 For The Washington Post via Getty Images, file Parent Union organizer Doreen Diaz, right, walks with her daughter and other children to the front door of Desert Trails Elementary in Adelanto, Calif., in February. Viola Davis, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Oscar Isaac and Rosie Perez chat about their new movie, "Won't Back Down." By Natasha Lindstrom, The Hechinger Report Doreen Diaz left the red carpet movie premiere of "Won't Back Down" in New York City last week feeling encouraged. But then the 47-year-old mom, a key figure in the education movement that "inspired" the feature film, headed back to the tiny desert city of Adelanto, Calif., and her tract home near Desert Trails Elementary School. That's where the real battle over the so-called "parent trigger" law drags on, with no tidy Hollywood ending in sight. "The movie makes it look a lot easier than it really is," said Diaz, who started drumming up support to overhaul her local public school more than a year ago. Desert Trails, where 100 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, ranks in the bottom third of California schools with similar demographics and has been stuck on the federal watch list for failing schools for six years. Sixty-two percent of students are Hispanic and 27 percent are black. One-quarter of students don't speak English at home, and 15 percent of students tested in 2011 had disabilities. Related stories from The Hechinger Report
Diaz felt that the school had given up on its poor and minority students. She wanted more for her daughter, a special-needs student who started the fifth grade last year at a second-grade reading level. Diaz and other organizers of the Desert Trails Parent Union, educated and bankrolled by Los Angeles nonprofit Parent Revolution, continue to fight the school district in court to turn over their neighborhood school to a charter operator. If they succeed, they'll become the first in the nation to successfully invoke a parent trigger. The controversial legislation enables parents who collect signatures representing more than 50 percent of students to force a major overhaul on an underperforming school, from replacing its principal and half the staff to shutting it down. Similar parent-trigger laws are now in seven states, with forms of the legislation in the works in 20 others since California narrowly passed its Parent Empowerment Act in 2010. Academy award nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal talks about her role in "Won't Back Down," and what she learned while researching the role of a determined mother trying to make a difference in the education of her children. The concept behind the parent trigger is instantly appealing to Americans fed up with foundering schools: Give parents the power to turn around a school that's failing their children when bureaucrats don't or won't act. Prominent Democrats and Republicans have touted the idea as a bipartisan solution to expanding school choice and spurring complacent educators to action. The movement appears to have public support: 70 percent of likely voters said they'd support parent-trigger laws in a March national poll by StudentsFirst, a pro-school-choice advocacy group run by Michelle Rhee, the controversial former chancellor of the Washington, D.C., public schools. An independent Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll released in September reported the same approval rating. But teacher union leaders and critics like the Chicago-based advocacy group Parents Across America blast "Won't Back Down" as propaganda, and they question whether people throwing their support behind parent-trigger laws understand the ramifications of the complex policy solution. They argue the movement's supporters have demonized teachers and promoted hostile takeovers over collaborative reform. Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy "This is not true parent empowerment," said Leonie Haimson, founding member of Parents Across America, which opposes school privatization and high-stakes testing. Haimson joined about 50 protesters at the New York premiere of "Won't Back Down." "These are the choices of billionaires and hedge funders and other venture philanthropists who send their own kids to private schools." Influential groups like Parent Revolution and StudentsFirst have been lobbying for the cause and searching for parents to test out the fledgling laws. The legislation's supporters are eager to use "Won't Back Down," which is financed by conservative billionaire Philip Anschutz's Walden Media, to popularize the parent-trigger policy. Parent Revolution, supported by the Gates, Walton Family and Wasserman foundations, on Friday announced plans to host "Won't Back Down" screenings with panel-led discussions in 19 states over the next four weeks. Walden Media also distributed the pro-charter school documentary "Waiting for 'Superman'" and is pushing an activist toolkit on the new movie's website. (The Gates and Wasserman foundations are among the funders of The Hechinger Report.) "Usually a movie like this comes out long after a social movement and documents it through the eyes of the hero," said Ben Austin, founder of Parent Revolution and former Clinton White House adviser. "But this movie is coming out in the almost embryonic stage of the movement, and will sort of become part of the movement." Parent Revolution's first attempt – in 2010 at McKinley Elementary in Compton, Calif. -- died in court. The charter operator picked by Parent Revolution still managed to get approval to open a school close to McKinley, but less than one-fifth of McKinley parents moved their children there. Parent Revolution learned from its mistakes, said deputy director Gabe Rose. The nonprofit, with a roughly $3 million annual budget and 35 staffers, now focuses on letting local parents choose their preferred reforms and emphasizes charter schools aren't always the best option, Rose said. But in both Compton and Adelanto, the process has proved divisive. At school drop-off zones, board meetings and press events, Desert Trails Parent Union promoted catchy mottos on T-shirts and signs like "Si Se Puede," and "I am the Revolution," while a counter-campaign led by opposing parents had theirs: "Save Desert Trails" and "Yes to change, no to charter." Also at The Hechinger Report: Public universities pledge to increase grads Parents on both sides have accused each other of intimidation and harassment and called police on one another. PTA meetings have erupted into shouting matches, and kids have been bullied for wearing pro- or anti-trigger law shirts to school. "It's tearing that school apart," Adelanto School District Board Member Jermaine Wright said. "If the parents are fighting, then it starts to trickle down to the kids." Desert Trails PTA Vice President Lori Yuan, whose 7- and 9-year-olds attend the school, won't be lining up to see "Won't Back Down." Yuan, 39, is among the faction of parents actively opposing the trigger effort. She said she, too, wants to see improvement at Desert Trails but is convinced that a charter operator isn't the answer. Soapy 'Won't Back Down' gets a failing grade She wants to give Principal David Mobley, who took the helm only three months before the trigger effort went public, a chance to turn things around. And she questions the political motives behind Parent Revolution, which rented out a five-bedroom house to serve as the parent union's headquarters and helped secure a law firm to represent parents pro bono. "Why do the people that attend Desert Trails today get to determine a future when there's a whole community that technically owns the school?" Yuan said. "This is not a grassroots movement." Mobley has launched a new literacy program through Success for All, a research-based curriculum with a national track record. A new after-school program extends the school day by three hours for about one-sixth of the school's 600 students. And this month the school formed a new "alternative governance council" comprised of teachers, managers and parents on both sides of the trigger debate to oversee progress. The board voted in August to carry out that alternative governance reform model instead of the parent union's charter school plan, on the premise that it was too late to convert to a charter school this year. Outraged, the parent union went back to court, arguing the district deliberately defied the judge who validated the charter petition. Margaret Spellings, the former Secretary of Education under George W. Bush, and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa join The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd to talk about teacher unions, charter schools versus public schools, and investing in education and teachers. If the judge again rules in the parent union's favor at a hearing later this month, parents who signed the trigger petition will vote Oct. 18 on one of two local nonprofit charter operators that submitted bids to take over Desert Trails in the fall of 2013. By this time next year, Diaz's daughter will have moved on to middle school. Diaz credits a good teacher with helping her daughter advance two and a half grade levels last year, and she's a co-chair on the new governance council, but she said recent changes were made "too little, too late." "It's not just about my daughter," Diaz said. "It's about the community. We have to make a change because the children deserve the best futures, and they can get there through education." This story, "A struggling school, a bitter fight and no tidy Hollywood ending in sight," was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education-news outlet based at Teachers College, Columbia University. More content from NBCNews.com:
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10/02/2012
'Parent trigger' fight: No Hollywood ending in sight
VA weeks, months late paying student veterans
 Courtesy of Ashley Metcalf Ashley Metcalf, who served in Iraq then enrolled in college, is leading a push to compel the VA to pay back wages owed to dozens of student veterans like himself. By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor Student veterans hired by the Department of Veterans Affairs to help fellow ex-service members transition into college have routinely waited four to six weeks — and, in one case, four months — for unpaid wages, prompting eviction worries and mounting debt, according to a survey of program members obtained by NBC News. Ashley Metcalf, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan — and the student veteran who organized the survey of other VA "work-study" employees at 18 campuses — said he's been living on credit cards since June and was forced to obtain an emergency loan because the VA has failed to compensate him for about 100 hours he's logged in the VA program. "How can this happen? If I was working for McDonald's and they said they're not going to pay me for 10 weeks, I'd have a lawsuit," said Metcalf, an Air Force veteran now enrolled at the University of Colorado Denver. "We're not asking for a raise or for extra benefits. We're just asking the VA to do what it said it would do: pay us on time," Metcalf said. "Coming back home, trying to figure out mentally how to transition into college life and then not getting paid? It's way too much of a stress for people who are possibly already on edge." A voicemail left Monday by NBC News with the VA media relations office was not returned. According to the VA website, the "work-study allowance" is available through the post-9/11 GI Bill. Student veterans employed by the program earn the minimum wage from the VA for devoting hours to specified, on-campus jobs such as "providing assistance to veteran students with general inquiries about veteran benefits," the site says, adding: "VA will pay you each time you complete 50 hours of service." But Metcalf's survey found VA work-study employees at five campuses who reported waiting one month to two months for payments — and a student in North Dakota who was not compensated for four months. (Among the 18 schools represented in the survey were Texas A&M, Florida State and the University of Kentucky). Survey participants also revealed that a number of student veterans have quit their work-study jobs due to the chronic payment delays, hamstringing veteran-services departments at some campuses. Related: New 'military friendly' colleges list aims to weed out 'the noise,' 'bad actors' "I usually have 100 hours logged before I get paid for 50. For any other job I would find this to be a reason to quit," one student veteran replied to the survey. "It is mind boggling to think that I work 50 hours, submit my form and have to wait almost a month to get paid for it. I'm married with a kid on the way. Please just pay me already!!!" wrote another. A second dominant survey theme: rising anger over the VA's lack communications — and its failure to provide basic answers as to why faxed time sheets take weeks or months to process and pay. Many survey respondents described numerous unreturned voice mails and unanswered e-mails from VA officials. "God answers my prayers faster than the VA answers my phone calls," complained one student veteran. Tomorrow, Neal Boyd would have marked his one-year anniversary with the VA work-study program. Instead, he resigned the post one month ago. An Iraq War veteran, Boyd was named to the Danville Area Community College Board of Trustees in April as the panel's student representative. (The school, in Danville, Ill, has about 120 students enrolled via military benefits). On Aug. 1, Boyd applied with the VA to renew his work-study contract for the fall semester. He then invested about 70 hours in his assigned job — helping veterans find employment. Two months later, Boyd has not received a reply from the VA about his contract renewal — or any money. In September, his college learned of the problem and hired Boyd, adding him to the school's payroll and allowing him to retain his job while letting him simultaneously step away from the VA's work-study program. "I'd be in the same boat (as the other unpaid student veterans) if I didn't have such a great school," Boyd said. "When I would call the VA (for an answer), I wouldn't get anybody, just a recording saying they were busy processing time sheets. At this point, I'm no longer interested in the VA work-study contract." While the GI Bill covers veterans' tuition fees, many other living expenses remain. That's where the work-study money is supposed to help students like Ashley Metcalf stay financially safe while attending a full load of college classes and devoting 20 hours a week to guiding other enrolled veterans from the battlefield to the classroom. "People are relying on this money. This is ridiculous," Metcalf said of the results gathered by his survey. "I knew that somebody had to step up and do something." For a personal view of the financial strain caused by the payment delays, Metcalf opened his personal books. In addition to his full tuition coverage, he receives $1,464 in monthly GI benefits. From that check, he pays $600 for rent. The remaining $864 must cover a month's worth of groceries, household items, clothing, school supplies, bills, gas for his car, and parking fees in downtown Denver where his college is located. While the GI Bill also allots $500 per month for college books, that doesn't cover the true cost each semester — just one of Metcalf's fall classes required $300 in book purchases.  Courtesy of Ashley Metcalf Ashley Metcalf served in the Air Force for 12 years, spending time in Iraq. He's being forced to return to service in January because the VA has been months late in compensating him for college work the agency hired Metcalf to perform. "I'm running short every month (due to unpaid wages; he's supposed to receive $600 every 30 days). I know the VA has numerous veterans issues that are being handled now — mental health and people being homeless. But I have to pay rent. We had another guy (in the work-study program) who almost got evicted," Metcalf said. At the University of Colorado Denver, about 900 student veterans are enrolled — 13 of those are employed by VA's work-study program, aiding fellow veterans in tracking their GI benefits and merging into college life, Metcalf said. Amid the VA compensation snags, the bursar's office at UCD created emergency loans — $1,500 per semester — for student veterans, he added. "I had to take one of those loans because I don't know when I'm going to get paid," said Metcalf, who also serves as president of the UCD student veteran organization. "I just can't wait any longer for the money." And with the draw down in Afghanistan causing more service members to leave the military and enroll directly in college — in part due to the weak job market — Metcalf expects the work-study payment holdups to worsen. That means, he predicts, additional students will quit their work-study posts in college veteran-services departments, which will, in turn, reduce on-campus help for former troops who are trying to carve out success in college. Metcalf, who spent six years on active duty in the Air Force and another six as reservist, also has reached a career crossroads. "I'm going back into the (Air Force) Reserves in January," he said. "I can't afford to not work. And even though it's a requirement that I be a full-time student to stay on the GI Bill, I can't afford to live like this." More content from NBCNews.com:
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Key part of Pa. voter ID law temporarily blocked
Energy firm uses 'land grabs' to secure fracking rights
 / Ranjana Bhandari and her husband, Kaushik De, stand near a Chesapeake Energy gas well in Arlington, Texas, on Sept. 16, 2012. By Brian Grow, Joshua Schneyer and Anna Driver Ranjana Bhandari and her husband knew the natural gas beneath their ranch-style home in Arlington, Texas, could be worth a lot - especially when they got offer after offer from Chesapeake Energy Corp. Chesapeake wanted to drill there, and the offers could have netted the couple thousands of dollars in a bonus and royalties. But Bhandari says they ultimately declined the deals because they oppose fracking in residential areas. Fracking, slang for hydraulic fracturing, is a controversial method used to extract gas and oil. Their repeated refusals didn't stop Chesapeake, the second-largest natural gas producer in the United States. This June, after petitioning a Texas state agency for an exception to a 93-year-old statute, the company effectively secured the ability to drain the gas from beneath the Bhandari property anyway -- without having to pay the couple a penny. In fact, since January 2005, the Texas agency has rejected just five of Chesapeake's 1,628 requests for such exceptions, a Reuters review of agency data shows. Chesapeake has sought the most exceptions during that time -- almost twice the number sought by a subsidiary of giant rival Exxon Mobil, Reuters found. Chesapeake says it only seeks exceptions to the Texas statute -- called Rule 37 -- as a last-ditch effort, and often because it cannot locate the land owner. The law, company spokesman Michael Kehs said, "protects the rights of the majority of mineral owners." Not so, say many local residents. "The principle of it is insane," said Calvin Tillman, a former mayor of Dish, Texas, a small town north of Fort Worth where drilling has been heavy. "Not only can they take your property, but they don't have to pay you for it." Chesapeake's use of the Texas law is among the latest examples of how the company executes what it calls a "land grab" -- an aggressive leasing strategy intended to lock up prospective drilling sites and lock out competitors. Chesapeake has become the principal player in the largest land boom in America since the California Gold Rush of the late 1840s and '50s, amassing drilling rights on more land than almost any U.S. energy company. After years of leasing tracts from New York to Wyoming, the company now controls the right to drill for oil and gas on about 15 million acres -- roughly the size of West Virginia. More than its rivals, Chesapeake has made land-leasing central to its business model. An analysis by investment research firm Morningstar Inc. shows that the company has spent $31.2 billion to acquire drilling rights on unproven U.S. land in the last 15 years. Exxon -- a company whose revenue was 35 times larger than Chesapeake's last year -- spent $27 billion during the same period. Chesapeake's rationale is clearly spelled out in company filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "We believed that the winner of these land grabs would enjoy competitive advantages for decades to come as other companies would be locked out of the best new unconventional resource plays in the U.S.," the company wrote in its 2012 filing. It has been less forthcoming about the tactics used in implementing that strategy, however. Reuters reviewed hundreds of internal Chesapeake emails and thousands of pages of documents, including in-house data that show how Chesapeake evaluates its land acquisitions. Reporters also examined dozens of lawsuits by land owners in seven states, and interviewed contractors proffering deals for the company. What emerged were approaches to leasing property that land brokers, land owners and lawyers say push ethical and legal limits. Chesapeake has unilaterally altered or backed out of leases. And in Texas and at least three other states, it has exploited little-known laws to force owners to hand over drilling rights and sometimes forfeit profits. Some of the company's own contractors have considered the tactics dubious. "In my entire career, I have never been put in the position that (Chesapeake) has recently handed us," contractor David McGuire wrote to Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon on Aug. 10, 2010. He had just been ordered by the company to reject hundreds of signed leases in Michigan -- through means that McGuire said were "beyond anything I could ever have imagined." He told McClendon that he regretted ever being part of Chesapeake's land grab. "I simply wish our deal would never have taken place," he wrote in the email. Some of the methods that Chesapeake has used aren't unique to the company. Nor is the outcome necessarily one-sided. Many land owners have gotten rich on deals with Chesapeake. "Chesapeake has been successful in our leasing because we strive to fairly compensate the more than one million Chesapeake mineral owners," said spokesman Kehs. "Chesapeake has paid nearly $12 billion in lease bonus payments and nearly $10 billion in royalty payments since 2005." Critical juncture In April, Reuters reported that McClendon, 53, had arranged more than $1.5 billion in financing by pledging his share of the company's wells as collateral for personal loans. Most of the borrowing came from a firm that also is an investor in Chesapeake, a potential conflict of interest. The report prompted Chesapeake's board of directors to strip McClendon of his chairmanship and hire an independent chairman. Disgruntled shareholders replaced four of its nine directors. In June, Reuters documented Chesapeake's efforts to team with Canadian rival Encana Corp. to avoid driving up land prices in Michigan. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether the companies violated antitrust laws. Now, as Chesapeake fights to regain its footing, it is looking to execute the last stage in its land strategy: filling out its vast holdings, and then developing or selling them. Where Chesapeake doesn't intend to drill, it intends to sell, according to company presentations. Much hinges on this next chapter. This year, the company aims to sell $14 billion worth of assets to close a cash-flow deficit. The real estate strategy has been honed by McClendon, who started his career as a land man, the term for brokers who acquire mineral rights for energy companies. On April 28, 2010 -- amid one of the biggest land grabs in Michigan history -- McClendon received a flattering email that harkened to his beginnings. It came from contractor McGuire, manager at O.I.L. Niagaran, a local firm that Chesapeake hired to help handle its leasing efforts in northern Michigan. "To the most successful Landman in the world," McGuire's email began. McClendon adored the compliment. "That is the nicest title anyone has ever given me," he replied. "I really appreciate that, thanks David!" McGuire had been hired to serve as Chesapeake's principal outside land man in Michigan, where the company sought acreage in the Collingwood shale formation, then one of the most promising new oil and gas plays in the United States. After Chesapeake identifies acreage that might hold significant gas or oil, it deploys armies of land men -- some Chesapeake employees, others contractors such as McGuire and his employees. They knock on the doors of land owners to solicit leases. Few regulations govern what they can say or what language can be included in leases. Chesapeake has, until recently, employed more than 4,000 land men. Often, they are ordered not to disclose that Chesapeake is their client, according to internal emails and interviews with land owners and land men. "It is critical that we do everything in our power to keep our client's name secret!!!!" wrote Joe McFerron in a Nov. 10, 2010, email to his staff. McFerron was a contractor with RedSky Land, an Oklahoma brokerage hired by Chesapeake in North Dakota and Michigan. McFerron did not respond to requests for comment. Broker McGuire pursued his task energetically and in secret: Within three months, O.I.L. Niagaran and other subcontractors for Chesapeake had leased about 450,000 acres in Michigan. Chesapeake spent some $400 million there through McGuire and other brokers. But internal Chesapeake emails show that by August -- a few months after he had called McClendon the world's best land man -- McGuire was troubled by the experience. At the direction of McClendon and other Chesapeake executives, McGuire was ordered to reject or put on hold hundreds of leases after a Chesapeake test well performed poorly and a major Chesapeake competitor stopped new leasing. A backlash ensued, and McGuire's company bore the brunt. O.I.L. Niagaran became a defendant in about 150 breach-of-contract lawsuits filed since late 2010 in Michigan state courts. McGuire referred questions to an attorney, who declined to comment. Faux deals? In lawsuits in Texas, Pennsylvania and North Dakota, land owners allege Chesapeake has treated signed leases as mere placeholders for deals that it may later choose not to honor. Two state court judges in Michigan ruled early this year that Chesapeake had the right to reject leases at any time before title to the minerals was finalized. But in the last three months, judges in Louisiana and Texas have awarded nearly $120 million to two land owners -- Peak Energy and Preston Exploration -- after finding Chesapeake breached contracts by walking away from signed deals. Scores of similar cases in Michigan and Texas have been settled this year. In late 2008, as the financial crisis sent natural gas prices tumbling, Chesapeake began to reevaluate deals it had cut. One group of land owners caught in these retreats was the Witt family. They own a 33-acre tract above the Haynesville formation of rich gas fields in Harrison County, Texas. In August 2008, the Witts were approached by land men working for Chesapeake. The offer: to lease mineral rights for the Witts' land for $14,000 per acre, according to an amended complaint filed in May 2012. Instead of checks, Chesapeake issued bank drafts, which can be cashed after an owner's property title is reviewed -- typically 30 to 90 days after a lease is signed. When the Witts went to cash the Chesapeake bank draft, they were told by bank officials that the payment would not be honored. A hand-written note on one of the Witts' bank drafts rescinded by Chesapeake reads, "Cancelled for renegotiating price (per) acre," according to an exhibit submitted in the family's lawsuit. The Witts alleged that McClendon told Chesapeake employees "to reduce the already agreed upon bonuses down to no more than $5,000 per acre" and to "take lawsuits" if necessary. The family claimed they were "cold-drafted," a term used to describe an "unethical practice in the leasing industry" in which the land owner is provided a bank draft "in consideration for a valid, enforceable lease," even though the company's intent is "not to honor the payment obligation." The practice allegedly enables Chesapeake to lock up property, block rivals, prevent owners from shopping for better offers, and then later decide if it wants to keep the acreage. "It is unethical by anyone's standards in the energy industry if the intention was not to pay the draft at the time it was issued," said Richard Bate, an oil and gas attorney in Denver. "It is the essence of the land grab because it boxes out the competition without the intention to pay." In response to the suit, Chesapeake said it "was simply under no contractual obligation to pay lease bonuses" to the Witts, according to court records. The company said the leases were "not signed by Chesapeake," though copies show they were taken in the name of a Chesapeake subsidiary, Chesapeake Exploration. Terry Rhoads, an attorney for the Witt family, said their lawsuit was settled on Aug. 17. Terms were t disclosed. No refusing But Chesapeake and other energy companies, which view fracking as safe, are now using state statutes to access the minerals under unleased land even if owners object to the drilling technique. If property owners refuse deals, Chesapeake and its land men have made clear their plans to take the oil and gas from beneath the land by using little-known laws in Texas, Ohio and other states. The terminology varies from state to state -- a Rule 37 exception in Texas, mandatory pooling or unitization in Ohio. But the result is often the same: getting state regulators to enable the company to drill, sometimes against the owner's will. The economic argument for granting access to unleased land is logical. Difficulty in stitching together large plots leaves holes in drilling units that can make development less profitable. Large, contiguous plots enable drillers to pump more oil and gas. Allowing companies to access remaining land means that property owners who want to sell their mineral rights aren't shortchanged by a few holdouts. "Under Ohio law, it's not legal for one or a few landowners to keep the vast majority of landowners from exercising their rights to develop their minerals and get the benefits," said Heidi Hetzel Evans, a spokeswoman with the state's Department of Natural Resources, which rules on such requests. Chesapeake has based some of its petitions on just such a premise: that it is protecting the rights of people who want to drill, rather than succumbing to the will of holdout landowners. That marks a turnabout in Texas. When the state passed the Rule 37 statute in 1919, it was meant to prevent excessive drilling of oil wells and to protect the mineral rights of small landowners, say legal experts. The rule prohibits companies from drilling too close to unleased properties. Today, Rule 37 exceptions "seem to be a new creative use of the statute in a way that was not intended when it was designed," said Matthew Festa, an associate professor of law at South Texas College of Law. "It's possible that this amounts to the transfer of private property from one private entity to another private entity." Since Jan. 1, 2005, three of the largest oil and gas drillers in Texas have applied for 3,595 exceptions to Rule 37, according to a Reuters review of Texas Railroad Commission data. Chesapeake has been the most active. It has applied for 1,628 exceptions, compared with 1,073 for rival EOG Resources and 894 for XTO Energy, a unit of Exxon Mobil. Chesapeake and its rivals almost always win. Energy companies only have to notify land owners that they intend to apply for a Rule 37 exception. If the owner doesn't protest, commission guidelines require the petition be granted. Texas Railroad Commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye said the agency believes there is no evidence that fracking is unsafe. And evaluating the fairness of Rule 37 exceptions is not part of the commission's mandate, she said. "We are charged by the Legislature to make sure hydrocarbons don't stay underground and go to waste," she said. "It becomes a balancing act. Do we allow two or three landowners to prevent a majority from developing those minerals?" Energy companies and their executives are the dominant contributors to the election campaigns of railroad commission members and candidates, according to a Reuters review of Texas Ethics Commission data. For example, Chesapeake was among the largest donors last year to the campaign of the commission's chairman, Barry Smitherman, who is seeking reelection this year. The company contributed $25,000. 'Whatever we want' They aren't the only owners facing a similar scenario. Ohio's Utica shale formation is a cornerstone of Chesapeake's plan to drill for more oil, which is fetching a premium at a time of rock-bottom natural gas prices. The company has already leased more than 1 million acres of land in the state. It wants more. One result: Dozens of Ohio land owners interviewed by Reuters say Chesapeake land men are raising the prospect that their land will be "force pooled" -- a term for using state law to mandate that unleased property be included in drilling units. That contention is supported by a tape recording of land man Nate Laps, who worked for Chesapeake in Ohio through subcontractor Kenyon Energy. The recording was made by David Kennedy, a landowner in Stark County, Ohio. Kennedy later signed a lease with Chesapeake, receiving a bonus of $9,900 for his 11-acre property. He said he feels that Laps gave him a "fair shake." The recording indicates that not all landowners are as fortunate. In a portion of the recorded conversation, Kennedy asked Chesapeake land man Laps: "Mandatory pooling -- what is that?" Laps responded: "We don't like to talk about this because we won't want to come across as it's our way or no way. … But since you mentioned it -- if properties don't want to sign, if we have 90 percent secured of the well that we need, we have the power to put these people in the lease without their permission." Kennedy: "Do you still have to pay 'em?" Laps: "All you do is pay them the royalties. … We can do whatever we want." Laps did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment. But state records in Ohio show Chesapeake is doing precisely what Laps said, and with the blessing of regulators. Unlike Rule 37 in Texas, Ohio statutes allow that landowners could receive royalties. Hetzel Evans said the DNR receives "a few dozen or more" forced-pooling applications per year. The DNR has approved most of them, she said, but only when a driller shows "there's no other option." Asked about the comments by Laps to landowner Kennedy, she said: "It does concern us if we're being portrayed as allowing an operator to just come in and do what they will. A comment like that makes it sound like we don't have a framework in place." State Rep. Mark Okey, a Democrat who represents nearby communities, has unsuccessfully sponsored legislation to govern the conduct of land men. He said his constituents have singled out Chesapeake's brokers as the most forceful. Their land men have even sought to lease his property, he said. "They believe in intimidation tactics. They threaten you. They will yell at you. … It's all about getting you to sign," Okey said. "You don't sign? We'll go around you. You don't sign? You'll not get anything out of your mineral rights. You don't sign? Then you're going to pay the price because we're going to take those minerals from you." Chesapeake declined to comment. David and Catherine Conrad live just outside the town of Hartville, Ohio, near Akron. They said they refused to sign a lease with Chesapeake last year because they, too, oppose fracking. But a Chesapeake well will soon snake beneath the Conrad home. Chesapeake requested in November that the couple's land -- and the land of 48 other property owners -- be included in an area where Chesapeake plans to drill six wells. Chesapeake's application was reported by the Columbus Dispatch. On July 10, officials with the DNR approved Chesapeake's request. "I don't think the state should be able to take a landowner's rights to generate a profit for a private company," Conrad said. In its petition, Chesapeake told regulators its proposed drilling unit could produce 4.5 million barrels of oil and 3.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas -- if the plots of the 49 landowners who didn't lease their property to Chesapeake were included. If not, Chesapeake said, the unit would be 75 percent less productive and would miss out on an additional $71 million in revenue, according to its application. That math carried the day. More from Open Channel:
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Manhunt continues for murder suspect in state park
| A massive manhunt is underway in upstate New York for Eugene Palmer, who is suspected of killing his daughter-in-law outside her home last Monday and fleeing to nearby Harriman State Park. NBC's Mara Schiavocampo reports. By NBC News staff A massive manhunt for a 73-year-old wanted for the murder of his daughter-in-law continued in upstate New York, where police are still searching for Eugene Palmer in the thick woods of a 46,000-acre state park. Search teams including officers, dogs and a helicopter have been looking for Palmer around the clock for the past week, after his truck was found in the Harriman State Park area. Bloodhounds traced his trial to a campsite, before the trail went cold. "The woods are too thick for a general sweep," Haverstraw Police Chief Charles Miller said last week. "There are so many places to hide ... [Or] he could have made it to a road and gotten picked up by somebody, and he could be staying elsewhere." Authorities hunting for 73-year-old accused of killing his daughter-in-law Eugene Palmer, of Haverstraw, is accused of killing his estranged daughter-in-law, Tammy Palmer, 39, who lived in a trailer 50 feet from his house, The New York Times reported. His sister, Elaine Babcock, said he stopped by her nearby home Monday morning, gave her money for his property taxes, and then told her that he had killed Palmer before asking her to wait an hour before calling police. But Babcock immediately called 911, The Journal News in New York's Hudson Valley reported. Officers said a separate 911 caller heard three gunshots coming from the home; they found Tammy Palmer, who has two teenage sons with Eugene's son, dead on the ground behind her trailer, NBCNewYork.com reported. "She doesn't deserve to be dead," Tammy's mother, Violet Pannirello, told NBC News. Flyers are posted all over the park to inform visitors about Palmer, whom police say is armed and dangerous. "I'm concerned, but I'm not overly terrified, but I still don't want to be outside alone, or anything," area resident Allison Potanovic told NBC News. Tammy Palmer and John Palmer had been married for about 17 years, John Pannirello, Tammy's father, told The New York Times, but they separated five months ago, and in the past few weeks, they had been in a custody battle over the kids. Eugene Palmer, a former truck driver, is an avid hunter who loves the outdoors. His family says he knows every inch of the woods in the area, but Palmer also has diabetes and has recently suffered a heart attack.This week, officials started sending out cadaver dogs. "It's a very difficult place to survive. He's been out there seven days, if he is still here, he'd have to be very adaptable to these types of conditions in order to survive that long," New York State Park Police Maj. David Herrick told NBC News. NBC's Elizabeth Chuck contributed to this report. More content from NBCNews.com: |
Cops probe video of officer striking woman in Pa.
| View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com. By Jackie Gailey, NBCPhiladelphia.com Police chiefs are investigating an incident, captured on cell phone video, in which a woman was struck by an officer at the Festival de las Americas after the city's Puerto Rican Day Parade. The video shows several police officers at Sunday's festival amid a crowd of people. The woman, identified as Aida Guzman of Chester, Pa., is shown being hit by one of the officers and falls to the ground. For more visit NBCPhiladelphia.com. "You only see one vantage point, but what you do see is disturbing, I have to be honest about that," said Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross. The incident happened near 5th and Lehigh streets in North Philadelphia, after the parade on the parkway. Parade organizers say they had nothing to do with the North Philadelphia event. Officials say Guzman was spraying silly string at officers involved in a traffic stop. "The guy was out there spinning wheels and burning up tires in the middle of the highway, which is not normal. And we're out there to make sure that stopped. As we're doing it, things are being thrown, liquids are being tossed, substances being sprayed from a can," says Fraternal Order of Police President John McNesby. Guzman was cited for disorderly conduct. Her face was bleeding as officers took her away. She told NBCPhiladelphia.com: "I feel angry, very angry. I go to someplace, got a good time and look this happen, for no reason." Philadelphia police confirm the officer involved in the incident is Lt. Jonathan Josey. Josey has been with the department for more than 17 years and is a decorated supervisor with the Highway Patrol. He is now on administrative duty. Internal Affairs is investigating the incident, according to police. The FOP says it will defend Josey "to the end." McNesby said people often throw things such as bleach and urine at officers, and urged people not to judge the incident based on the video alone. Lt. Josey has made headlines before. He was exonerated in the shooting death of a Philadelphia man shortly after the man robbed a convenience store in Lower Merion in March 2010. In July 2010, Lt. Josey was stabbed in the back while trying to break up a fight outside a West Philadelphia bar. The executive director of Concilio, which organizes the parade every year, called on police to fully investigate the incident. "While we have no knowledge of what led to the incident, it is clear from the video that a police officer unnecessarily and brutally struck a woman in the face," the statement read. "Even as we celebrate the tremendous advancements of Philadelphia's Hispanic community over the decades, we cannot overlook this episode. We call on the Philadelphia Police Department to fully investigate and take appropriate action." More content from NBCNews.com: |
US border agent killed in Ariz. shooting
| By NBC News staff and wire reports Two U.S. Border Patrol agents were shot, one fatally, near Naco, Arizona, authorities told KVOA.com and The Associated Press on Tuesday. The shooting occurred at a patrol base named after Brian Terry – a border agent who was killed in December 2010 in an incident at the center of a controversy over a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives (ATF) gun tracking operation known as "Fast and Furious." "The injured agent has been airlifted to the hospital," Crystal Amarillas, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Border Patrol in Tuscon, said in a statement to KVOA.com. Brian A. Terry Border Patrol Station dedicated for slain agent "Preliminary reports indicate one agent has died from his injuries and another sustained non-life threatening wounds." Names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin, Amarillas said. This is a breaking news story. More updates will follow later. |