What you should know about the Northshore drilling proposal

1. Contrary to information disseminated by Cherokee Horn, it is NOT inevitable that drilling will be permitted at the Northshore site!

· The Flower Mound Oil & Gas ordinance requires a 1,000 foot setback from residences. This setback can be decreased to 500 feet if a) the resident agrees to a waiver or b) if the Flower Mound Oil & Gas Board of Appeals approves a variance. See the current ordinance at:
http://www.flower-mound.com/env_resources/pix/pdf/Oil_Natural_Gas_Ordinance.pdf. [It should be noted that if the homeowner signs a lease and the O&G Board approves the variance, the setback can be reduced to 300 feet!!]

· There are twelve criteria that the O&G Board has to consider in order to approve a variance. These include:
1 - The variance, if granted, will be no material detriment to the public welfare or injury to the use, enjoyment, or value of property in the vicinity
2 - Reasonable access for the Town fire personnel and fire fighting equipment
3 - The impact upon the adjacent property and the general public…are reasonable and justified
(The full list of criteria begins on page 73 of the O&G ordinance, per the link above.)

· What this means is that if those homeowners within 1,000 feet of the proposed drilling site refuse to sign a lease, and if the O&G Board refuses to approve a variance, drilling at Northshore can effectively be stopped as this will reduce the drilling site to a size that is too small to be economically feasible.

2) What can you do?

· DO NOT SIGN A LEASE!!! (Regardless of whether you are located within 1,000 feet of the proposed drill site or not; it’s going to be important to show the O&G Board that the majority of the neighborhood does not support this. Plus, even if the drillers were able to obtain the 500 foot variance, they’d still need a majority of the homeowners to sign leases to make drilling possible—they can’t drill through a “checkerboard”.)

· There’s power in numbers. Work with your neighborhood’s HOA.

· Educate yourself. Here’s some suggested links:
o http://www.earthworksaction.org/pubs/LOguide2005book.pdf
o http://www.fwcando.org/
o http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=4719
o http://www.fwcando.org/docs/drillingmythbusters.pdf
o http://www.fireworld.com/ifw_articles/northtexasblast.php
o http://startelegram.typepad.com/barnett_shale/about_this_blog/index.html

· Don’t be misled by the developers. The potential payments to homeowners will be a pittance compared to the risk to public safety, the potential damage to the environment, and the overall degradation of our quality of life. We are talking about pennies per day!!!!