With regards to the EPA, Chocolate Carter appointed a fucking joke of a human being named Al Armendariz to head our region (Region 6). This piece of shit has made quite a name for himself for his inability to come to conclusions based on scientific reality. His behavior in the Range case in Parker County, Texas is no exception.
I can't link to Colleen Schreiber's outstanding piece in Livestock Weekly this week because it's subscription only, but it absolutely shreds this shrieking fucking horseshit that tends to surround the issue:
John Riley, attorney with Vinson & Elkins LLP, started off [The Texas Railroad Commission Panel] with more discussion on the legal issues. Referring back to the EPA emergency order, he played part of a news clip of Alfredo "Al" Armendariz, EPA regional administrator for Region 6, a 2009 Obama appointee, who initiated the order.
In that clip Armendariz made a firm statement about how the EPA had proven that an emergency order needed to be issued. He talked about his personal enforcement philosophy being like that of the Romans, where you crucify the first five people you see, and then after that the town pretty well behaves.
"I've spent 28 years practicing law,' Riley said. "Fifteen of those years were in some form of governmental enforcement, and I've never heard of anyone in that entire time, even the most zealous prosecutors in the DAs office, express themselves in such an irresponsible fashion.".............
Riley also showed a copy of an e-mail from EPA's Armendariz sent to colleagues in the environmental community, including the Environmental Defense Fund, WildEarth Guardians Public Citizen and Environmental Integrity Project, informing them that "we're about to make a lot of news." The e-mail was sent less than 30 minutes after Range was informed of the emergency order. In fact, EPA had already given news interviews and written a press release before Range was even alerted about the order.
Range won a discovery dispute in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. EPA was ordered to appear for deposition. In wrapping up his comments, Riley offered a list of what he termed "key admissions" by the EPA during that deposition. First, EPA admitted that they performed no evaluation of the geology of the area and other potential sources such as the Strawn formation, a much shallower, natural gas-producing stratum. They also admitted to ignoring their own experts, both internal and external, with respect to opinions pertaining to the limited isotopic analyses.
"Their fundamental position is that there wasn't gas in the wells until Range began its operation, so it must be that Range caused it, because after they began production, gas was found in those wells," Riley said.
The most "shocking" admission that came during the EPA deposition, he continued, was that the EPA personnel admitted that the administrative record submitted to the Fifth Circuit was incomplete. The EPA, Riley said, "cherry picked" the record submitted. For example, they failed to submit information which clearly showed that domestic water wells in the area were known to be flaring gas as far back as 2005.
Dr. Charles Kreitler, a hydrogeologist with Austin-based LBG-Guyton Associates, was brought in on the case in mid-December 2010. He followed up with still more details, calling it a "fascinating case" but definitely a "Chicken Little and the sky is falling type of issue."
