I called a neighbor and he said the noise was coming from across the river at the site of seven XTO gas wells which are located in the City of Benbrook. I called 911 at about 7:15 PM and was passed through to the Fort Worth Fire Department who said they couldn’t come out because it wasn’t within their jurisdiction, and so they passed me through to the Benbrook Fire Department. They said they would respond and call me back with their findings.

Then, I tried to find an emergency number for XTO, but couldn't find one listed in the phone book or on their website. I then called the emergency number for the Railroad Commission of Texas (RCT) which supposedly oversees all oil and gas production in Texas. I spoke to Alonso Rodriguez (512-517-9422) who said he didn’t have that number, but he would find it and call me back. In the meantime my neighbor called to say she had contacted the Benbrook Police Department and they had informed her that there was an officer at the site who had reported everything looked good, but he didn’t know what was causing the loud noise.

I called the Benbrook Fire Department for a second time to find out what they had discovered. I was told they were still at the scene and someone would call me back when they returned. Then, I got a call from East Texas, from Mark Lay (903-985-0851) with the RCT, and he said that he’d heard I was concerned about a loud noise. I told him that we were worried about a possible gas leak and needed to know if our neighborhood should be evacuated. He said, "I wouldn’t do that until someone declares it’s an emergency." So I asked, "Do you honestly think that the City of Benbrook, who won’t even return my phone call, is going to drive over here and tell us to evacuate?" Well, besides that, he said even if there is a gas leak it wouldn’t be that serious because the kind of gas they drill for over there is "sweet gas." I asked him for XTO's number and was told I could get that from the sign in front of the drill site.

I yelled, "You’re saying I have to swim across the river in order to get the number to report a gas leak?" Then, Alonso Rodriguez from the RCT called me back to say he was really sorry, but he was unable to find the XTO number because his server was down.

At approximately 9:15 PM the noise stopped. I called the Benbrook Fire Department for the third time and was told that XTO was working at the site, and that everything was okay. He said there was no gas leak. I asked how he could know that, and he said he tested the air.

At 9:47 PM, Richard Edwards (817-739-1537) from XTO called to say he had just been notified by his supervisor that we had a problem. Three hours after the noise started he had just been notified. He asked if he could come over and meet with me the next morning so he could file an incident report. He arrived about 11:30 AM on July 21, 2012, and seemed very nervous. I’d invited four neighbors over so he could explain to us what had happened the previous night. One of the neighbors had recorded the noise for him to hear. I asked him if XTO was blowing out a pipe like Mark Lay had suggested. He said no crew would be working at 7:00 PM on a Friday night.

Another neighbor asked why there was no alarm on the wells and no emergency phone number for us to call. Richard said he didn’t know. We asked what happened. He said that during the previous night’s storm a gas well several miles away from of us had shut down and the pressure had built up, traveled along the pipeline and had blown out something on the well across the river. "So, what you’re telling us", I said, "is that for 2 1/2 hours toxic natural gas was blowing out into our neighborhood, without anyone warning us."

"Yes", he said. I told him that a fireman told me there was no gas leak. His response was "then the Benbrook Fire Department let you down." He went on to say that the man responsible for XTO public relations would be calling me. I said that I didn’t want to meet with them until we could call a homeowners meeting and have XTO officials, along with the Benbrook Fire Department, there and let them explain it to every homeowner at the same time.

I just talked to the Benbrook Fire Chief on Monday, July 23, 2012, and he said that the gas leak was very small and that no one was in any danger, and if they had been we would have been notified. I’ve reported the leak to the EPA, my homeowners' association, Zim Zimmerman (my Fort Worth City Council Member), The Fort Worth Weekly, Senator Wendy Davis, and some neighbors reported it to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

It has been two weeks since the gas leak and I have not heard from Councilman Zimmerman. There hasn't been any mention of the leak in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I did hear from the woman in charge of public relations for XTO. She asked if she could come out to my house and personally apologize. I told her I would get back to her after talking to all the interested parties and hopefully come up with a date that XTO could explain to all the homeowners in our area what happened and what they were going to do to prevent this from ever happening again. I told her that I thought it was imperative that an emergency number should be posted on their web site and in the phone book, and that they should have had an alarm on every well that would immediately alert the fire department and XTO to avoid what could turn out to be a terrible disaster in the future.

Editor's note: Sharon Austry informed me that she discussed this issue directly with Councilman Zimmerman at a public event and he responded that he really doesn't pay attention to gas drilling matters. He lets others worry about that issue. His wife stated that they enjoy going to the parties and events sponsored by drillers, which says it all. Councilman Zimmerman favors gas drilling because of where he gets financial support rather than caring about the health and safety of his constituents.