Open Letter from Helpless Mayor

***MUST READ FACTS FOR PEOPLE ATOP THE MARCELLUS SHALE***

From Calvin Tillman, Mayor of DISH, Texas
I continue to bring up the negative illustrations of the impact the numerous pipelines, compressors and metering stations which have forced themselves upon our small community. In fighting the last four years, it has been a hope of mine that at some point the assault on our rights would stop. However, it is becoming more and more apparent that the blows from this industry will continue. Many of you have seen the massive compressors, metering stations and pipelines that we have here. If you could have seen this area five years ago, the footprint was very small. Unfortunately, this sight grows more and more every day. Atmos Energy decided to put their facility here, and unfortunately for us, if you want to sell natural gas to Atmos, you are going to bring it here. Atmos really started this mess, as some describe, they were the camel's nose in the tent, and from there it exploded and has destroyed the better part of 70 acres of good land. However, it appears as though it is only the beginning, as there is more on the way.

When one of these companies come sniffing around, they too just stick their nose in the tent, and send there paid liars to tell you that a small facility is all it is going to be...and then you hear the rest of the story much later. They tell you that there will be a facility that you will hardly even notice such as Crosstex energy told us a year and a half ago. They tell us that there will only be a small building, that houses a small compressor, and if that was the end, it wouldn't have been bad. However, now they want to put in some other gas processing equipment that has a couple of tanks that are forty feet high...yes forty feet! So once again the Town of DISH, gets kicked, and they won't even let us get up. Once they get through with their continued assault, there will be one of the other companies coming to share the bad news of their expansion. It seems as though there is little we can do to stop constant violation of our civil rights. How is it that a for profit company, can decide that we here in DISH are the ones whose property becomes worthless? How is it that our peace and quiet here in DISH is destroyed, for the greater good? How is is that we have to deal with natural gas releases in the middle of the night during a lightning storm (which sound like a jet engine at full throttle)? I foolishly thought that we had protections from these assaults, left to us by the founding fathers of this great nation. I don't recall the story in the history books that told of the for profit company, who could destroy your way of life, you property rights, and quite possible your health, as many of you know better than me. I was not a great student, but I did manage to stay awake in history, how could I have missed this?

It has now become clear that "enough is enough", is not a theory these companies believe in. They somehow have been given the power to violate the common people's rights, and have taken it so far as to believe that they are justified in doing so. I wonder from time to time how they sleep at night? What do they tell there families when they go home at night? Do they tell them that they swindled someone out of there land? How bout the person that lost there retirement which they invested in the property that they threatened into signing over to them? Do they tell their families those stories? More likely, they tell them what good neighbors their prospective companies are, or better yet they tell the story of the great product, and how nice it feels on a cold morning, when that clean natural gas fires up. . Clean natural gas? Come look at the by-products of that clean natural gas here in DISH and judge for yourself. As always, I will do everything I can do, to soften the blow for the citizens here, but it will not be enough. It won't be long before every camel has their entire body in the tent at our expense. As always, please share this with whoever might be interested.
..
Calvin Tillman
Mayor, DISH, TX
(940) 453-3640

This letter was originally published earlier today on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

In a followup post, Anonymous said...

This is such a compelling and tragic story- or, I should say, continuing story about what is happening in Dish. I am going to pass this along to family and friends in Bradford County, PA, where Cabot, Chesapeake, and other gas companies are just getting started on the destruction of that area. I really pray that the people of the Marcellus Shale will listen to the people of the Barnett Shale. But it is not looking good for that hope.