Protect your family, your property values and your community! Come to the Oil & Gas Board of Appeals meeting on Wednesday, May 19th, 6:30 pm, Town Hall, 2121 Cross Timbers, and make your voice heard.
The Town of Flower Mound’s O&G Board of Appeals will be hearing a request from Titan Operating Company for variances (exceptions) to the setback requirements contained in the Town’s O&G ordinance. If these variances are approved, gas drilling will soon begin at Hilliard Field – located on FM 2499, south of FM 3040 and north of Spinks.
Our O&G ordinance is frequently touted as one of the strongest in the state; however, if variances are allowed, the ordinance is weakened, and residents are no longer properly protected. If the O&G Board approves the requested variances, within a few months Flower Mound will have its first real “urban” gas well. In fact, up to 20 wells could possibly be drilled at or around this site.
Regardless of whether you live near the Hilliard site or not, you have a right to express your concerns about the proposed variances.
The Hilliard site is located on one of the Town’s main thoroughfares – the new gas well would be one of the first things a visitor arriving from DFW would see as they drove into Town – and it is surrounded by highly residential areas. The variances would allow drilling to take place within 100 feet of an upland habitat, less than 200 feet from waters of the state (a creek bed that is generally dry, but subject to runoff concerns with heavy rain), and less than 300 feet from a water well.
In addition, Shadow Ridge Middle School is located approximately 1/3 mile from the proposed well site and Bluebonnet Elementary is less than 1/2 mile from the site.
What you can do:
• Bring your friends and neighbors to the O&G Board Meeting this Wednesday night, 6:30 pm at Town Hall. We need the board members to understand that the vast majority of Town residents do not support gas drilling in the center of Town and that the protections offered by the Town’s strong O&G ordinance should not be weakened by numerous variance approvals.
• Email the Oil & Gas Board regarding your concerns, in care of racheal.hudson@flower-mound.com.
• Sign the online petition requesting that the O&G Board deny the requested variances at:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/saynoFM/petition.html
Many people mistakenly believe that the recent moratorium enacted by the Town Manager will prohibit drilling. THIS IS NOT THE CASE! The moratorium only applies to new applications for centralized facilities for gas compression, gas lift or produced water storage.
Our Mission: To work in a legal, ethical, and civil manner to stop urban gas drilling in the highly residential areas of North Texas. We are not against all gas drilling, but rather that which will adversely affect the public safety, the enjoyment of our homes, and our overall quality of life. We support the need for better regulation and accountability of the Oil & Gas Industry in rural and urban areas of Texas.
For all of those who think that "drilling doesn't affect me". If you commute on 2499, there will be hundreds of trucks turning left from the Hilliard property onto the southbound lanes of 2499, M-F from 7am to 7pm. This will affect both north and southbound traffic for years to come. How about a longer commute? Gridlock due to accidents, you bet. Deaths? We're trying to prevent that, but some people just want their money, go figure.
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