Texas Family Awarded $2.9 Million In Fracking Lawsuit

New submitter martinQblank writes "CNN reports: A Texas family whose home was within a two-mile radius of 22 natural gas wells — one of which was less than 800 feet away — has been awarded $2.9 million by a jury. The family, who suffered from a variety of ailments (including nosebleeds, rashes, migraines and more), was advised by a doctor to leave their ranch immediately and see a physician specializing in environmental health. The defendant in the case, Aruba Petroleum, disagreed with the jury's decision, as did other attorneys who are familiar with the energy sector — calling in a 'knee-jerk' reaction. Additionally the company noted that they had complied with all applicable environmental regulations. The family itself? Still in favor of oil and natural gas extraction: 'We are not anti-fracking or anti-drilling. My goodness, we live in Texas. Keep it in the pipes, and if you have a leak or spill, report it and be respectful to your neighbors. If you are going to put this stuff in close proximity to homes, be respectful and careful.'"

Comments

Um yeah

[Whatsmynickname]

We are not anti-fracking or anti-drilling. My goodness, we live in Texas.

Yeah, we love fracking! Now give us the 2.9 million dollars...

Re:Um yeah

[LifesABeach]

One need only stand down wind to become more aware.

Re:Um yeah

[quenda]

Yeah, we love fracking! Now give us the 2.9 million dollars...

Lawsuit money that is. Green Gold. Texas tea.

Well the first thing you know ol Bob's a millionaire,
Doctors said "Bob move away from there"
Said "Californy is the place you ought to be"
So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.

Hills that is. Swimmin' pools, clean air.

Re:Um yeah

[jedidiah]

It sounds like the oil company permanently deprived them of their home. If it is some large ranch, the total value of the land could be non-trivial. Even the value of a large home in the city can creep up near the 1 Million dollar range.

If that land was providing income then there are direct economic damages that a few million might adequately cover.

That's not even getting into medical bills or permanent harm to several people. All of that could also have lingering economic consequences.

Re:Um yeah

[sjames]

You sir appear to be a fracking idiot.

Re:Um yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

I live right here among it all, and there are a lot of people who are going to get rich, and for every person getting rich, there are a 1000 who will get paid $80,000 to $100,000 per year as a fracker (aka labor) which is a good wage, but for every fracker, there are 10,000 who will have to keep on living here once the fracking industry pulls out. Leaving us with a junked up infrastructure. Roads all torn up, you wonder every time you pull water from your well, whether it's tainted, every time a new comer (to stay and live here) drills a new well, we tell them "maybe it'll be fine" , or they can go through expensive testing on a regular basis.

Then there are those who are gone. Big Rig Tractor Trailer traffice has risen by several thousand percent. And the accidents have also. Cops try and hand out tickets, to slow things down, but you get a guy behind the wheel of a 100,000 lb monster, who hasn't slept in 30 plus hours ....my neighbor lost his wife, when they were run down in their suv....

The benefits are great for some.

Complying with all regulations is no excuse

[Anonymous Coward]

You're still responsible for the damage you cause, even if it's accidental. Your action, your responsibility.

Re:Complying with all regulations is no excuse

[fermion]

As much as complaints we here over regulation and government interference, modern business depends on it. For instance, the Keystone XL pipeline, or really any big project, would not be able to completed at reasonable costs without the governments ability to take land from private citizens. We also have seen that as long as car company complies with regulation, they can kill 13 people with impunity. A chicken processor can poison hundreds of people as long as they follow regulations. About the only thing a person can do is sue. This is why conservatives hate the courts so much.

The award is appropriate

[Anonymous Coward]

The $2.9 million, minus attorney fees, costs, and taxes, might be just enough to compensate the family for their loss. Keep in mind that if any family members develop cancer or some other ailment later in life as a result of the company's irresponsibility, then that will probably be covered under this award as well.

If it had been an order of magnitude larger, then we could talk about "knee jerk".

Congrats on complying with applicable regulations

[penguinoid]

But why is fracking exempt from the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act?

Re:Congrats on complying with applicable regulatio

[Nimey]

Regulatory capture.

My knee jerk reaction

[towermac]

Was OMG the libs have penetrated Texas..

Then I gave it a bit more thought and got over myself. The point of a judgement like this, is that it's supposed to sting. It's a whole lot of money for doctor's bills, but not a whole lot of money if the intent is to punish. It's enough though, that I think Aruba (and others) will take notice. Not very many businesses can write a $2.9M check and walk it off in an afternoon.

But first, I don't see any real evil here. The ground around a working oil well is a messy place. You can't help but spill a little, and there's no malfeasance necessary to occasionally spill a lot (what you and I would call a lot). Every time I get gas, at least one drop hits the pavement, no matter how hard I try to tap it off. I totally believe Aruba when they say they did everything they were supposed to do.

I just think that what they are supposed to do, is probably fine for a well out in the middle of a field, but not good enough for a well in a neighborhood. Texas society, acting through their civil court, has pulled somewhat ahead of their regulations and legislation. And one has to think that eventually society will want wells to be cleaner even when they are out in the middle of nowhere.

So, if I am going to be all small government conservative, and pull for states and local folks to take more control of their lives from the mean old federal government, then I need to get my head right, and totally support this judgment. That means encouraging the oil companies to pay up and clean up, and pull themselves ahead of where they are, and catch up to where Texans now want them to be. They've moved the goalposts on you Aruba, but they have that right. And Texas, please continue to give my my under $4 a gallon gas, but don't poison your state and people while doing so. Thank you very much. :)

Re:mystery ailments

[MightyMartian]

Shut up and drink some oil, you commie greentard. The fossil fuel extraction industry is a fucking god, so bow down and take what they give you!

Re:mystery ailments

[mysidia]

They have common health problems

Oh really? Which problem are you saying is common? Having 20 toxic chemicals found in your body?

"By 2009, I was having a multitude of problems," Lisa Parr told CNN. "My central nervous system was messed up. I couldn't hear, and my vision was messed up. My entire body would shake inside. I was vomiting white foam in the mornings."
...

In 2009, Lisa's husband, Robert, and their 11-year-old daughter, Emma, also became ill, suffering a laundry-list of symptoms.

"They had nosebleeds, vision problems, nausea, rashes, blood pressure issues. Being that the wells were not on our property, we had no idea that what they were doing on the property around us was affecting us," she said.

"One night, our whole house was vibrating and shaking. We lease that property for our cattle and so I went over there to make sure our cattle wasn't around there, and when I went over there my nose and throat started burning." . ...

Parr called the state Commission on Environmental Quality.

"My doctor, an internal specialist, found 20 chemicals in my body and he said, 'Lisa you must move immediately. You will spend more time and money on hospitals, chemotherapy, and a mortician ... and you need to get an environmental health doctor immediately,' " she said.

The Parrs filed suit in March 2011, asking for $66 million in damages against nine companies that were originally thought to be involved

The rapidly disappearing middle ground ...

[Wrath0fb0b]

We are not anti-fracking or anti-drilling. My goodness, we live in Texas. Keep it in the pipes, and if you have a leak or spill, report it and be respectful to your neighbors. If you are going to put this stuff in close proximity to homes, be respectful and careful.

Yeah, pretty much this.

We all know that extraction companies do idiotic and careless things and don't give a fuck about safety -- either of their workers or of the environment around them.

We also know that a lot of environmentalists advocate the complete cessation of fracking and drilling even though that makes no practical sense (for now).

And so we've lost the middle ground of wanting a strong extractive industry with strong environmental safeguards and a culture of safety grown up around it. It would be a strategic error for companies to adopt such a policy in a situation where environmentalists are going to oppose them politically and legally anyway no matter what they do. And it would be a strategic error for environmentalists to advocate for responsible extraction given that the companies are going to weasel out of it anyway.

I know where we want to go, I think it's certainly technologically and economically feasible to extract oil and gas without damaging the environment. But the way we pursue it is fundamentally broken on all sides.

[ And none of this is intended to be negative. I consider myself an environmentalist and a technologist FWIW. ]

Re:mystery ailments

[mysidia]

I have all those symptoms too. Migraine, rashes, nausea, nosebleeds. Who should I sue then?

I don't know. You should visit a medical professional and undergo examination and tests to find the cause of your serious health problems.

Re:mystery ailments

[mysidia]

I would bet you'd be hard pressed to find a household that hasn't had someone with 1 or all of them at some point in any given 12 month period

You think it is perfectly normal for a family of 3... all 3 of them to start experiencing all these symptoms simultaneously with extreme severity? It doesn't matter how common you think the symptoms are. This is not explainable as a normal phenomenon. It is a definite indication of a problem, possible poisoning. They are also miserable symptoms to suffer.

There are 60 or so chemical elements found in every person on the planet

See this article, Page 2A this article

"I hired someone to do water and air sampling at the home," she said. "The methane level in my daughter's room was at asphyxiation levels. And it was barely lower than what it was outside our home."
"She showed the results to her doctor, who told her to leave her home within 48 hours."

.... ....

In early fall 2009, she visited an environmental doctor who confirmed the presence of neurotoxins in her blood that matched chemicals used in natural gas production.

Medical tests confirmed the toxins in Lisa's system matched toxins found in the atmosphere in an air-quality investigation conducted by the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) at a nearby gas well site.

On the evening of July 25, 2010, the Parrs smelled as trong odor emanating from a frac tank at a site operated by Arbua Petroleum of Plano. They reported it to TCEQ. Investigators arrived within hours to capture air samples.

Odors were detected up to a quarter-mile from the well site.
The investigator, Damon Armstrong, reported that a "plume" wafting from the tank was "visible with the naked eye." The petroleum-like odor was so intense the investigator himself felt sick in the short time he was there.

Noting dizziness and sore throat.

The analysis found five compounds that exceeded safe values for short-term health effects, and another 20 exceeded safe levels for long-term effects.


The investigation found elevated levels of ethane, pentane, bexane, octane, xylene, and nonae, all potentially toxic chemicals.

Four days later, a medical test discovered the same chemicals inside Lisa.

"The environmental specialist ran numerous tests on me." Lisa said, "I had about 20 of the chemicals they use in the oil and gas industry in my tissues and in my blood system. Never in my life had I been so sick."

Aruba operates many of the 21 gas wells surrounding the Parr Home. TCEQ has received dozens of odor, spill, and nuisance complaints from Allison residents in the community over the past year.

Enforcement actions are pending against two nearby Aruba sites, one for nuisance and another for violations without authorization.

The company has been fined more than $30,000 in the past year by TCEQ for operations in the Allison area.

The July 25 report recommended Aruba receive two more violations. One was for contaminants being in such concentration and of such duration ... to be injurious to or to adversly affect human health or welfare, animal life, vegetation, or property." A second was for failure to claim authorization for a facility emitting air contaminants.


No gas wells are in the Parrs' 40 acres. The wells in question surround their land, hundreds of yards removed from the home. But their location makes it a natural pocket for collecting heavy toxins.


"We live below a ridge in a little valley," Bob said. "At night when the wind dies down, anything down here sits and settles. Some of these chemicals and toxins are heavier than the air."


"I was pretty much losing my memory," she said "I couldn't walk straight, and I kept falling down. I