(Editor’s note. 18 Dec 2024.)
I discovered Elizabeth Burns of Texas, 2008-2010 via a blog post by Sharon Wilson of BlueDaze. It had been Texas blog updated frequently through 2010. Unfortunately, all of the videos she produced are no longer available and I have not yet been able to track her down. She c
Here is what Sharon Wilson wrote:
Tracking the scent of oil giant legacy
Rancher Elizabeth Burns is single handedly taking on the might of US supermajor ExxonMobil in her struggle to get the company and its pipeline partner El Paso to clean up its actYOU have to smell it to believe it. Elizabeth “Toddy” Burns grabs a handful of wet Texas sand, rubs it between her fingers and takes a big whiff.
“Uuuuuugggghhhhh,” she grimaces. “Fresh condensate.”
The small pile of dirt excavated by Burns’ posthole digger smells like a filling station, but the nearest place to buy gasoline is 40 miles (64 kilometres) away from the ranch.
She shoots photos and video as the hole fills with foul-smelling water.
The hunt for condensate leaks is just part of Burns’ effort to get ExxonMobil to clean up operations on the 38,000-acre McGill Ranch that has been in her husband’s family for three generations.
It is this reconnaisance that she documents each day with defiance on her blog rancholoslosmalulos.blogspot.com, “A satirical view from the McGill Brothers lease”.
Sharon Wilson. Mrs. Burns, XOM Stockholders Will Be Shocked About This! 18 Oct 2009. BlueDaze.
Here is a sidebar from the archived blog:
Elizabeth Burns, 2008-2010.
This blog is a satire about life on a 38,000 acre ranch in the South Texas oilfield. ExxonMobil’s eco-friendly tv commercials during the 2008 olympic games provoked me into action. I saw those ads and thought, “What is this bullshit?” Exxonmobil had dumps of old junk all over the ranch. Fluids frequently gurgle out of our roads and fields. This is what a real Exxon operation looks like! When I began the blog, I had no clue about the millions of acres of legacy oilfield mess and the clusters of leukemia in the area. I just knew about heaps of old metal. I didn’t know they were radioactive. I didn’t know what chromium 6 and PCB’s were. I just went out with my camera and a shovel and started to dig. I hope you find my adventure entertaining and informative. Meet the folks and see how major oil companies conduct operations here! I’m NOT anti oil and gas. I’m anti-bad operator. ExxonMobil and Chevron give the industry a bad name. They ruin it for those operators that follow the rules.
Chevron, Texaco and Exxon Mobil have left pits of burned chemical sludge across South Texas.
Oh, how I pity the fool who buys a pipeline from ExxonMobil. Back in December of 2008, we were going to do some root plowing and brush clearing. We did the manditory one call (DIG TESS). Koch, Enterprise and DCP came out and marked their lines. Exxon didn’t respond. I mean why would they? Right? Not like they have any pipelines on the McGill Bros. Lease.
I went out the day before the work was scheduled and just happened to see something in the brush. I eased a little closer and…. WTF??… it’s a damn six inch pipeline pig launcher. I could hear and feel gas going through it.
We called Exxon and they didn’t answer. We called Koch, Enterprise and DCP. They all came out and were horrified because they also have lines around here. No one claimed responsibility for the line even though it had gas going through it. We followed it to the Kelsey Compressor Station and demanded some answers from Exxon. They didn’t call back. So, we went to the courthouse and found this easement. The line was coming from La Copita and was moving 4000 mcf a day of liquid dehy-ed gas from the Hamman to the Kelsey plant. The gas was pressurized to 600 LBS. There are two documents associated with this Right-of-Way. Here they are. Turn to page three and ask yourself, “Gee, have I ever read a contract that more clearly says, ‘Stay off our god damn roads!”
Elizabeth Burns. I Hate Hillcorp. 26 Jan 2011. Rancho Los Malulos. 2010.
See also: Joe Carroll. Exxon’s oozing oil pits haunt Texas as XTO Energy deal nears. 18 Apr 2010. TribLive.
Bo Vavrusa was heaping dirt into the path of a wildfire on a Texas ranch in October 2007 when his tractor rammed an Exxon Mobil Corp. natural-gas pipe hidden in a thicket. Flames engulfed the tractor, burning his face, arms and hands as he fled.
“I thought I was fixing to die,” said Vavrusa, 28, who was earning $10 an hour to groom the ranch for quail and dove hunters.
Joe Carroll. Exxon’s oozing oil pits haunt Texas as XTO Energy deal nears. 18 Apr 2010. TribLive.
See: Chevron Human Energy Stories | Addressing Climate Change
See: Exxon’s Oozing Texas Oil Pits Haunt Residents as XTO Deal Nears – BusinessWeek
See: The Case of Chevron
See: Wildlife Mortality Risk in Oil Field Waste Pits. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
