Most Texans don’t know what the Texas Railroad Commission is or does. In 2007, one Texas blogger changed that: Sharon Wilson. Wilson’s reporting on the injection well drilling in the Barnett Shale region and its impact on the water quality and the environment in Wise County and surrounding areas has been exceedingly important to bringing wider attention to the dangers this practice poses across the state.
Wilson has nearly single-handedly stood up to large oil companies and made the companies and state agencies–including the Texas Railroad Commission–take notice. Relentless in her drive to educate the public and elected officials to the damage being done to the Texas environment, Wilson’s investigative reporting and blogging is worthy of recognition.
Jeff Prince. We Are Doing It. 25 Mar 2009. Fort Worth Weekly.
Texas rural women are battling modern dragons to save some “country” for future generations. A drive through her Wise County stomping grounds with Sharon Wilson is like getting a battlefield tour from a guerrilla commander while the bullets are still zinging overhead.
For Wilson – a.k.a. “Texas Sharon” – the sights, sounds, and smells offer painful reminders of her continuing battle against natural gas drillers and the havoc they wreak in a place she once considered paradise.
See: Bluedaze – Drilling Reform for Texas
See: Chesapeake Energy Flares Barnett Shale Gas Well in Trinity Trail
See: Editorial: Fiddling while the tap water burns
See: Fracking: Implications for Human and Environmental Health
See: Poison Fire
See: Fracked: Barnett Shale drilling chemicals found in blood and organs
See: Exxon’s Oozing Texas Oil Pits Haunt Residents as XTO Deal Nears – BusinessWeek
See: BARDs “Big Mule” Drummond Coal Sued–Part II
See: Range Resources
