What's This About A Gun?

I went to the ranch today for a few hours. Now that Coronado has dropped their lawsuit, my husband drives from town to disk and plow fire breaks with his new tractor. He's about to rent a bulldozer and send out a one-call Dig Tess to clear 60 feet around the entire property line and then on each side of FM 755 - in hopes to slow down the next fire. I'm a nervous wreck thinking he's going to blow himself up on some gas riser hidden in tall grass.

Naturally, it would not be a complete drive down FM 755 without a bailout and a quick hello to my friendly neighborhood Border Patrol agents. Falfurrias sector took over my stretch of FM 755 on December 15 and they don't usually get this far down to patrol. The officers from today's bailout are from the Hebronville sector - which used to patrol here. They said DPS had a big operation in their turf so they didn't have much to do and decided to head over to our place to pass the time. They knew no one would be patrolling from Fal. I love to look in bailout vehicles to see what the people were eating and what not. In this case, only 4 men ran from the truck. That was kind of odd. Normally, a truck this size has all the seats removed and about 15 people jumping out of it and absconding into the McGill Bros oil and gas lease!

I decided to make another quick post (and hopefully my last) because I've been getting some emails about the injunction and the guns. Some internet forums have picked up on our story and people have emailed asking what exactly is so dangerous about a gun and a camera on a ranch. Especially since RealTree Outdoors filmed a show here for 10 years about hunting. (The formal name of the ranch is Encinitos Ranch and the show was called Monster Bucks)

Read the oil company's latest communique at the end of this post -- the stuff about fire arms is on page 10 and 11. For all you hunters and ranchers - realize that any drill pad with a well head is a "recovery operation" and a flowline is a pipeline. That's pretty much all of South Texas ranch land. I also found it very interesting that radio signals from my phone or camera could remotely set off machinery on a drill pad. What a crock of crap! When you consider that this whole operation is a never-ending parade of drug smugglers and illegal immigrants -- it sounds pretty silly. What oil company offers testimony about how dangerous their operation is? El Paso Exploration and Production - that's who!

CLICK FOR DOCUMENT

Bailout Vehicle on Fire

Seriously, I have quit this blog! Damn it! So, about 1:30 PM today DPS is chasing a truck thru the ranch which is going 100 mph. We have the FM 755 easement thru the middle of the McGill Bros. lease. The truck drives thru our fence right at the intersection of FM 755 and CR 315, drives into field, five to seven individuals (a.k.a. illegal immigrants) flee into the oil and gas operation and the truck ignites. It's unclear if the catalytic converter ignited or if the perps ignited the truck intentionally. They do that sometimes to destroy evidence. Here are some nice sworn affidavits from law enforcement about the exciting criminal climate on the Burns Ranch. I think they are great reading!

CLICK TO VIEW AFFIDAVITS

The DPS called Pete, the Brooks County first responder. Pete came to put out the fire, but his truck started a second fire while he was driving thru the tall grass to put out the flaming bailout truck. Pete called my husband here in McAllen. We called our worker and hunters who showed up with tractors and disked. I reported it to Pilar Gravitt but didn't get any response. The fire is out but the five to seven people from the truck are free on the ranch. They will no doubt start another fire when they try to camp out, smoke a cigarette, etc.

We still have not heard about any official fire plan. We had another fire. Still no contact or emergency phone # from the oil companies. They didn't show up. Fortunately, there wasn't a lot of wind so it didn't get too out of hand.
Here's another fire with another bailout vehicle in the same pasture from last February!

The End, El Fin

So, Pilar Gravitt (El Paso Corps in-house counsel in the polyline lawsuit) has decided to dismiss the polyline lawsuit in it's entirety against my mother-in-law and my husband. This, after Coronado created a huge public safety issue and drove us from our home. Coronado gave violent Texas prison gangs the keys to the property and they aren't leaving now. They are too comfortable. You can't give a gang free access for 2.5 years and then go to them and say, "El Paso Exploration and Production dropped the injunction that prevented us from stopping you so now you better skedaddle." The gangs have a good gig. They have taken up residence. The real residents have left the property. The gangs can run drugs and illegals and help themselves to El Paso's oil and gas. Rape passing by illegal immigrant girls on a slow day. That's what it's like on an El Paso E&P-ExxonMobil joint venture on the Tex-Mex border. I wonder if the gangs make more money stealing production or running drugs and illegals. I guess it varies from month to month. The thugs hang around Central Facility. The whites of their eyes are yellow. They look about 15-years-old. They can barely see over the steering wheels of their stolen oilfield pick-ups. El Paso has moved on to the Eagle Ford and left the Kelsey wells to die. No one wants to buy them because of the litigation and violence. Some of the wells aren't even a year old and are shut-in. It's a no man's land of baby thugs. We can't ever move back there. It's ruined. I've been back a few times to visit. I just feel scared. I'm afraid to go out and explore like I used to.

Coronado claimed we were all in a big conspiracy to disk fire breaks over a poly water line. Coronado made completely false accusations, dragged my family and myself through years of nightmarish court battles.

These past few years have been a real learning experience for me. It's a sad story - but I did have a lot of fun, too. If Pilar Gravitt hadn't decided to sue me, I would not have started a blog and realized how much I enjoy writing. (ExxonMobil sued me separately but they backed down quickly) I am going to take all that I have learned and apply it to effect some real change. I am motivated by the polyline lawsuit debacle. With the polyline lawsuit over and the blog wrapping up, I have that much more time to focus my energy on crossing the ExxonMobil nuisance threshold. I have a deadline of October 31, 2011 to achieve this feat.

You can check back on November 1, 2011 to see if I accomplished my goal.

The Fire Non-Plan

I've really pushed for some sort of plan for the next fire. I've visited with the elected officials. I laid out what I felt was the primary issue to The General Land Office:

CLICK TO VIEW

The state owns minerals in the Kelsey so they can get involved. It's such a disaster waiting to happen. The GLO expected to order all the operators to go out and mark every pipeline and probe for depth. Then the operators must be sure that all the pipelines are at least 30 inches under the surface. This way when the Forest Service runs bulldozers, they won't hit anything.

But, it happens that many of the pipelines are an outdated fiberglass installed in the 60's and 70's and a probe will puncture them. Also, there is no metal rod or metal tape on the fiberglass and the lines can not be located with traditional methods. Many metal lines are clearly above "plow depth" as they can be seen with the naked eye resting on the surface. These lines were installed in the 40's and 50's and it's all sand.

It's such a mess. The landowners and the hunters have met with the officials. Then the oil companies met with the officials separately. They will have their own "secret plan" and when the fire strikes, they will give the landowners and the hunters radios to tune in. That is the new "plan". The hunters complained that, in the last fire, they were in a field disking with three tractors and the US Fish and Wildlife didn't realize it and lit the field on fire for a back burn and almost killed everyone in the field. (some of our pastures are 750 acres) There's no plan, there's no coordination and there is a bunch of flammable high pressure crap all over the fields. I'm not really sure what is going to happen with the next fire. It think it's going to be really bad.

This is ExxonMobil's explanation. "We have a plan. It will be divulged on a need to know basis when the fire arrives. Tune into the radio we will give you at that time." So, where are we supposed to meet to pick up this radio? Well, that minor detail has yet to be revealed to us. Frankly, I don't think they have a plan. I think their plan is to hire lawyers when a bunch of people get killed in the next fire.

I have to say something here - to give credit where credit is due. I used to think that all South Texas politicians were crooks. I don't know where I got this idea. I guess so many of them getting indicted and thrown in the pokey might have helped shaped my view. However, they have been nothing but receptive and concerned.

The Way It's Done In RRC District 4

Gee, and I thought El Paso Corp's (EP) PCB pipeline pits were bad! Sadly, this is just what these companies do in South Texas. They take the money and they leave behind a big mess and people are still getting sick decades later. It's a poor region, so the tax payer picks up the indigent healthcare bills.

Here's a Texas Dept. of Health study done in Hebbronville, Texas. It's not too far from Freer and another ExxonMobil bastion of produced water pits, production skim pits, poverty and sick people. Welcome to my world! It's not just the large ranchers that suffer. This mess effects everyone in the region. Rich or poor. Democrat or Republican.

CLICK TO VIEW REPORT

One Hour

People who don't live in Mexico or on the border don't seem to really get how bad things are in Mexico. I hear a new horror story about every day because people are fleeing over to this side. I worry because we have guys with machine guns marching around on our ranch. Other neighbors report the same thing. (to the FBI, to the Sheriff's Dept, to DPS - they don't have the funds or training to respond much) People generally figure that the machine gun toting guys are "just training over here because it's hard for them to train on the ranches in Mexico with the army there." However, the first report of seemingly trained armed men marching on the McGill was made to the Brooks County Sheriff back in 2005 by our neighbors. There was no Mexican army occupying Tamaulipas at that time.

This is a video of one hour at an intersection in a Mexican town. The footage is captured by cameras on the stoplights. Armed men arrive at 5:30 AM, set up shop, snort a bunch of drugs from a plastic bag, proceed to stop, rob and kill people. Youtube doesn't allow movies with dead bodies or actual killing - you can find other versions unedited on the web if snuff films are your cup of tea. Watch the perps drive off in the stolen vehicles in the end of the movie. They go over to a big white house nearby and shoot into it. It's just madness. The cartels have an endless supply of angry hopeless poor people to recruit. I look around here and it seems like we have a lot of hopeless angry poor people, too.

All of the gas production has been shut-in in Tamaulipas. (that's just across the border) There is a huge field there called Burgos. The cartels kidnapped and killed the oilfield workers and pretty soon Pemex just didn't go in anymore. It's costing the state of Tamaulipas a lot of money. Leaving the wells shut in for a year can ruin them. But, there is really little that can be done. These are remote areas that have been taken over by criminal organizations and are impossible to patrol. Kind of like the South Texas oilfields. Not to say I've ever heard of anything as drastic as this Creel situation in my hood. We do have some psuedo cops on FM 755 from time to time and the occasional raped immigrant and dead bodies on the McGill Bros. lease. That's about it. No one is doing anything about it. It's just going to get worse. ExxonMobil doesn't care because they have insurance.

Weatherford Sends Out FM 755 Safety Alert -updated

Here's the safety alert about FM 755 crime from Weatherford that was released on December 7.
CLICK TO VIEW
FM 755 isn't the only dangerous area in the oilfield. It's even worse in the Eagle Ford Shale areas. There are instances of lease service crew vehicles being hijacked and the workers robbed. Sometimes beaten.

Previously, I reported that some lease service workers were hijacked by armed men earlier this week. I pressed my original source for more details. He personally knows one of the victims and inquired about the event. Now that the dust has settled, he gave me this updated report. The details are less dramatic than originally reported. Here is the new corrected report cut and pasted word for word. Not just for accuracy - but so everyone can enjoy the fine prose of my source:

Please accept my apologies. I have been woefully amiss regarding your request for details concerning the oil field workers' assault by supposed Zetas. You deserve greater respect. The spector of this damned 'mañana' mentality haunts me still in my advanced years.
It shames me to say that the hijack story suffered from much embellishment by the time it reached my ears. A hijacking did occur, only there were no black SUVs of any number with darkly tinted windows, no heavily armed men, and no persons were roughed up or forced to strip to their briefs.
The drama involved little more than a couple of guys with some oil field outfit that goes by the name of Pioneer having their work pickup stolen by a group of 10 or 12 illegals. The pair had stopped to open a gate leading to some remote location near Catarina when their vehicle was suddenly surrounded by this desperate bunch. They startled the men with shouts and banged on the truck loudly. With one of the crew out by the gate and separated from the other company man, the truck was quickly surrendered over. The two from Pioneer only lost their wallets and their peace of mind. The rowdies made off with the truck and its equipment and the pair walked the dusty road the few miles back to the highway.
Those are the facts, as such. I do not have first-hand knowledge of the incident.

Pipeline companies are increasingly clashing with narco property owners as more flee from Mexico and settle on this side. We had an instance about two years ago south of the McGill. A pipeline that was installed decades ago had a cathodic bed on a Starr County ranchito. Some new guys bought the property. It was maybe 200 acres. Along comes the pipeline guy to do the monthly cathodic inspection.... a 4 wheeler with ninja types carrying assault rifles approaches him and says, "Do not come back here."

So, the pipeline company comes up the pipeline a little bit and asked us, "Hey, can we put a cathodic bed here - we just got run off down there by these machine gun toting dudes. We need cathodic." And we agreed. Cathodic protection is important.

Me And The Judge

In the summer of 2009, Judge Richard Terrell granted the controversial protective order that leads to all the fire hazards, the locations of the wells and pipelines, etc being sealed. Coronado doesn't want me to be able to blog about their operation. So, they get a protective order that prevents me from disseminating any information about anything "deemed confidential". Then, Coronado files for four more protective orders that deem all the emergency response plans, safety rules, the location of hazards, the fire plan, the safety issues, etc..... all confidential and trade secret and covered by this crazy protective order.

CLICK TO VIEW PROTECTIVE ORDER

I had a great lawyer (Scott McLain) in the beginning of this case. After awhile he told me, "You are wasting money on an attorney because that judge does not follow the law. He's going to give the oil company anything they file for."

That's when I decided, "Oh well, might as well go pro se. I'm being sued. I'm the defendant. I have no choice but to show up." I had never been in court before. It's pretty interesting.

Here it is....the famous photo of me and the judge. I was in the courthouse getting some files and the judge comes up and introduces himself. I say I am Elizabeth Burns with the blog and Coronado fight. It was the day of the original 76-A hearing when I had my old lawyer, Camera Shy. My son asks the judge if he will pose for a photo for the blog. He says yes. Then later he regrets it and says in court that he didn't realize I was that same Elizabeth Burns with that same blog. He suggests that I tricked him and he thought I was a charming lady taking my kids to the courthouse for a school field trip. So many Elizabeth Burns with blogs in Jim Wells County so it's logical he would not know I was that Elizabeth Burns. Let me clarify that I do not know the judge personally. He was the Alice municipal judge about 12 years ago and once he let me off a speeding ticket. That's my only contact with this judge prior to this photo. We aren't having an affair although we do make a handsome couple, don't you think?

I wasn't in the court room for the hearing that day. From the transcripts, he seems very distressed to think there is a photo of the two of us floating around. He keeps bringing it up in the hearing. You have to read the whole transcript to appreciate the photo drama. It's hilarious.

HERE ARE THE TRANSCRIPTS

This is a lazy judge who doesn't want to spend time understanding complicated cases. So, he rules for oil companies. In doing so, he created a huge public safety issue. The oil companies put this stuff in front of the judge. Ultimately, he's the one who signed the orders and should be held accountable. It's just a matter of time before there is a huge catastrophe and loss of human life in that Kelsey oilfield. When that does happen - this judge should be the fall guy.

Here are the other court filings on this protective order.

Oil company motion for the protective order

CLICK TO VIEW

My attorney's brief filed against it

CLICK TO VIEW

Life Is Cheap - $140.

Big Oil Jr.'s Cousin invited me to breakfast this morning. He had his worker, Chayo, with him. Chayo hails from Reynosa, Mexico. They had to drop off a truck for service here in town. Chayo said Reynosa is a war zone. Everyone has gone crazy and his own brother is now a killer. When I heard this, I didn't believe it. I know the brother. His name is Hermán. He's a silversmith and makes really cool belt buckles. I was wearing one of his buckles at that very moment. Hermán is a peaceful artsy individual. (was?)

Chayo swore it was true, "Yes, he's working for the cartel now. He's a hitman. I asked him why he was killing people and he said he had to. If he doesn't work for them they will kill him, his wife and his kids. So he works for them and he gets $140 per killing. It's a fact."

I glanced over at Big Oil Jr.'s Cousin. He was nodding vigorously. "Yea, and it's supposed to be 90 day terms and sometimes they don't pay him for five or six months. He's got to hound the cartel for his $140."

I was disturbed. Reynosa is about five miles from where I was sitting. It must be bad if people like Hermán were killing. He is (was?) a good person. I didn't want to hear anymore bad stuff. Big Oil Jr.'s Cousin was more appalled by the failure of the cartel to meet the 90 day terms obligation than the fact that Hermán had been transformed into a cartel killer.

Throughout this breakfast conversation absuridity, I'm responding to emails on my Iphone from The Mustache about an agreed injunction to end the polyline lawsuit. I wrote an agreement up, signed it and sent it.

CLICK TO VIEW

Coronado accepted the offer. During breakfast, I'm finalizing that and listening to Big Oil Jr.'s Cousin and Chayo. The news that Hermán is now a sicario upsets me greatly. I am wearing a belt buckle fashioned by a killer. A killer who only gets paid $140 a head on 9o day terms. I'm contemplating my belt buckle and possible bad karma implications. Meanwhile, The Mustache is emailing about an injunction where the identity and the locations I am enjoined from are completely unknown to me. Sure, I'll agree to that. Why not? I need to get out of Judge Terrell's courtroom.

I finished my plate of migas. I looked at Big Oil Jr.'s Cousin and Chayo. I glanced at the email from The Mustache on my Iphone. It seemed unreal. I wish it was it was unreal. I long for simpler times. I bid Big Oil Jr.'s Cousin and Chayo a good day and left. I got back to the house, took off my belt made by a killer. (It's silver and gold and has a real diamond for a moon.) I sat down at my computer, and ironed out the final details on the agreed injunction and settled the polyline lawsuit. It doesn't change anything fundamental. The bitter battle will continue outside Judge Terrell's courtroom. El Paso Corp and ExxonMobil missed an opportunity for any kind of peace. The agreement is done but the issues remain. In fact, they have only intensified.

El Paso Corporation's Ticking Time Bomb

I made my own movie about the latest fire on the ranch! El Paso Corporation (EP) has been operating on the McGill Ranch since 1959 as Coastal and then Gulfterra. Coronado is just the latest EP subsidiary out here. We have several of their big transmission corridors with multiple pipes in them on the ranch. And, what's the problem with that? Well, the big lines are all tangled up in this old oilfield stuff and no one knows where the old pipes are that are leaking and crossing the big FERC transmission lines. Then you have the chaos of the new drilling without any proper state registration of the Tier 2 sites. It's a huge fire hazard. If one of Coronado's tanks blows up in a wild fire, it can shake these old lines up and they can rupture. Some are 30 inch diameter lines with the next shut off in McCook. We would all have to sit and wait for the gas to burn off.

Even worse, many of these old lines were originally installed "below plow depth" in the 50's and 60's but have risen to 4-6 inches below the surface in many spots. It's all sand on the ranch. When Fish and Wildlife and the Forest Service came to fight this week's fire, they brought in dozers and tractors and disks. Off they went into fields to make back burn breaks. In this last fire, it was 2000 acres between the main transmission corridors. The main transmission corridors are mowed - but that won't stop a fire. And, the fire fighters were out there until 11 pm in the dark. They can't see what they are crossing. Had they run a dozer over the transmission line ROW's, we probably would have had a major catastrophe.

Here's a nice lawsuit involving my beloved EP where they hire a company to redo some pipeline in South Texas. The construction company finds nearly 1000 other natural gas pipelines crossing the 68 mile right-of-way that El Paso had no clue existed. This raised the cost of the project from the initial bid. El Paso says, "Too bad, we told you about all the pipelines we had records on. You eat the cost of finding those extra 1000 flowlines."

CLICK TO VIEW THE APPEAL

(With these google docs you can go to File and Print on the google screen and see an easier to read version. I find it hard to read the larger files in the default form)

We have the same old Coastal/Gulfterra stuff on the ranch and all around South Texas. It's pretty scary to think about fire fighters out in the dark with dozers.

El Paso is the largest pipeline operator in the USA with 42,000 miles of DOT lines. That doesn't include any flow lines or these individual leases. Those are just the transmission lines. Now you know the mentality of these folks. It's not very re-assuring, is it?

News Story

The news story featuring Judge Richard Terrell's denial of my request for the fire plan was great. I think Will Ripley did a good job on this one.

Yesterday, I met with Hidalgo County judge elect Ramon Garcia. He's very concerned about the fire situation. I said, "Look at these affidavits - any source of ignition within 120 feet of a flowline presents imminent danger. I mean, you've got fire fighters out there with a fire 120 feet from a flowline. You know if a camera spark presents imminent danger, well, a fire.... that's got to be really dangerous. Look at these transcripts from the February 2010 hearing - geez, they say it's really dangerous for anyone to be in there without proper training. And, look at this stuff about guns in holsters! You've got the constables out on these ranches risking their lives just to carry a gun. However can we secure the border? And the fire plan is a secret! "

He asked what I thought could be done. I said, "Well, it doesn't matter what starts the fire. The fire fighters still need to go into areas with flowlines and wells to fight it. They need to be aware of all these locations. These fires are costing the county a lot of money. Every operator should be required to file the location of this stuff, the emergency contact, and what precautions are necessary. The county needs accurate and up-to-date info to keep the fire fighters out of harms way and to help prevent and respond to these costly fires." So he picked up the phone, made some calls and found out that the county spent more than a million dollars on the Burns Ranch fire of 2008 (and that they were not re-imbursed by FEMA). YIKES.

Then, I was sure to point how how El Paso has gypped the county with their affiliate transactions on the Ad Valorem taxes. "So, they don't pay their share of taxes and then the taxpayers have to pick up the bill to fight fires on ranches where they have no training because they don't have the money in their budget."

Mr. Garcia is an attorney and he's fought with El Paso a bunch. He has a 1977 internal El Paso memo (I think it was Coastal at that time) calling Hidalgo County residents "mostly illiterate Mexicans." I told him to give it to me for the blog. He's sending someone to get it out of storage today. For The Mustache, fire fighters are nothing but a bunch of disposal illiterate Mexicans around here. The fire issue is a political goldmine and nothing but good can come out of it. It's an issue that everyone can understand. There is just no reason for a fire plan to be confidential from the actual fire fighters who risk their lives. The only explanation is that there really is no fire plan. Safety and training cost money. El Paso is not going to spend that money. They have insurance on their stuff.

Next, I'm meeting with the Brooks County judge. Judge Terrell is the district judge - not the county judge.

Denied

Of course, the judge denied my motion to compel the fire plan. He was so angry that I even made such a request. Big Oil was the one that told me to get the judge pissed off - so that I would have reversible errors. It really works. Big Oil knows this because he's a Big Oil attorney and the company is usually the defendant. The defendant always wants reversible errors. I think I have so many now, I don't need any more. But, I'm going to go for a record. The judge is really perfect because he's not likable and he's making these horrible decisions that effect the whole region. The land isn't even in Jim Wells County. The judge is a great place to focus community hostility. There's going to be a big story about the latest Burns Ranch fire and the judge's latest ruling tonight at 6 pm on channel 5 in the Rio Grande Valley. I'll post it on the blog in the morning.

I talked with Jerry Patterson (Texas land commish) en route to the courthouse. He said to say, "An emergency plan that is confidential is by definition non functional. The whole point of having an emergency response plan is to have as many people as possible know about it in advance. That is why it is called a plan."

Honestly, I just go to the courthouse to lose. I'm not saying that in a "sour grapes" way. I just make the request on the record and have it denied on the record. I think it's so valuable to have things on the court record because it demonstrates the absurdity of the whole system. Going pro se makes it a given that the judge won't think twice. It's nothing to set him up like that. I get to showcase the absolute arrogance of El Paso Exploration and Production. We all know they have no fire plan or safety plan. They have insurance for their stuff. They don't care if someones property is ruined or a fire fighter gets hurt. No skin off their back.

Unfortunately for Coronado, after yesterdays fire, The General Land Office, The US Fish and Wildlife, Forest Service and every local county judge is aware of the situation. So, they are going to put a lot of pressure on El Paso E&P. They aren't going to back off because these fires are costing the state mucho dinero.

The next hearing is for Coronado's 3rd motion for protective order to deem even more stuff trade secret and confidential. Looking forward to that.

All Hell Breaking Loose!

3:30 PM The US Fish and Wildlife and Texas Forest Service and some regional fire coordinator arrived on the scene about 90 minutes ago. They were PISSED to see all the tank batteries that the state had no record of because Coronado didn't register them. Bad. Bad. Bad. It's the law that you have to have that info available for the regional fire response team. They have bulldozers and they said, "Who owns these tank batteries." My husband said, "We have no contact info - just lawyers. The location and everything has been deemed confidential. We have no clue what to do." And, then he gave them Jim Cohn's phone # because that's all we have. He didn't show up. And there are two news crews from Corpus and McAllen. It's absolute chaos. Can't wait for my hearing tomorrow. Here are some of my exhibits.

CLICK TO VIEW

There are more than 50 fire trucks from all around the region on the scene and over 100 fire-fighters from Orange Grove, Pharr, Starr County, Alice, Mission, Palmview, Hidalgo County.... A tractor hit some of the polylines and got tangled up while trying to disk a back burn. It's just a nightmare. My husband is there filming it and taking a lot of photos. I'll get them later for the blog. This was all preventable. This is all Judge Richard Terrell's doing. He never should have granted Coronado's injunctions.

Here's a bunch of emails to El Paso E&P for some instructions about what to do when there is a fire. They refused to give any info. Just filed for protective orders. This is why we moved from the ranch. It had nothing to do with drug cartels. It's because we knew that there would be another Burns Ranch fire and we didn't want to burn up. They have no fire plan. Today that was clear.

CLICK TO VIEW

Breaking News - Ranch Is On Fire

Tomorrow is my hearing for some instructions from Coronado about what to do in a fire. Unfortunately, we didn't have the hearing soon enough. The ranch caught on fire and is currently burning out of control. I am in town, my husband headed out that way. Apparently a truck caught on fire and it spread. Here's the motion.

CLICK TO VIEW

As you know, Coronado got a protective order claiming that the location of all pipelines and hazards and fire response plan was a trade secret. The lovely judge Terrell granted this motion without a single bit of evidence. So, we don't even have an emergency contact # to call. Volunteer fire fighters are coming in with tractors to disk. We just hope no one hits anything like the last time (pictured above). Just keep your fingers crossed that no one gets hurt.

I sent this email to The Mustache and El Paso. It's all I can do. We have no emergency response instructions for what to do and it's on their JV.

Dear El Paso
Please contact your people with the Fire Dept. Your acreage is on fire. Volunteer fire fighters at the ranch and more are coming with tractors. Do they have the emergency response plan and do they no location of the lines. Someone is going to get hurt. Please make sure they have maps so no one hits anything. Be aware that we have no maps - coronado got a protective order.
Elizabeth Burns

The Thing About Steers

My husband says, "The good thing about steers is that you don't work them. You let them out in the pasture and round them up six months later and sell them. The money you make on steers is the weight gain." Cattle Baron only runs steers.

My husband has always run a cow-calf operation. This is a photo of my kids when they were six and four-years-old. They would come down to the ranch and work cattle with their dad. What's a cow-calf operation? That's when you have a few bulls, a bunch of mama cows and you breed and sell calves when they weigh a certain amount. There is a lot of rounding up involved.

When you have a cow-calf operation, you put the bulls out. Then you have to catch the cows and palpate them to see if they are pregnant. Then, you have to separate the bred cows from the non-bred. Decide which ones you want to rebreed and which ones you want to sell. When the calves are born, you have to catch them, separate them from their mothers, vaccinate the calves. Let them out. Wait awhile, catch them again, vaccinate, select which you want to use for restocking and which you want to sell. Rounding up involves horses. The more bodies on horses, the better. My kids, even when they were very young, would get out and work on horseback. They just had to sit on a horse in a corner of the pasture. During the last drought in 2007, my husband sold all the cattle in the cow-calf op. That's why we have been without cattle until now. Now, we have had a lot of rain and we have grass. Time to bring in some cows. Since we had to move, he leased to Cattle Baron.

I asked my husband, "Why did you have a cow-calf operation all these years and not steers? Running steers seems so much easier."

His reply, "Well, somebody has to. That's just what we had always done."

I think it's sad that my kids can't live on the ranch like we used to before Coronado's injunctions. We will still drive out and fly around with Cattle Baron sometimes. However, it's not the same as being able to live there and having your own cattle op.