Open Letter to the Residents of Flower Mound from the Flower Mound Petition Association

We wanted to post the letter from the Flower Mound Cares Petition Assoc.
Thank you to all their hard work.
Fellow citizens,
We wanted to give you an update on the progress of The Flower Mound Petition Association drive and ask for your continued support as we enter the final push toward our goal of 6,000 signatures. These signatures allow the town to “take a breath” and re-evaluate natural gas operations and storage procedures for the Town of Flower Mound.

It has been almost two months since the five founding members gathered and joined forces. Our goal then and now is to mitigate, using the legal means necessary, the decision of the Town Council on Jan 21, 2010 that paved the way for Consolidated Gas Compression Facilities and Produced Water Storage Batteries to be permitted in Flower Mound.

Each founding member joined for different reasons. And each individual brings a varied background to the table. One member is a father with a desire to protect his children from something he considers a risk to his family. Another is a nurse with the desire to reduce questionable chemicals linked to childhood leukemia. We also have a local realtor who wants to do what is right for her community and her family, along with a soccer mom determined to fight and keep the unique character of Flower Mound. “Bringing up the rear” is a retired Army officer who felt the call to duty to fight for citizens so easily dismissed by their local government.

Each one of us committed to the petition cause because we love this town. We plan to live and raise our families here. We refuse to just give up and move away, because gas companies want to place drilling complexes close to schools and residences. We will not live in a Town where the Mayor and Town Council ignore the will of the people. So with legal counsel, our association put together a petition and a proposed ordinance that we presented to you, our fellow citizens.

Despite negative publicity and interference from opponents in our community, we have gathered more than 4,000 signatures of support. This exceeds the number of citizens that typically vote in a Town election.

Throughout the petition drive, we have heard moving stories from parents of children stricken with leukemia. We have engaged mineral rights owners in respectful dialogue, even gaining some of their signatures and support. We have done our best to promote awareness about the potential health and environmental risks of urban drilling, while suggesting alternative industry practices that can bridge the gap between tapping our natural resources and protecting our community. During this effort, we remain committed to individual property rights, both surface and mineral owners.

We are nearing the April 5 legislative deadline for our petition drive. We need roughly 2,000 more signatures to reach our goal. Over the coming days, many selfless, caring volunteers will continue knocking on your doors, asking you to support our mutual cause. Several supportive business owners, who have let us set up our tables in front of their shops, continue to encourage us to fight on. We thank these businesses for donating space to the petition drive.

We urge the community to join us by signing the petition. Do it for yourself. Do it for your children and neighbors. Do it because this is America, and under the laws established by our state and federal constitutions, we have the right to maintain a town where we all want to live and raise our families.

If you have any questions or would like more information, go to: http://mysite.verizon.net/fmcares/index.html

Thank You.