Mayor Calvin Tillman: ShaleTest.org

With the myriad of environmental and health related concerns that have come about due to natural gas development, people are left with a whole slew of problems that are often quite costly. These problems have been difficult to handle, especially since there has been little regulation and no one the people can turn to for assistance. In 2010, ShaleTest.org was founded by two gentleman, Tim Ruggiero and Calvin Tillman, who had been personally affected by natural gas drilling. ShaleTest.org is a non-profit organization created to collect environmental data and provide environmental testing to lower income families and neighborhoods that are effected by natural gas exploration.Calvin Tillman is the former mayor of the small town Dish, Texas who was featured in the film, Gasland. Elected as mayor of DISH in May of 2007, Calvin served his second term as mayor, after serving a two year term as town commissioner of DISH. Due to DISH being the crossroads of many natural gas pipelines, the mayor was active in pursuing state legislation regarding the routing of natural gas pipelines as well as the powers that the pipeline companies have been given. A resolution was passed by the town of DISH regarding this subject and was passed by forty other towns with well over a million people represented. DISH, which has the smallest budget of any town in North Texas, commissioned an independent air quality study near a large natural gas compression station. This testing was among the first of its kind. The town of DISH is leading the cause for responsible drilling and pipelines in North Texas. Mayor Tillman serves on work groups with the members of the state legislators, regarding regulation of the natural gas industry and is active with the Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project. He has traveled around the United States speaking on responsible drilling. Stay tuned to listen to Mayor Calvin Tillman!