Interview With Former Mayor of Dish, Texas

Former Mayor of Dish, Texas Speaks about

a Town Wracked by Fracking from Shale Gas Companies

Calvin Tillman has personally witnessed the destruction of a town’s peaceful lifestyle & verdant landscape along with the loss of health and well-being of the townspeople that so often happens as a by-product of Shale Gas Industry (hereafter referred to as SG Industry) – a town in which he worked heart and soul to help the townspeople, but in the end a town that was lost to Shale Gas. Here is the interview Parents Against Everyday Poisons had with Calvin Tillman 12 July 2011 (Denton, Texas)

PAEP: Calvin, I understand from my research that after many years of working as Mayor for the Town of Dish, Texas that you felt you had no other choice but to leave the Town due to on-going health issues with your young children. Have your children recovered their health now since you have moved?

CT: Yes, the chronic nosebleeds stopped as soon as we moved away from Dish, TX. We moved to Dish, TX when my oldest son was about 6 months old. He became asthmatic and when he had an attack it was serious enough that we had to go to the Emergency Ward with him. I don’t know that the conditions in the Town of Dish actually caused his asthma, but the conditions there certainly made his condition more severe.

PAEP: What were some of the changes you saw in Dish while you were there?

CT: Well, when we moved there drilling had already started in the area but the build-up of industry just increased while we lived there until finally it was basically a major Industrial Site with Compressor Site and Processing Plant and Gas Treatment facility – Bigger than the town. At this point there was constant noise, terrible odors, heavy equipment and heavy truck movement at all hours – not to mention the effect this industry was having on the health of the townspeople.

PAEP: I understand you entered municipal politics in Dish after you had been there a short time – as a councillor first and later became Mayor – correct?

CT: Yes, that’s right.

PAEP: What advice would you give to a town that might be threatened by the encroachment of the SG Industry – a place where Oil & Gas Co’s already have mapped out drilling rights?

CT: Well, someone has to organize.

PAEP: New Brunswickers live in a province where existing oil and gas interests appear to be in partnership with the newly arrived Oil & Gas Co’s from the United States and in addition the existing oil and gas interests own a fair majority of the Newspapers- it’s quite possible therefore, that the real nature of Shale Gas Drilling is not being reported in an unbiased fashion through the usual sources such as newspapers – What is your response to that situation?

CT: Well, you don’t live in a free country anymore if one person or family owns all of those things together. [Interjects this question] Have you folks seen the movie Gasland?

PAEP: Yes, some people in the area have seen that Documentary by Josh Fox. Mr. Tillman, do you do Speaking Engagements?

CT: Yes.

PAEP: What do you charge for that sort of thing; what’s involved exactly?

CT: Well, I don’t charge for speaking to a group. I have a small travel budget but we try to keep it for emergencies. I would basically need a place to stay and airfare paid to the location. I would be happy to talk to local officials to tell them of our experience at the municipal level. I have been to Quebec, Canada to talk with folks there who are concerned about Shale Gas Exploration.

PAEP: Yes, I’ve heard that the Quebec Minister of the Environment has grave doubts about the Shale Gas Technology and Quebec has backed away from Shale Gas Exploration. What would you say is the biggest obstacle to getting the word out on the dangers of Shale Gas Drilling aside from the unique media situation in New Brunswick that could be a detriment to alerting the public?

CT: Well, unfortunately there is apathy In society. People think that as long as everything is normal at home when they arrive home after work - then it’s not going to affect them.

PAEP: So they basically don’t realize there’s a problem until it’s in their back yard?

CT: That’s right. There are a lot of people who don’t agree with it and probably even most don’t agree with it - but they don’t see the need to get involved in it. But if you see anyone supporting Shale Gas, they are in the pay of the Oil and Gas Co’s.

PAEP: There’s a rumour that Amphetamine abuse is prevalent amongst Oil and Gas Industry employees. What is your response to that?

CT: Well – yes, there is some research out there that might point to that. There are often a lot of “imported workers” to the work sites. Rough-necks and Roust-Abouts can be a rowdy bunch. There have been reports of a lot of drinking and partying, hanging out in bars and reports of higher crime rates in Shale Gas areas. And of course, you tend to see drugs in that kind of environment as well.


PAEP: Are local job spin-offs a reality or the exception to the rule in this industry?

CT: Locals believe they will get gainful employment. The truth is that Shale Gas Industry imports workers and one reason is that SG Industry has lots of trained workers available. The jobs tend to go to transients – workers who have worked on other Shale Gas Sites in other places and have already been trained. The advantage to this is that the Oil and Gas Co’s don’t have to wait to train new recruits or pay for the training or wait for new employees to be trained. The SG Industry has a typical work system of 7 days on and 7 days off so it’s just as easy if not better to hire experienced workers from Texas as it is to hire locally. They are not likely to hire locals except for maybe general truck driving and back-hoe or bulldozing jobs. When I was talking to a group in New York they all expected to get jobs from SG Industry, but when I asked the crowd how many were Certified Pipeline Welders, nobody put up their hand. When I asked how many were trained at Pipeline X-Ray – again nobody put up their hand. They had no idea in that region that the promises of jobs were probably not going to materialize.

PAEP: What about the Tourism Industry in the local areas where SG Industry is present – what happens to those?

CT: Well, do you have any hunting or fishing grounds in your area? If you do then, Hunters and Sport Fishermen won’t hunt or fish in a gas field. Hotels? Well, first of all, the hotels will fill up with Rough-Necks – Tourists will not be able to find a room or will find that they don’t like the atmosphere that these workers can bring with them. B & B’s will stop getting business and Camp and RV sites will fill up with these workers because a lot of the SG workers have their own RV rig or motorhome.


PAEP: I’ve heard the expression that “BAD MONEY DRIVES OUT GOOD” – it sounds like that’s what will happen if Shale Gas Drilling comes to town? Is that your experience?

CT: Well, yes, that’s a good way of putting it.


PAEP: New Brunswick's Provincial Government is bragging that it has Regulations in place to protect our water wells and our properties – that water testing will be done before drilling starts and compensation will be given if wells are contaminated by their Drilling – What is your response to that?

CT: Well, I’m not sure what regulations can protect against some of the damages that Shale Gas Drilling produces. For example what’s your government’s plan for all the water that will be required by industry? This industry requires massive amounts of fresh water – where are they going to get it? and where will the government have the water dumped after it’s been contaminated by the drilling? – there are only two places – deep wells or lined pits. Research is showing that the lined pits pose a greater risk for contamination of wells. Shallow wells are more likely to be contaminated by this process. Do you have wells in your community?

PAEP: Yes, our whole community is on wells.

CT: Oh Dear.

PAEP: What about Water Testing? I’ve heard it said that New Brunswickers have to have their water tested by the test facility of the Oil and Gas Co’s choosing and that if a problem comes up with well water contamination NO OTHER water test will be considered valid – What is your response to that?

CT: Well, I don’t know the laws in Canada, but here in the U.S. we can have our own well water test done. I would suggest that if a Water tester hired by Oil and Gas comes to test your well water, that you have an independent test kit right there at the same time so that you do independent testing while the Tester is there. In other words, do a parallel test. It’s the intimidation factor. You can send for these tests by mail from the U.S. And I recommend Shaletest.org – our organization – we do water testing for folks who may not have the resources to pay for expensive testing.


PAEP: I’ve heard several times now that people who have been approached by Oil and Gas Companies have been asked if they will sign permissions for drilling on their land and when they decline the Oil & Gas Co’s simply tell them they can get at the gas horizontally anyway so they may as well sign a permission and get some money for themselves. Has this been the experience where you come from?

CT: Yes, this same “talk” is pretty much standard in the SG Industry. If they can’t convince someone to sign by being nice they resort to more threatening tactics.


PAEP: I’ve also heard that one homeowner here in New Brunswick sought out legal counsel when the Oil and Gas Co. approached him only to discover that his lawyer already had been put “On Retainer” by the Oil and Gas Industry. Is that something you’ve heard of before?

CT: Yes, this happens frequently. The Industry will go in and essentially “put on Retainer”(ie., place them under service contract to the O & G Industry) all the Law Firms they feel they need and they will do the same thing with the Environmental Testing Labs in the area as well. This is common.

PAEP: Well, thank you Mr. Tillman for taking the time to talk with me and for answering these questions.

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