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Texas Family Awarded $2.9 Million In Fracking Lawsuit

Posted by Soulskill on from the don't-mess-with-texas dept.

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.'"

11 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Um yeah by Whatsmynickname · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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...

    1. Re:Um yeah by LifesABeach · · Score: 4, Informative

      One need only stand down wind to become more aware.

    2. Re:Um yeah by quenda · · Score: 5, Funny

      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.

    3. Re:Um yeah by jedidiah · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    4. Re:Um yeah by sjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You sir appear to be a fracking idiot.

    5. Re:Um yeah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

  2. Complying with all regulations is no excuse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

  3. Congrats on complying with applicable regulations by penguinoid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  4. My knee jerk reaction by towermac · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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. :)

  5. Re:mystery ailments by mysidia · · Score: 4, Informative

    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

  6. The rapidly disappearing middle ground ... by Wrath0fb0b · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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. ]