Monday, August 16, 2010

Action Alert: Attend FM Council Meeting Tonight!!!

The Titan application for the Hilliard site is in the final stages of being approved. Drilling could start in the next few weeks. It is important that the residents demand our elected officials do everything in their power to protect us against the risks related to gas drilling. The current resident lawsuit is asking for the town to do that.

We know the Town can enter into a "stand-still agreement" with the plaintiffs (Ms. Simonson and Mr. Parameswaran), which could essentially put a legal hold on Titan’s application to begin drilling on Hilliard Field. There is ample legal precedent for a stand-still agreement, and it makes sense for them to do so. If the plaintiffs prevail in court, yet the Town has allowed Titan to drill before the case is heard by a judge, there is a probability that the permit would be declared invalid. In this case, all construction and drilling would have to be reversed, removed, or shut-down. And, although, Titan and Mr. Hilliard are undoubtedly aware of this lawsuit, they could conceivably blame (and sue) the Town for administratively approving a permit next week that is at risk of later being invalidated.


The town is worried about a lawsuit from Titan. But Titan has already filed suit against the Town due to the denials given to variances they requested from the Oil & Gas Board of Appeals. Titan alleges that those denials (backed strongly by a majority of residents) were arbitrary and capricious.


To make matters worse, we have heard that tonight at the Town Council meeting, our Town Council is planning to remove Jenny Rogers and Prakash Parameswaran from the Advisory Board for "perceived conflicts of interest". Even though Debra Medina and the other industry people will remain on board. These industry people have a direct financial stake in companies who stand to gain a lot of money if they help control the Advisory Board while reviewing the ordinances.


What can you do?

Share these fliers with your friends and neighbors. Click here and here to download.

Show up to the Town Council Meeting tonight at Town Hall, 6:00 pm. Since neither of the issues are on the agenda, your comments will be heard at beginning of the meeting during Public Participation.


Demand the Town Council to direct the Town staff to put a legal hold on approving the Titan application.

Demand that Jenny Rogers and Prakash Parameswaran be allowed to stay on the Oil & Gas Advisory Board.

Demand that our elected officials honor their campaign promises to stand up and fight for the residents of Flower Mound and not the gas drilling companies.


If you can't make it, please contact the Town Council via e-mail.


Mayor Melissa D. Northern mayor@flower-mound.com
Steve Dixon place1@flower-mound.com
Al Filidoro place2@flower-mound.com
Mike Wallace place3@flower-mound.com
Steve Lyda place4@flower-mound.com
Tom Hayden place5@flower-mound.com

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you are going to remove Prakash and Jennifer, you had better remove Debra too. How much did Debra contribute to your campaign, oh, that's right, nothing.

Anonymous said...

I have not yet signed a lease. My assessed land value per Denton County went up 37% from 2006 to 2007. Was this b/c of the perceived value in the mineral rights of our land? Did anyone else experience this increase?

Anonymous said...

Titan can't drill Southeast, South, and southwest because they no longer have LISD leases. Enough people to the west have not signed so they would not be able to go that direction. Some to the east beyond Hilliard's property have not signed.
What does this mean? Less wells will be drilled. Less time the kids at Blubonnet and Shadowridge will be subjected to fugitive emissions and possible evacuations if there is a blowout (they happen more often than we hear about).
Less time rigs will be visable to all that come through what is considered "the gateway to Flower Mound".
Less tanks and compressors that will be visible. (watch our property values go down when no one wants to buy a home here anymore)
Titan would have to try to force pool a large amount of residents and LISD. A big endeavor and costly for them.
That is the best reason not to sign at all.

Anonymous said...

When Cherokee Horn was signing the leases they had a map to show where the site would be. Now the proposed site location and access arrangements are different. This is a substantial change and requires renegotiation of all the leases.

Anonymous said...

Look up what happened in Corinth, They moved the site and the people who signed threatened to sue. They did move the site and it is now closer to those that live along 2499, many of us did not expect that. Plus now I read that they really need an variance for tank batteries. What is going on here. This sounds like the town could be in for a legal mess

Anonymous said...

You can't be sued for not signing a lease, that is landman BS and could amount to a criminal act if you did sign because of that false representation by them. That would be signing a contract under duress and it voids the contract.

outside looking in said...

Reading this post, it is clear that the legal advise the residents suing the town was not sound. If the two people being removed are anyway part of the lawsuit, they should have been removed. One of them is a plantiff so he should have been removed for sure. I can see that the owners of this blog came to their senses by reading the recent posts. This is Texas. Drill Baby Drill.

FMCAUD said...

Outside Looking In. I posted your comment even though this is an old post. Just because I no longer agree with the lawsuit, does not mean I am now drill baby drill. The lawsuit group did have a board. Jenny Rogers was one of the board members and Prakash was a plantiff. FYI, the town did end up removing Deborah Medina from Williams later.