DISH, Texas Mayor Calvin Tillman Visits Binghamton – Marcellus Drilling News was There

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This will necessarily be a long article. As a regular reader of Marcellus Drilling News, you have come to expect brief articles highlighting information useful for landowners and other interested parties in the Marcellus Drilling debate. Last night, your faithful scribe attended a local meeting in Binghamton, NY at Binghamton’s East Middle School, to hear DISH, Texas Mayor Calvin Tillman and his views on natural gas drilling. I went with an open mind to evaluate whether Mr. Tillman and the other speaker of the evening—lawyer Helen Slottje from Ithaca—would present information that would challenge my views that drilling can be done safely when it’s done right.

I would say it’s a fair statement that if you went to the meeting as a supporter of drilling, or as an opponent, your view was not changed by the presentations. I attended on behalf of the average landowner, even though I do not have land for lease in the Marcellus myself. I tried to be your eyes and ears at the meeting. Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with, nor compensated by, anyone in the drilling debate on either side of the debate. I’m just an interested blogger and advocate for landowners and the rights of private property owners.

This is an account of what happened last night…

Upon arriving, parking was an issue. There were a lot of people pulling in for the meeting, and finding a spot was a challenge. I arrived about 15 minutes before the meeting was to start—which was supposed to be 7 pm. It didn’t get started until 7:20 pm. When I walked through the door, there were several tables set up and a nice woman asked me to register, which I dutifully did. I also accepted several pieces of anti-drilling literature from her. She was from the Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition (BRSC), an anti-drilling group that organized and sponsored last night’s meeting. No worries. I was not there to make trouble—just to observe and record.

I found a seat part of the way back in the large school auditorium, on the isle so I could snap a few pictures. As I sat there and people were coming in, I noticed some calling out to others, old friends and comrades in arms in the great fight against drilling. It was kind of like a church service, or maybe a country auction, where people spot their friends and wave them over to sit with them. I would estimate there were a good 250 people in attendance. I have to be honest, my impression was there were a lot of gray heads in the audience, quite a few of them men with pony tails (and no hair on top). It seemed to me the audience had a healthy number of 60s hippies who have found a new enemy to fight, and they’re enjoying every minute of it. But not everyone was over 55 in the audience. There were younger members as well, at least a few university students.

To get the evening started, Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan (Democrat), welcomed everyone and said a few brief words. Then came Mayor Ryan’s aide, Tarik Abdelazim, who is Director of Planning, Housing, and Community Development for the City of Binghamton. Mr. Abdelazim was moderator for the evening. A note here: I found it very strange and disturbing that Mayor Ryan and Mr. Abdelazim were the hosts for the evening. Seems to me the Mayor should be impartial in this debate. I have no problem with him attending to listen and gauge the interest of residents and hear differing opinions. Or perhaps to participate in a panel discussion. But Mayor Ryan and Mr. Abdelazim were not there to listen. They were there to cheerlead and support (stoke?) anti-drilling sentiments.

Mr. Abdelazim started with a few introductory comments, including the statement that he’s proud of landowners who have banded together to “fight the wealthiest industry in the world.” Similar comments would be made throughout the evening. What better way to whip up the faithful than use the David vs. Goliath metaphor? After a few more anti-drilling jabs, Mr. Abdelzim introduced DISH, Texas Mayor Calvin Tillman, the star of the evening.

My impression of Mayor Tillman is that he’s a very nice man, and perhaps a good mayor. I’m sure he gets around to shake hands with the townspeople. He likely knows every one of the 181 residents of DISH, renamed from Clark a few years ago when everyone in town got free satellite service from DISH Network—a publicity stunt. Mayor Tillman is certainly no wild-eyed, burned out hippie. He was dressed in a business suite and started his talk by answering the very question I was thinking of: He stated that he paid his own way to come to our area, and he was not being compensated in any way for his talks. That opening statement gave him instant credibility—a savvy move on his part. He earned my respect right up front.

But let’s just say that Mayor Tillman’s PowerPoint presentation was not on par with Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” slide show. Using slides with lots of text and a few pictures, he outlined the number of active wells in and around DISH: 18 wells in the town limits, 50 wells outside of town. He also told us that DISH sits in the nexus of drilling activity in Texas, the very middle of where 11 high pressure natural gas pipelines all converge, each one of them 36” in diameter. By comparison, the Southern Tier of New York has one pipeline—the Millennium Pipeline—and it is 32” in diameter.

DISH sits on top of the Barnett Shale deposit, a “shale play” that’s been drilled for a number of years now—probably the most productive and active shale play in the entire country. Because the Marcellus Shale deposit covers a larger land area than the Barnett, it may one day rival the Barnett in output. But such is not currently the case. It stands to reason if problems of pollution happen because of drilling and associated activities, like the transportation of gas, it’s going to show up in the Barnett. That is exactly what Mayor Tillman says is happening.

Along with the 11 high pressure pipelines in DISH come 11 large compressors that move the gas through the pipelines, and Mayor Tillman says the compressors are loud. Not only loud, but odors emanate from the 25-acre facility where the compressors and pipelines are located, a facility located a few short miles from the town. So Mayor Tillman went looking for help in addressing the noise and smell. He claims he tried working with the energy and pipeline companies to address his concerns, but ultimately they told him there are no problems. At that point, Mayor Tillman allocated 15% of the town’s $70,000 annual budget to have Wolf Eagle Environmental Engineers & Consultants (as referenced on a slide) perform a study of the air quality in and around DISH. What they found surprised Mayor Tillman and the residents of DISH. Wolf found carcinogens and neurotoxins in the air, in sufficient quantities to be considered a health risk for residents. It seemed to me Mayor Tillman was saying the pipeline facility and not the wells themselves were the potential problem—but I’m not sure. He was not clear on that point.

Mayor Tillman decided more research was needed, so he next contracted with the Oil & Gas Accountability Project (OGAP) to survey current and former residents. This survey asked residents questions about their health. OGAP spoke with 31 people from DISH and the resulting report showed some people have had breathing difficulties, dizziness, allergies, nausea and other health problems. Recently, tissue and blood samples were taken from residents but those results have not yet come back—they are expected in a month or so.

It’s at this point Mayor Tillman’s credibility starts to crack with me. I did my own research before going to the meeting and found that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) reviewed the study done by Wolf Eagle and concluded “it is not possible” to draw the conclusions Wolf did in their report—that is, that the pipeline (or wells) are causing air pollution. In essence, the TCEQ says the report by Wolf and the way it was conducted, along with its conclusions, is flawed. Not only that, but Wolf Eagle Environmental Engineers & Consultants was recently forced to remove “Engineers & Consultants” from their name because they did not, and still do not have, a single licensed engineer on staff. It calls into question the credibility of the original study done by Wolf.

As for OGAP’s health study, OGAP according to their own literature considers clean-burning natural gas a “filthy” energy source and is adamantly anti-drilling. Do you detect any potential bias here? Any reason you can think that their survey findings might be a bit skewed? And what about the small sample size of only 31 people? Mayor Tillman points out 31 people in Dish is nearly 20% of the population. But statistically speaking, it’s insignificant. Many of the “symptoms” I saw on Mr. Tillman’s slide from the OGAP study seemed to me common enough that just about anything could be causing it. Survey 31 random people in Broome County and some of them will have been dizzy, nauseous, etc. in the past year or two. Such a conclusion means nothing.

So Mayor Tillman’s slides and his talk were not convincing for me. I saw no direct correlation between the pipeline, nor nearby drilling wells, and what may or may not be happening to the health of some of its citizens. He did not make his case. I’m not saying there are no harmful impacts from drilling—don’t misunderstand! I am saying Mayor Tillman did not offer any concrete evidence—he connected no dots proving cause and effect. Instead, he offered emotional statements of opinion, not factual statements backed up by science. As an example, he showed a slide of a nine year-old DISH resident playing in her family’s backyard, near a well site. So what?! He did not say this young girl had contracted cancer linked to the well nearby, or that her life had in any way been adversely impacted by drilling. His arguments and accompanying slides were aimed at tugging at heart strings—not at convincing the mind, and my mind remained unconvinced.

Mayor Tillman finished his half-hour talk with his personal recommendations on what should be done to protect citizens and the environment should drilling commence—some of them good recommendations that any prudent landowner would embrace. But his sentiment of “should drilling commence” was not embraced by the audience. You could tell most people attending simply want drilling banned, period. For them, there is no safe way to tap the energy beneath us. One audience member shouted out, “Keep the drilling over the border in PA!” That was the general tone from those attending.

During a brief interlude between speakers, a member of the audience (man) strode up to the platform and without permission went on a one-minute rant about how drilling should be banned. He said, “Even the Oneida Indian Nation says so,” and, “We can defeat this, we need to fight it!” and other comments of that type. He was preaching to the faithful and the audience were applauding and hooting and agreeing. It was a bit of an embarrassment for the gentleman from the BRSC who was trying to fill in while technical glitches were worked out for the next speaker. The BRSC man essentially said, “No more of that. We’re here to listen to our speakers, tonight is not the time or place for that.” But it’s my contention this man reflected the prevailing opinion of most who attended. He offered a glimpse into the heart and soul of the anti-drilling movement. I would estimate of the 250 or so in the auditorium, about 90% of them were anti-drilling and perhaps 10% pro-drilling.

The final speaker for the evening was Helen Slottje, a Public Interest Lawyer from Ithaca, NY. Helen had a hard time getting her slides to cooperate, which perhaps rattled her. I found her points to be specious and her comments scattered, some bordering on incoherent. She made broad, general statements about energy companies like Halliburton having no concern for human health. And straw-man arguments about how companies claim there will be “some” accidents, and she then went on a riff about “some accidents” happening to this person or “some accidents” happening to that person, backed up by slides showing children or land that had been despoiled. She was trying to personalize the fight, as she sees it. And in the process, her arguments came off as kindergartenish.

Ms. Slottje did make one argument that needs to be addressed. She maintains that chemicals pumped into the ground will eventually migrate up toward the surface and will contaminate the water aquifer. She offered as evidence that in Texas all 9 major and 20 minor aquifers have some degree of contamination. But I ask, Does every resident in Texas now have to purify their water before they drink it? If they do, why is that not on the evening news every night? And if they don’t, how bad is the “contamination” really? And if the chemicals do migrate, do they also dissipate through all of those layers of rock and soil? Do the chemical become so dissipated as to not be a threat? You see, a little logic has to be applied to tease apart these emotional statements. Truth and solid fact is what is important. Once again, I am not categorically saying there is no problem. I am saying Ms. Slottje did herself and the anti-drilling movement no favors with her substandard presentation.

Ms. Slottje summed up her talk with with a jab at landowners who are in favor of drilling by saying that private property rights “have never granted you the right to harm your neighbor.” So there you have it—if you as a landowner allow drilling on your property, you are doing harm to your neighbors. It is a fallacious argument and being a lawyer, Ms. Slottje should know it.

When the speeches were over, and the Q&A started (you had to fill out and submit your questions on a card in advance), so I left, having had my fill, at about 8:45 pm. On the way out, a young man asked me if I was a reporter. I replied, “Just a humble blogger.” He proceeded to give me a fact sheet. He was from America’s Natural Gas Alliance, and he wanted to be sure the “other side” of the drilling story was told too. I just wanted you to know there were people from the gas industry present to witness the proceedings of the evening.

Bottom line for me: I believe drilling can be done safely and nothing I heard last night changed my opinion. But I also believe in accountability. Trust but verify. If dangerous chemicals get into the air from pipeline facilities and gas wells, and if those chemicals are in quantities that affect people’s health, don’t drill. If chemicals do migrate through the ground in sufficient quantities to be a hazard to water supplies—don’t drill. But what I see is many years of gas drilling in many different locations across the U.S. without these types of environmental catastrophes happening. Common sense and science—not emotion—must govern our decisions. Do you really think companies would wantonly pollute and kill people who are their own neighbors, and even their own families? I don’t. And neither, I suspect, do the majority of average citizens in the Marcellus Shale.

For more details on Mayor Calvin Tillman, consult the following page (which I used for some of my own research and comments above): //www.energyindepth.org/2010/02/seven-questions-for-the-mayor-of-dish/

15 Comments

  1. Mayor Tillman responds the the 7 Questions:
    I thank you for your interest in the happenings in the town of DISH, TX. I would like answer the questions that you have posed below, and would also like to personally invite you to DISH, TX, for a guided tour. I have outlined your seven questions and my answers will appear in bold after the questions. However, I must first start with your opening comments which contains several inaccurate statements.

    First and foremost there has been no “debunking” of the air study performed here in DISH, at least not by anyone who is not getting a check from one of the energy companies. Furthermore, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has validated the findings here in and DISH, and went as far as to write an internal memo highlighting the health effects from this study, showing their concerns for the levels detected. The TCEQ has performed additional air studies in DISH and oddly enough found benzene at elevated levels.

    The second item is your assertion that I do not see the positive effects of the shale plays. Just a couple of years ago the Barnett Shale added 10 billion dollars and 100,000 jobs to the economy for the State of Texas. That is an impact that no one can ignore, and I state this in every presentation that is given on the subject by me. I do not wish to see people lose their jobs, or the owners of the mineral lose their royalty checks. Why can we not make this a win-win situation? What if we could have that economic impact and those jobs, and do it more responsibly and respectfully than we are doing it? Do we have to trade our air quality, water quality and property rights for this economic gain? The answer is no…we do not.

    The next item is that you expect me to back away from my relationship with the Oil and Gas Accountability Project (OGAP). The things that OGAP stands for, and are trying to help reform are: surface owners rights, water quality, and air quality. For some reason I don’t find it too repulsive that someone is trying to keep our water safe to drink, our air safe to breath, and give surface owners in a split estate a little more say so in what happens on their land that they worked hard to purchase. The industry may not like them, because they have had some success getting reasonable regulation in other states. I have not heard of the “filthy form of energy” comment; however; it is clear that the cleanest burning hydrocarbon does not come out of the ground that way. It has to go through a processing facility to remove the liquid hydrocarbons and other impurities. Unfortunately in Texas those contaminants are irresponsibly dumped into the environment. Could you please provide me with a copy of the article the quote was used in? I suspect this might be a story that keeps getting bigger as it passed down through the industry extremists.

    1) Mr. Mayor, your assertion that local natural gas exploration activities have adversely impacted the air quality of your town appears to be entirely founded on a study you commissioned by a group called Wolf Eagle Environmental. Are you aware that TCEQ conducted an internal review of this study and found that “it is not possible” to draw the types of conclusions that appear in that report?

    This statement is completely false. The TCEQ has never publicly said anything even remotely close to this, and any internal review only validated the findings. I will have copies of the internal reviews with me in New York (NY) and will happily provide a copy to you personally should you wish. The TCEQ has done many things to discredit themselves, but even they would not make the above statement.

    2) Mr. Mayor, are you aware that Wolf Eagle Environmental was formerly known as Wolf Eagle Environmental Engineers & Consultants – but was forced to change its name upon it becoming public that the organization did not (and, in fact, still does not) employ an actual licensed professional engineer on staff?

    This matter has been brought up by several industry extremists, who are looking to personally attack a very knowledgeable and credible person. The president of Wolf Eagle has a PhD in Environmental and Civil Engineering, in addition to a Masters in Public Health. She is also far more nationally recognized as an environmental expert that anyone who works for TCEQ, or the oil and gas industry. She is commonly asked to serve on national committees, and came highly recommended from several others who had PhD in their title. The environmental expert for one of the energy companies, isn’t even smart enough to send an email, so we are way ahead of them. I think the industry has tried to vilify her, because she does not work for them, and her studies are honest and valid, and the common person trusts her. Therefore, she poses a threat to the hap-hazard way they are doing business in Texas. Plain and simple, she works for the little guy, the Davids who are facing Goliaths, and the industry views anyone who would help the underdog get justice, as a threat.

    3) Mr. Mayor, is it true that once the Wolf Eagle evaluation was debunked, you accepted an offer from the national Oil & Gas Accountability Project (OGAP) to fund a second study of a similar type? Is it true that OGAP links are found on your town website? Are you aware that OGAP considers clean-burning natural gas a “filthy” energy source, and was in fact established as a means to fight natural gas exploration wherever, whenever and however it takes place?

    Again the Wolf-Eagle air study was not debunked, but rather it was validated through several other studies. Unless you consider the attack from the Railroad Commission of Texas Chairman Victor Carrillo, a real sharp cookie I might add :), who was ready to blame all of our air problems on a tiny airport that stores more high end motor homes than it does airplanes, and houses nothing that would cause the 16 toxins found in DISH. However, the sixteen toxins found here are typically found in oil and gas operations. Maybe he and you should do a little more research before you make fools out of yourselves. However, the real question is regarding my relationship with OGAP, which I will not back away from. A true national hero and MacArthur award winner helped us perform a health assessment on the citizens of DISH, which showed some cause for concern. However, she does this for many small communities around the country; again a genius and a hero. There are several links on the town’s website to help folks gather information on oil and gas issues including OGAP. Not sure why this would be a concern to you, most cities have similar links on their websites as well, if your company was a legitimate source of this information, we might add you as well, but you have a ways to go before you become legitimate. From the statement above, please provide me a source of the tall tale “filthy energy” comment.

    4) Mr. Mayor, have you had the chance to take a look at TCEQ’s recent air quality study of the areas in and around the Barnett Shale? If so, did you note that of the 94 sites tested by TCEQ, 92 registered short-term effects screening levels (ESL) well below anything that would cause “alarm,” according to TCEQ’s toxicology director? Are you also aware that repairs at the remaining two sites tested by TCEQ have already been completed and certified by the agency?

    As a matter of fact I printed the entire 313 page report and have been going through it page by page. Unfortunately, my schedule has not allowed me to complete my report on the document, but I will provide it to you upon completion. If you actually read the document (which I am certain you have not) you will see that the “94 sites”, are counting each individual sample that was taken. Some may have been upwind, while others were downwind, and so forth. Therefore, each facility may have had numerous samples taken. Actually, there were only 44 separate facilities tested and half of those had benzene levels that were above the long term effects screening levels, not to mention the many other harmful toxins that were detected. There have also been reports that these facilities were only producing a third of their potential output, and even in TX, the weather is mild in October and November, so this study is in no way the worse case scenario. Wait till you see the numbers from July or August, they will be much worse. However, if the average person read the entire 313 page report, even though it is likely lower than reality, they would be shocked and realize there is an immediate danger in this area. I will bring the document with me to NY to show anyone who has questions about it.

    5) Mr. Mayor, you testified on numerous occasions that energy operators in your area are responsible for the emission of benzene and other potential contaminants into the air. But did you know that the mere act of filling up your tank with a conventional gas pump (one without a vapor recovery device) could expose you to benzene levels of 11,000 parts per billion (ppb), according to TCEQ — without any ambient air to dilute it? Are you aware that not even the Wolf Eagle study was able to find a single site in your area exceeding 78 ppb?

    It is nice that you recognize the fact that we had some pretty high levels of benzene detected around the natural gas compressor stations. If you are suggesting that the levels detected in DISH do not pose a health risk, I am afraid that you are horribly mistaken, and there is no expert that would agree with that, even the industry extremists wouldn’t make that stretch. I am not sure about the exposure levels of filling up my car with gas. However, as you mentioned there are vapor recovery devices to help minimize the exposure, and I would like to see that same vapor recovery technology used on emission sources in the oil and gas industry. I am glad you have highlighted the importance of vapor recovery and hope your suggestion helps in making that technology mandatory. This technology actually saves both money and this precious resource, and cuts up to 95% of the emissions produced by these sites. Why don’t we use this simple and effective technology? Please note that the benzene levels are constant here, not just once for two minutes every couple of weeks, it is here 24/7. Also, the long term effects screening level for benzene is 1.4 ppbv, and therefore we detected over 50 times that level on residential properties where children reside. Would you want your children exposed to this 24/7?

    6) Mr. Mayor, are you aware that according to EPA, “oil and natural gas production contributes only 2% of the total benzene emissions in the U.S., and shale gas represents a very small subset of this 2%”?

    I have heard similar statements before, and do not wish to dispute this, because I am sure that other industries also pollute their neighborhoods. Unfortunately, for the citizens of DISH, part of that 2% is right here. It does however appear that this is one of those statistics that was carefully extracted from a larger report. Have you by chance read the report that this was extracted from? Please provide me with this report, and know that it may be changing because the EPA has been to DISH a couple of times.

    7) Mr. Mayor, did you know that energy exploration is responsible for directly employing more than 200,000 people in your state? Accounts for the payment of more than $44 million in royalties and rents to landowners every year? And sends more than $4 billion each year to your treasury, representing nearly seven percent of your entire budget? Here in Upstate New York, we aren’t trying to be the next Texas – but can you understand how the availability of even a fraction of these new resources could help revive and strengthen our economy?

    Yes, I am well aware of the economic impact that the Barnett Shale has had in TX. Actually, as I have stated the numbers you are quoting are a low estimation. However, I consistently give the industry credit in that area, and do not wish to see people or the state lose those jobs. Frankly, there are many who work in this industry that I personally like. However, we can do this better that the way they are doing it in TX. If NY can get ahead of this, and get reasonable regulations in place, there is a possibility that you can get the great economic impact without destroying the land, air and water in the process. I am not going to NY to talk anyone out of drilling, but rather to inform them of what has happened here and give them some ideas as they move forward. Hopefully, they will make the decision knowing the whole story, not the industry version of the “gold rush”. My goal is to let them make the decision with their eyes wide open, not eyes wide shut. What happened here does not have to happen in NY. You could get a win-win situation, let’s give it a try anyway.
    I hope that this helps you in answering many of the questions you have posed. If not I could further clarify. And although I do not use words like sanguine, my knowledge level on shale gas far outweighs most of those who work in the industry, including yourself. It certainly appears that rather that perform valid research, you are simply regurgitating the personal attacks that I have become accustomed to from this industry. I truly hope that when the benzene clears, that we will all be better off for this. I hope that the people of NY can reach the full benefits of the Marcellus Shale without the extreme side effects. I also hope that these simple measures will be mandated in Texas as well. It can be done; however, this industry must quit stating what good neighbors they are and start acting it

    Calvin Tillman
    Mayor, DISH, TX
    (940) 453-3640
    “Those who say it can not be done, should get out o

  2. Thank you “truthwinsout” for posting Mayor Tillman’s responses to the questions posed by energyindepth.org. If I had known of his responses, I would have posted them myself as part of this story. Which does not negate my own impressions, which was the purpose of this story. I will read through his responses. They do seem thoughtful and helpful. It would have been nice, however, if he had addressed these items in his talk.

  3. Tillman moved to Texas about 5 years ago from Louisiana to the hamlet of Dish in east Texas.
    Dish originaly Clark did not exist until Barnet
    gas came to town. The state regulatory commission
    [called the Railroad Commission], found his claims to unsupportable.

  4. Come to Gardendale, TX. doctors, lawyers, small business owners, retired university presidents, people that make their living in the oil business (and that are putting themselves at financial risk), boot shop owners and many retired middle class folks are engaged in a great struggle to prevent drilling within a few feet from homes! There is a reason that the O&G industry is losing the PR battle. Come to Gardendale and look for the hippies in the group. You won’t find them.
    Dan Boggs
    Gardendale, TX
    fb page ‘Gardendale Citizens for Land Equity’

  5. The fact that all aquifers in Texas now have some level of contamination is very bothering. I guess people don’t realize that life can exist without oil and gas but it cannot without fresh, clean water. To think that we are risking the long-term viability of the world’s most precious resource for short term gain is troubling. There will be a world war for water eventually as populations grow and water sources shrink. People in countries without plentiful fresh water are likely wondering what the hell we’re doing here. I realize that development of these resources must happen if we are to be able to meet our nation’s energy demands, but it cannot be done at the cost of fresh water. I’m just a college student with concerns, and i, like everyone else, know that there is no second chance with water aquifers. Once they’re ruined, they’re ruined.