Follow up on last week's O&G Board of Appeals meeting

Just a couple additional details related to the denial of the variance request for a compression facility near the Rockpointe Church....

--The vote was a 3 to 3 tie, with the Board's chairperson breaking the tie by voting against approving the variance.

--Concerns were raised about the proximity of the proposed site to the church, as well as to the unknown dangers of the chemicals used in drilling.

--Turnout was very light.

Variance Denied!

At Wednesday night's O&G Board of Appeals Meeting, the requested variance for a compression facility near the Rockpointe Church was denied.

More info to come......

Variance requested for compression facility near church on Cross Timbers

In tomorrow night's O&G Board of Appeals meeting (6:30pm at Town Hall) a variance request will be voted on for a compressor facility to be located within 1,000 feet of The Rockpointe Church on Cross Timbers. Here is the link to the agenda:
http://www.flower-mound.com/agenda/oil/oil_11-19-08.pdf

According to the Town's case manager for the request, this location already has two wells--Bunn #1 and #2, which were drilled several years ago, but subsequently capped. The case manager stated that the wells were being "reopened" and that the developers were now wanting to place a compression facility nearby.

He also stated that Rockpointe has sent a letter to the Board stating their support for the project. (The proposed compression facility is 858 feet from the church.) He said that the nearest homes were on Quail Run Road, but that they were more than 1,000 feet away.

Here's my thoughts. These wells were approved approximately four years ago--well before most of us were even aware of "urban gas drilling" or the Barnett Shale. That's a fact. However, now that we know about the dangers of urban gas drilling, do we really want a compressor facility this close to the residential areas of the Town? Is it safe?

Regarding the safety aspect....did you read about Sunday morning's compression facility explosion in Johnson County? (It was two miles west of Cleburne.) Here's the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27752078/

The headline is "Flames Seen for Miles after Natural Gas Compressor Fire."

Is that a possibility that we want for Flower Mound?

Please attend the O&G Board of Appeals Meeting tomorrow night at 6:30pm and let your voice be heard.

Flower Mound Home Owners Association Coalition (FMHOA Coalition)

Kudos to the folks that are working to revitalize the coalition of Flower Mound HOA's.

This is an effort that will positively impact all of us--whether our primary interest is urban gas drilling, land development, trees, or whatever. This is a group that will work to make a positive impact for what Flower Mound residents truly want.

Try to attend the first meeting this evening from 6 to 7pm at the Wellington Amenities Center.

Learn more about it at: http://www.fmhoacoalition.hoaspace.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?action=mainand

The new coalition's mission is to:

Create a network for Flower Mound homeowners residents’ boards to work together in addressing community challenges by establishing “Best Practices” and by leveraging our size to allow better negotiating power for goods and services as well as have more visibility with the town.

Again...tonight's meeting is at 6:00pm at the Wellington Amenities Center.

Happy Halloween To Cherokee Horn!!!

"Onerous" and proud of it

Today's DMN has an article discussing the reasons that production companies have put a stop to the $25K leasing bonuses. It goes on to state that furthermore, many have stopped leasing altogether and are moving their rigs to the Haynesville Shale near Shreveport.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/102608dnbusbarnett.3cec988.html

One section of the article, in particular caught my eye: [the highlights are mine]

On top of the global economic troubles, Chesapeake faces neighborhood protests and new restrictions on urban drilling. The company chose to retreat to the areas that have already welcomed its rigs.

"When you have so much opportunity and so much clamoring, it doesn't make sense to work in areas that are onerous to do business in," Ms. Wilson said. [Ms. Wilson is Chesapeake's VP of Corporate Development.]

It's good to know that they've heard us. It doesn't mean the battle is over, but I think we should take some comfort in knowing that fighting urban drilling at the local level has had some very positive results.

So, just call me "onerous" (and proud of it)!

Cherokee Horn's latest attempt to snooker Northshore residents

Cherokee Horn's latest mailing touts their association with "Titan Operating, LLC". The mailing explains that Titan will be the operator and will be responsible for "permitting, drilling, and management of the well sites." It continues that "Cherokee Horn will continue to manage all leasing efforts."

Yawn.

In the last paragraph it says that they have enough acreage to start their next process...to begin drilling. They add that they need to hear from you asap as they're "finalizing our preliminary pooling unit."

So what?

They want you to think that a) Texas has forced pooling and if you don't sign you'll just be left out. (It doesn't work this way.) b) that they've now got enough acreage leased and that it's just a matter of paperwork to get the application finalized and to get started drilling.

It's not that simple. Here's why.

While an approval for a drilling application may be a slam dunk at the Texas Railroad Commission, it's not with the Town of Flower Mound. The proposed drilling at Northshore cannot take place without approvals for multiple variances to the Town's O&G ordinance.

That is not going to happen any time soon--if ever. Ask Red Oak about their attempts to obtain variances to drill at the Riverwalk site--they've been denied twice and have now filed suit against the Town.

Northshore will be many, many times harder to obtain variances than Riverwalk. Northshore has literally hundreds of residents within 1,000 feet of the proposed drill sites. (There are two proposed sites--north and south ends of the property.) Riverwalk's most recent proposal (which was denied in June 2008) didn't have any residences within 1,000 feet of the proposed drill site.

The O&G Board of Appeals has been very outspoken in their opposition to locating drilling closer to residences than the 1,000 feet mandated in the O&G ordinance.

We are grateful for their steadfastness. They are protecting the citizens of the Town and in particular, those residents who live close to the proposed drill sites.

And while Cherokee Horn can argue that "you're gonna miss out if you don't sign now--drilling's just around the corner"; that statement is absolutely false and is nothing more than an attempt to scare people into signing a lease because "it's gonna happen anyway."

Well it's not. Drilling is not inevitable.

And that is why we fight it and that is why we will continue to do so.