DRC/Al Key

Glenn Goode on Wednesday, Feb. 6, stands in front of an old oil well located on the 30 acres of property he purchased along Interstate 35 at Rector Road. Goode said he lost a commercial development prospect for the parcel because of renewed interest in the lease by Chaparral Natural Resources.

SANGER — Glenn Goode thought he found a good investment when he bought 30 acres of prime commercial land along Interstate 35 at Rector Road. The longtime Gainesville resident knew there was an old oil well on the land. Drilled in a field along with more than a dozen other wells more than 30 years ago, the well was no longer producing. A tank battery remained at the site, but Goode thought the well could be plugged, the battery dismantled, and the area cleaned up and put to better use.

From the cosmic rays that bombard Earth, to the X-ray in the dentist’s office, to the Brazil nuts in the party mix, people are exposed to varying levels of radioactivity every day. A century after the radiation poisoning deaths of Marie Curie and Clarence Dally, one of Thomas Edison’s assistants, re­sear­chers are still examining how much exposure humans can tolerate, according to Dr. Evan Douple, a researcher with the Na­tional Academy of Sciences and a leader in many of its respected series of reports, Bio­logical Effects of Ionizing Radiation.

Argyle landowner John David Monroe monitors activity on the land next to his home as best he can. Westside Energy Corp. operates a gas well there, and a 30-year acquaintance, James Smith of Denton, also leases the land to run cattle. But Monroe didn’t know Westside was storing used pipe on the land between his house and Brush Creek.

DRC/Barron Ludlum

Workers decontaminated 31 frac tanks, 10 storage tanks and eight waste tanks of radioactive residue at the Key Energy yard in Chico one year ago. The cleanup was among the largest in the past two years in the Barnett Shale.

Blasted free by millions of gallons of fresh water and chemical soup sent miles below ground, some of Earth’s baddest geological actors — radioactive elements capable of scarring soil and scourging human health — are slowly rising to the surface along with the Barnett Shale’s natural gas.

DRC/Barron Ludlum

Dish Mayor Calvin Tillman, shown Monday, stopped construction of a pipeline compressor station planned by Crosstex Energy until the company secures permits to build inside town limits.

DISH — Construction has stopped on a Crosstex Energy pipeline and compression plant after Mayor Calvin Tillman posted notices on the contractor’s equipment warning them of a $2,000-a-day fine if they continue to work without proper permits. A Crosstex spokeswoman said the company got ahead of itself and failed to secure building permits before beginning construction inside the town limits.

DRC/Gary Payne

Paul Fleming, 91, sits on his porch in Era on Saturday. Fleming, his daughter and son-in-law and other members of the community were able to fight off plans for a injection well to be built on neighboring land. Examiners for the Texas Railroad Commission have recommended that the application for the well be denied.

Residents in the tiny Cooke County town of Era, just across the Denton County line, call it their Perry Mason moment. The night before their first hearing in front of Texas Railroad Commission examiners to protest a new injection well in their community, one of the neighbors called another to say he made a critical discovery, something he was sure the injection well operator knew nothing about. The group’s lawyer, Austin-based environmental attorney David Frederick, made the most of his discovery. According to transcripts of the hearing, he asked Jerry Hess, owner of the Muenster-based business that would operate the well, whether he had walked his property, or any neighboring properties, to determine whether there were any old wells that might compromise his proposed operation.

DRC/Gary Payne

John Schofield and his daughters Teresa, left, and Abigail stand outside their house Saturday in Ponder. The Schofields are concerned about plans to put an injection well near their home.

PONDER — This summer is probably the last that Abby and Teresa Schofield will take carefree bike rides along the quiet stretch of Florence Road in front of their house.