Things to do today
October 4
Register to vote.
October 5
Go to the GIS viewer of the Texas Railroad Commission. Zoom in on your neighborhood. Create a map with at least a quarter-mile to half-mile radius around your home. Note all pipelines and wells nearby. Print the map. Walk or ride bicycle around your neighborhood — don’t drive — because the ABCAlliance urges you to observe the equipment with all your senses. If so inclined, take a picture or video and send it to the alliance with a thorough description of your observations.
October 6
Go to the Oil and Gas Accountability website and click through to the publication “Oil & Gas At Your Door.” Look for descriptions of the equipment and operations that match what you see in your neighborhood. Read about them and become familiar with their purposes.
October 7
Watch this informative video from the Endocrine Disruption Exchange on what you need to know about natural gas drilling.
October 8
Go to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s sampling page for Denton County. Note the many instances where investigators were asked to investigate odors in our community, or at similar facilities in other communities (Dish and Flower Mound.)
October 9
Get familiar with Drill Right Texas, recommendations from the Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project how to minimize the negative effects of oil and gas drilling in Texas.
October 10
Sunday. Day of rest.
October 11
Write an old-fashioned letter to U.S. Congressman Michael Burgess, and encourage him to sponsor the “Frack Act”. Or send word to him online, by clicking through here.
October 12
Attend Argyle Town Council meeting.
October 13
Attend Texas OGAP’s public meeting in Dish
October 14
Install carbon monoxide detectors
October 15
Consult Safe Shopper’s Bible and begin phasing out unsafe products in your home
October 16
Start getting rid of questionable products in your home and garage to avoid unnecessary exposures
Check here for the next hazardous household waste disposal event
October 17
Sunday. Day of rest.
October 18
Attend Argyle ISD board of trustees meeting
October 19
Learn the lyrics to “Devil in the Well” so you can sing along on Saturday night
October 21
Attend Bartonville Town Council meeting
October 22
Reset thermostat to 68 degrees for winter heating
October 23
Attend the Bartonville Music Festival
Bartonville Town Center
Sponsored by ABCAlliance
October 24
Sunday. Day of rest.
October 25
Have you voted yet?
Early voting locations
October 26
“Gasland”
Lander’s Machine Shop Art Gallery
217 E. Broadway, Fort Worth
6:30 p.m. reception
7 p.m. screening, followed by Q&A with filmmaker Josh Fox and Dish Mayor Calvin Tillman
October 27
“Gasland”
Celebrations
2380 FM407, Highland Village
7 p.m. screening, followed by Q&A with filmmaker Josh Fox and Dish Mayor Calvin Tillman
October 28
Have you voted yet?
Early voting locations
October 29
“Gasland”
Angelika Film Center
5321 E. Mockingbird, Suite 230, Dallas
7:15 screening, followed by Q&A with filmmaker Josh Fox
October 30
Read “Behind the Shale,” a five-part series in the Denton Record-Chronicle that features Argyle-area families. Originally published in December 2008, it was awarded first place for Outstanding Small-Market Reporting in 2009 by the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Part 1: Eminent Dominance
Part 2: Perils Afoot
Part 3: Culture Clash
Part 4: Voicing the Silence
Part 5: Neighborhood Metamorphosis
October 31
All Hallow’s Eve. Day of rest.
November 1
Best wishes to the Argyle High School Marching Band
November 3
Write a note of congratulations to your state representative. Remind them that Tuesday’s election was not a referendum on current regulations for natural gas drilling and that the coming legislative session requires real, substantive progress in protecting property values and the health and safety of our communities.
November 4
Write the same note to your state senator.
November 5
Write the same note to your Congressman, except ask them to support the Frack Act.
November 6
Daylight savings ends. Change the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detector.
November 7
Sunday. Day of Rest.
November 8
Attend a town hall meeting and learn more about the sunset review of TCEQ and the Texas Railroad Commission, 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., Sheraton Arlington Hotel, 1500 Convention Center Dr. More information here about the rare opportunity for a direct dialogue with public officials.
November 10
Read this primer about air pollution on the Downwinders At Risk website. (And, let’s hope it doesn’t take us 30 years to effect change.)
November 11
Read SB 102, relating to allocation of certain money in the Texas emissions reduction plan to fund air quality monitoring activities.
November 12
Read SB 103, relating to the installation, maintenance, operation, and relocation of wastewater pipeline facilities
November 13
Read SB 104, relating to restrictions on the release into the air of natural gas and associated vapors from a gas well.
November 14
Sunday. Day of Rest.
November 15
Read SB 105, Relating to a restriction on the formation in which certain commercial disposal wells permitted by the Railroad Commission of Texas may inject oil and gas waste.
November 16
Attend Bartonville Town Council meeting and tell them how important water quality is to you.
November 17
Read SB 106, Relating to condemnation of municipal property for, and municipal regulation of, pipeline operations.
November 18
Read SB 107, Relating to the detection and repair of natural gas pipeline leakages.
November 19-20
Watch for news stories on the People’s Oil and Gas Summit in Pittsburgh, which will include people from Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project
November 21
Sunday. Day of Rest.
