The right way to protect Flower Mound

Flower Mound resident, Ladd Biro responds to Council Member Dixon's arguments on the merits of the CCF. This response was printed in the Cross Timbers Gazette on March 5th. Many thanks to Ladd for taking the time to express the thoughts and concerns of many of us residents.

Here are a few paragraphs challenging Mr. Dixon's campaign promise from last year.

Mr. Dixon, if you are really committed to protecting our town – and I believe you are – stop letting the drillers set the agenda. Pay more attention to the concerns of your constituents than to attorney Jeff Tasker, your friend and former Town Council member who now represents Williams.

Enact truly stringent ordinances that require vapor recovery systems and equipment to monitor sites 24 hours per day for hazardous chemical leaks. Insist that drillers recycle their wastewater on-site, thereby reducing truck traffic and obviating the need for a CCF. Recycling also means that less of our precious water will be permanently contaminated in the first place. Williams will comply, as they do in other communities; but only if you make them.

I also urge you to fulfill your campaign promise, still posted on your web site, to tighten Flower Mound’s Oil & Gas Ordinance “to not allow drilling within 1,000 feet of a residence.” As you well know, all but one of the 33 wells drilled to date in Flower Mound have required a variance. Yes, 32 of 33 well sites required a variance from our supposedly “exemplary” ordinances. Why have ordinances in the first place if we’re not going to follow them? You’ve had ample opportunity to do something about this, but you have inexplicably failed to act.

You must read the whole article by clicking on the word response in the first article.