than football fields. No wonder all the ground water around here is full of VOC's and TPH, metals and chromium 6!

The latest in the Polyline Lawsuit

There was a hearing November 9, 2009 in the Polyline Lawsuit. El Paso Corp is suing the ranch and myself for $22,000 over an incident involving a plastic waterline getting run over by a tractor. El Paso is suing for $22,000 in damages plus attorney fees. It's just a bully lawsuit and El Paso has already spent something in the neighborhood of $1.3 million on their lawyers over this piece of plastic water line that they did not even own and were not using at the time. Their plan is to run up legal bills as some kind of punishment for writing a blog about them. I think it's backfiring. I don't have 1 million dollars to pay them in legal bills in the unlikely event they prevail. And, they are just giving me more fodder for the blog!

CLICK FOR THE TRANSCRIPT

I think the judge is starting to realize this it is going to drag on for 10 years and just get crazier. And he doesn't sound thrilled to be there. This is exactly why my attorney, Camera Shy, withdrew from the matter.

Another cool contraption.

Above: This thing eats thru metal. It's here at ExxonMobil's McGill Bros. Central Tank Battery - chomping thru some of XOMan's vast local inventory of old riveted tanks.

Below: what it looks like under a tank in Central Tank Battery. The whole bottom is gone - that's just tank scale on caliche that you are looking at.

Kelsey Camp Memories

I've been tracking down the old time Kelsey Camp residents from all corners of the earth and learning about life at the Kelsey - back when Humble was a good company to work for. From the 1930's thru the 1970's the oil companies built little towns for their employees all over South Texas. Some had schools. The Sun Camp at Delmita even had a golf course. I started gathering these stories when I first moved to the ranch. I was just curious how people passed the time in the boondocks. I didn't even know about XOMan's evil deeds at the time. I will dig around for the other stories from the camp that I collected. I think we all get spoiled by the modern life and take things like clothes dryers for granted. I like to hear about the days before computers took over. Seems like things were so much less complicated back then.

We lived at Kelsey the last part of 1951 and first part of 1952.
My husband worked on a drilling rig for Humble oil, which is now Exxon..Until he could get a place for us to live there he drove back and forth to Robstown Tx. on his days off which was about 100 miles. He stayed in the bunk house the week he was there working. There was a small grocery store at the camp. I believe the people who ran it was named Reeves. His wife cooked for the men who were living in the bunk house which was two long rows housing about eight bedrooms each. The boarding house was just north of those where they ate. The office was a few feet north and across the street from the boarding house.
A SMALL trailer became available, 19 ft. and we had two children ages 9 months and 2 years..The sofa made into a bed which took up the living room when opened out. The kitchen table which was a booth made down into a bed and that is where our kiddos slept. The bed was made up immediately upon getting up. Had to get the kids up to make breakfast. We did have electricity and our small refrigerator usually made enough ice. When we needed it Leland brought ice from the bunk house.
The camp was really nice. As you entered it there was a median with palm trees growing in the center and all the yards were kept well groomed. There was a roustabout gang that worked the production part of it and they kept our yard mowed ,no charge. We did buy our trailer but only paid 1.00 a year for living there and that is because of a Texas homested law. Bet you are wondering about our bathroom. It was a building just outside the trailer..concrete walk going to it..It had a shower, commode and closet, actually very nice. Also I had my washing machine in there and dried my clothes outside on a clothes line like everyone else. Some may have had driers . There were some company furnished houses behind us that the people who worked for the gas recompression part lived in.
The camp had a swimming pool and you could enjoy that by joining the cactus club for $5.00 a year. It was rather popular place since we were isolated out there until days off and you could bet everyone went to Falfurris. That was about 50 miles from Kelsey . It was difficult for me to stock up many groceries as cabinet space was limited .
The camp had what was suppose to be a snake proof fence around it to keep out the rattlesnakes. It was very effective . We did not take it for granted though that none could get in as some small ones did make it through sometime.

Leland guesses that the camp was probably 5-10 acres…just a guess.

Love in the Age of Cholera.

Cholera doesn't flourish in stagnant water with rotting animal carcasses. However, I'm sure some horrid disease does. I took these photos yesterday on the McGill Bros. well #700. Look a at all those maggots! To recap - ExxonMobil has a JV with Sierra Resources LLC. Sierra has some arrangement with Rising Star Energy LLC. In late 2007, Sierra and Rising Star came to drill this well. During the drilling, the mud engineer was found to have his kids staying with him on site. So, Halliburtan removed him. Without a proper mud engineer, things went wrong. Someone forgot to add enough mud and the gas started coming up the hole when Sierra was at about 12,000 feet. Heavy mud was frantically poured down the hole. Sierra managed to keep the blow out underground - saving the lives of all the people on the rig. However, the well was ruined. No big deal, as Sierra and Rising Star had blowout insurance. Some mystery insurance company took over the site. They plugged the well and just left it like this. Never filled in the rat hole or the mouse hole (that other really deep hole next to the rat hole which is the large hole which has the corrugated metal). I almost fell in that mouse hole (remember Baby Jessica?) while taking these photos. The mud pit - which has 3200 ppm mercury is still sitting off to the side.

I talked to the Federal Game warden about this. He concluded from previous pre-maggot photos that the current carcasses are raccoons. Raccoons are not federally or state protected. He said to keep checking back until I find a javolina or deer -- which are Texas protected. Then, he said, he'll ring up some of his state pals and they will come out. The Feds are very big on birds. The Fed Game Warden said if I find a raptor dead in there - someone will be in big trouble. We don't know who - as no one knows who the insurance company is. It's all top secret. With XOM's JV's - the partner doesn't get an assignment until they produce a well. In this case, there was no production, so I guess XOMan will get the wildlife violation ticket. (in the event there is a violation and I happen across it)

One cool contraption.

Look at this vehicle - it is here to remove rig anchors. XOMan pretty much has a full time plugging rig here now. After the plug job - this contraption arrives. Plugging rigs are held steady with anchors which are basically huge screws with a ring on top. The screws are about 6 feet long (around here - I don't know about other terrain). This thing with its hydraulic auger is a new sight on the ranch. And what a lovely vision it is! XOM removing the anchors after plugging is a very welcome change of policy. It's just a real hazard driving across fields with old anchors from 400 plugged wells. Usually, when the plugging rig leaves, they place a metal t-post by the anchor but don't remove it. Over the years, the metal t-post have rusted and folded over. You don't know where the anchors are -- until you run over one and have to buy a new tire for your tractor. Our tractor tires run between $800 and $1200 a pop! Even when you do find an anchor - they are damn near impossible to remove without one of these cool contraptions. Not only does it remove anchors, it will go anywhere in the brush. I wonder if an old anchor could puncture one of those tires and how much one of those tires costs. They look pricey.