MORE VARIANCE ABUSE

Last night the town council voted 3 to 2 allowing Mr. Hilliard a variance to put up a power pole and over 300 feet of power lines on his property. The voting went as follows for (Hayden, Stephenson, and Wise) and 2 against (Filidoro and Lyda).

The town requires all power lines be buried BY ORDINANCE. It is mostly for AESTHETIC reasons but safety and disruption of service during storms or high winds are a concern too.

Sec. 90-423. - Underground utilities.

All existing overhead utilities, save and except transmission facilities identified herein below, and all new utility extensions shall be placed underground in conjunction with the development or redevelopment of a property, subject to the following provisions:

(1) Each of the utility companies shall be responsible for developing administrative policies and cost reimbursement procedures for the installation and extension of their underground utilities. Nothing in this section shall prohibit or restrict any utility company from recovering the difference in cost of overhead facilities and underground facilities in accordance with the provisions of such utility company's approved tariff. No utility company shall be required to begin construction of underground facilities unless and until the customer, owner, developer and/or party requesting such facilities has made arrangements satisfactory to the specific utility company for the payment of such difference between the cost of overhead utilities and underground facilities.

(2) All electrical, telephone, data transmission, and cable television support equipment (transformers, amplifiers, switching devices, etc.) necessary for underground installation shall be pedestal- and/or pad-mounted or placed underground, and the difference in cost of such facilities shall be paid to the installing utility in accordance with provisions established in subsection (a)(1).

(3) In those cases where temporary overhead service is necessary (e.g., emergency repairs, construction field offices, etc.) these installations shall not be in service for a period exceeding six months.

(4) Transmission facilities as indicated in exhibit A are not required to be placed underground upon the development or redevelopment of the properties containing such facilities.

(5) Exceptions to the standards contained in this section may be granted by the town council subsequent to a public hearing scheduled upon request of the owner or developer.

Click here to watch video from last night's meeting. Go to Item 11.

There are already enough power poles and power lines on this property (on 2499). Why do we need anymore? The only way Mr. Hilliard would have to bury power lines in the future is if his home and the land it sits on is included in a new development. So basically it could be there forever. As if the giant pad site, dust, diesel smoke, trucks etc on Hilliard field wasn't aesthetically ugly enough!

Maybe some feel this is trivial but one of the biggest complaints in the past has been about the consequences of variances. It was a very important issue with the Oil and Gas Advisory Board. The constant granting of variances, or variance abuse as we like to call it, continues to weaken all our ordinances.

A few questions:

We realize some of you don't care about appearance but what about the danger of MORE power lines being near a natural gas production site?

and

Isn't it variance abuse that has created most of the gas drilling mess here in Flower Mound?

Here are just few articles out of many articles about fires from power lines and issues with down power lines.

Click here.

Click here. During one of the many storms we experience there were numerous calls for down power lines.

In addition, the fire department received several calls for fire alarms and down power lines during the storm.

Click here. One more example.

A fallen power line apparently started one Oklahoma blaze

Many homes and schools are near this site. Just think about a fast moving brush fire.

We could go on but you get the picture.

Thinking of moving off the Barnett Shale……..

We have put together a list States that currently have drilling activity, have had drilling activity in the past, about to have drilling, being looked at for drilling and have gas transmission pipelines running through them.


Why worry about the past? Communities sprout up all the time and some are in areas where some type of drilling or mining has happened many years before. Most people would want to know what went on before they got there.


Why worry about what is about to happen or what could happen? Just ask many of us in the Barnett Shale how important that question is. Most of us had no idea what was below us when we moved here.


List of States that currently have drilling or have had drilling:


Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming


States about to be hit by drilling


North Carolina.
http://reesenews.org/2011/06/06/nc-counties-could-face-natural-gas-drilling/16418/

South Carolina.
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=227969367215560#!/

States with gas and oil leases signed and being looked at but no drilling activity


Oregon and Washington State. http://www.blm.gov/or/landsrealty/oilandgas.php
“Thick basalt flows overlay the potential reservoirs, making exploration and development costly. With rising gas prices, advances in technology, and the lack of previous development, there has been a dramatic interest in oil and gas leases in Oregon and Washington in the past few years. Half of the revenue derived from leasing and royalties is returned to the state where the leases are located. Currently there are more than 300 federal leases representing about 500,000 acres in Oregon and Washington. There are currently no active oil and gas drilling or exploration sites in Oregon or Washington.”


Minnesota and Wisconsin. http://www.geo.umn.edu/mgs/rift_gas/explore.htm
This u-tube video explains why this area of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa has potential for drilling. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07kmGZ4MTJE

Don’t count out under the Great Lakes. The United States largest fresh water resource. http://www.lrc.usace.army.mil/GrtLakes/OilGas/info.html

You can add the following states that have transmission pipelines, which would include the above states. Remember, where there is a pipeline, there will compressor stations.


Missouri and Georgia. http://www.spectraenergy.com/Operations/US-Transmission/Pipeline-Assets/Texas-Eastern-Transmission/

Virginia. http://www.spectraenergy.com/Operations/US-Transmission/Pipeline-Assets/East-Tennessee-Natural-Gas/

Watch where you move if you’re going to New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. http://www.spectraenergy.com/Operations/US-Transmission/Pipeline-Assets/Algonquin-Gas-Transmission/

Include Maryland, New Hampshire and Maine. http://www.spectraenergy.com/Operations/US-Transmission/Pipeline-Assets/Maritimes-Northeast-Pipeline/

Add Illinois. Keystone brings hot, corrosive crude from the Tar Sands of Canada. This map also includes the new proposed Keystone XL route. http://www.transcanada.com/images/content/Pipeline_Projects/KeystoneXL_Map_hd.jpg

Plans for more pipelines. http://www.spectraenergy.com/Operations/New-Projects/

Natural Gas Storage


Natural gas is stored in two basic ways – compressed in tanks as liquefied natural gas (LNG) or in large underground storage facilities such as depleted gas wells, salt caverns or rock caverns, abandoned mines, and aquifers.


This map was as of 12/2007. The amount of gas storage has increased since this map. Texas alone has added gas storage facilities. http://www.eia.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/analysis_publications/ngpipeline/undrgrndstor_map.html

This is a good map of Williams Transco pipelines which shows gas storage areas as well. http://www.williams.com/docs/assetmap_gp.pdf

I think that leaves Vermont, who currently gets their natural gas from Canada and others. And Hawaii. I couldn’t find a map with their gas transmission pipelines but we have to assume they are present.

Gas well blow out injures one in Wise County

At 9:00 am this morning, a gas well blew out in Decatur. One worker was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital via helicopter with a broken leg and possible head injuries. Customers in the Lowe's nearby said they felt shaking and heard a loud noise.

Click here for story in the Wise County Messenger.

This is the second incident in Wise County in a few days. This past weekend several thousand barrels of crude oil spilled at an Enterprise Products gathering site.

Two very good examples why gas and oil production should not be anywhere near where people live, work, go to school, and farm. This industry needs to be better regulated to insure the health and safety of all citizens of the shale.

IMPORTANT: Natural Gas Leak at Bob Smith #2

A near explosion from the Bob Smith Williams site. Residents said it sounded like a loud jet engine. From the Flower Mound Website:

At 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, December 30, 2010, the Flower Mound Fire Department responded to a natural gas leak from a valve at the Dr. Bob Smith #2 well located at 4000 Shiloh Road. A resident reported a loud noise coming from the well pad site. The FMFD responded within three minutes of notification and confirmed the noise as well as a vapor plume coming from the equipment area housing the dehydration units. Air monitoring began immediately to detect any gas plume and two additional fire units, from Stations #1 and # 4, responded to provide additional air monitoring equipment. Police assistance was requested to briefly shut down FM 1171 and Shiloh Road to allow for monitoring to verify no hazard existed downwind.


The Williams Company, operators of the well site, were notified and arrived to close the valves to stop flow. It was determined the leak was a result of a deteriorated valve located on the well side of the equipment before it reaches dehydration/sedimentation separation. Sand and fine grit contained in the gas moving through the pipe created friction causing wear. The valve remains closed and will require maintenance to bring the production back on-line. A Williams Petroleum Engineer inspected the site to be certain no other issues were present. The Town’s Gas Inspector is working with the Williams Safety Division to begin documentation of the incident. Based on additional analysis, and as the Town was unable to verify at the time the amount of gas released, the incident was reported to TCEQ. Additional information should be available early next week.
Posted 12/31/2010.

Click here for press release.
Click here for air quality report around the time of the leak.

Concerned about the proposed Aberdeen/School Crossing Titan/Hilliard Traffic Route?

The proposed traffic route for the Titan/Hilliard site is to build a continuation of Aberdeen through to FM 2499. This is an entrance to neighborhoods, school crossing and also a walkway that leads to Shadow Ridge.

Right now, they want to use the portion of Aberdeen that runs by Shadow Ridge as an emergency route. A road is being build as we speak. Hmm... makes you wonder why they are going through the expense and trouble if it isn't going to be used? The proposed emergency route would be the FM 2499 entrance to Hilliard Field.

Many residents are questioning why all the truck traffic is being shifted to the South end of Hilliard Field. Closer to the schools and near the entrance of a densely populated neighborhood. Away from the property and lease holder's home.
Good question!

We encourage you to write TXDot, LISD and the Town of Flower Mound to voice your concerns.

What are the other options?

Use Mr. Hilliard's street Sheri Lane as the main access road. When trucks are servicing the site, they have to sit and park waiting for access. This would take this idle truck traffic off of FM 2499 and put it on Sheri Ln. In late 2007, a traffic study was done on the portion of FM 2499 between FM 3040 and Spinks. This stretch saw over 40,000 cars and trucks a day. The new Lewisville Lake Bridge on FM 2499 will open soon. This will bring even more traffic through this area. Trucks parked along FM 2499 waiting for access could be a disaster.

The FM 2499 entrance to Hilliard could be used as a emergency route and allow better access to the site in case of an accident or explosion.


Town of Flower Mound
mailto:Moundmayor/towncouncil@flower-mound.com
harlan.jefferson@flower-mound.com
edith.marvin@flower-mound.com
robert.pegg@flower-mound.com
matthew.woods@flower-mound.com

LISD
royj@lisd.net
mailto:lisd.netbuckb@lisd.net
kyerc@lisd.net
fultona@lisd.net
fergusont@lisd.net
knappjeff@lisd.net
lathamb@lisd.net
foughtyj@lisd.net


TXDoT GBailey@dot.state.tx.us

Great Videos of the BP Gulf Blowout Disaster

University of Georgia marine scientist, researcher and Gulf expert, Dr. Samantha Joye work is showcased in this great 3 part Documentary.
Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 2
Click here for Part 3
The UGA and Dr. Joye have a Gulf Disaster blog too.
Click here to access the blog.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

This one tugs at the heart strings. A video of the gulf disaster with the TV show Glee's season finale song "Somewhere over the rainbow",

Click here

Deja Vu in the Gulf

It seems that an event very similar to the BP Blow out happened 31 years ago. Apparently the industry did not learn anything from the previous accident.

Click here for the video from the Rachel Maddow Show.
The video is a bit confusing at first but then gets to the point. Just hang in there for a few seconds.

Oil & Gas worried recent accidents may bring stronger regulation

Houston we have a problem: At least that is what the Oil & Gas Industry is worried about.

Last week was an explosive week for the natural gas production industry.

The past month has brought other concerns out. It was reported that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality failed to report the proper findings to the City of Fort Worth. TXSharon posted the documents obtained through a public information request that showed major deception going on within the state agency.

Natural gas drilling may burn cleaner but the extraction of it is dangerous, FLAMMABLE and dirty. In a recent Houston Chronicle article it states the industry is worried that the recent BP spill and gas drilling accidents in the past week could bring on stronger regulations. Oil & Gas is worried about the impact to the Houston area business climate. Why is it the industry never gets this worried about the impact on the residents living near natural gas production facilities?

The following paragraphs are shocking. It seems Chesapeake's CEO Aubrey McClendon, doesn't think the recent accidents will have any meaningful impact on the industry. Check out the ifs, ands or buts in his statement.

“You want to have no accidents ever, but as long as humans are involved and you’re dealing with great unknowns underneath the earth, you’re going to have some surprising things happen,” he said.
“The question is what do you do with it? If BP had been able to control that spill in a day, we wouldn’t be talking about the BP incident today.”

IF the industry is better regulated AND the O & G Industry is held accountable for their actions, we may be able to eliminate these accidents in the future.

IF the industry starts to care more about the health, safety AND quality of life of those living near these sites AND less about profit, natural gas could become the important "bridge" fuel it is being touted to be.

BUT don't hold your breath.

Click here to read the article.

The Explosive Week Continues and Pennsylvania Takes Action.

In the past 7 days, 4 natural gas production and pipeline explosions have occurred. Yesterday there was another in the small Texas panhandle town of Darrouzett.
Click here to read the New York Times article.

The explosive week continues.

Yes, two of these explosions involved pipelines and not actual gas drilling wells. But just take a look at the Texas Railroad Commission GIS Map Viewer for Oil, Gas and Pipeline Data. You can see where there is gas drilling, there are numerous pipelines associated with natural gas production. This only increases the likelihood of accidents. Some of these pipelines run through neighborhoods, near schools, parks, etc.

Yesterday the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection took a drastic step against Houston based EOG Resources Inc., formally Enron Oil and Gas. They have ordered that all gas drilling by EOC, which affects close to 70 unfinished wells, be halted! This order includes drilling and hydrofracturing of the EOG wells until the DEP can finish their investigation and order the company to make the necessary changes.
Click here for article in the Pennsylvania's Times Leader.

It is great to see a state agency take control and protect their citizens. Pennsylvania has their Department of Environmental Protection and we here and Texas have the Texas Railroad Commission, TCEQ and the Department of Health Services. We all know what they have done to protect us. (enter goose egg here)

BP buys search term "Oil Spill"

Unbelievable!

BP will pay fees to google search to have their website rank high on the result list when the term "oil spill" is typed in by users.

Click here for article.

An Explosive Week for Gas Drilling!

In a five day span, there have been at least 3 natural gas related explosions!

June 3rd, 2010 Clearfield County, PA gas well blowout that spewed natural gas and over 35,000 gallons of drilling wastewater for over 16 hours. This explosion and natural gas leak was so bad, FAA prohibited planes within a 3 mile radius of the area!!

PennDOT and the Federal Aviation Administration are prohibiting planes below 1,000 feet in a three-mile radius around the site. The big concern was fire because the natural gas is flammable, Spadoni said. Any spark could ignite a forest fire in any of the gas-soaked areas.
Click here for info.

June 7th, 2010 Morgantown, West Virginia explosion at a natural gas well. Seven workers injured.
Click here for info.

June 7th, 2010 Johnson County, Texas a natural gas pipeline explodes killing one and injuring eight. One resident living 1/2 mile away said the heat was scorching as she walked out onto her porch!!
Click here for more info.

She was watching TV when the blast rattled her windows. A wall of heat met her at the front porch.
"It felt like it was just scorching me," she said.

After reading about these explosions, it is clear that 1000 feet is not enough distance from homes, schools, hospitals, parks, churches or any habitable buildings!

North Texas Gas Well Explosion

This is happening right now at a natural gas facility on the Hood and Johnson County line.
It has been reported that here are injured and missing victims.
Click here to read story and watch live video.

More info to follow when available.

Well Blowouts Can Happen In Shale Drilling!

A gas well blowout in Clearfield County, PA caused highly flammable natural gas and toxic water to spew out of the well for over 16 hours. The accident is under investigation. It is suspected that the problem could be with the "blowout preventer" just like the BP Deepwater Horizon Well in the Gulf. Click here to read the article from Mark Levy, Associated Press.

"The event at the well site could have been a catastrophic incident that endangered life and property," Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger said in a statement.
"This was not a minor accident, but a serious incident that will be fully investigated by this agency with the appropriate and necessary actions taken quickly."

If the agency finds that mistakes were made, it will take steps to prevent similar errors from repeating, he said. He did not elaborate on any environmental damage.

There were no homes within a mile of the well, and polluted drilling water was prevented from reaching a waterway, said Dan Spadoni, an agency spokesman.

This accident should bring into question the issue of "setback distance" from a well to homes. Does the FAA know something we don't know?

As a precaution, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a flight restriction shortly after 11 a.m., saying no planes below a 1,000 feet should go within three miles of the site. That restriction remained in effect past 2 p.m., Hanger said.

Can this happen here in the Barnett Shale?
It already has. Jack Smith with the Star Telegram reports that more than 20 blowouts have occurred at Barnett Shale wells!

Strange Bubbles in the Puddles at the Ruggiero's

It seems to be one thing after another out at the Ruggiero's Lonestar Ranch! Now they have bubbles in their puddles. The whole Beverly Hillbillies song plays in my head "up from the ground came a bubbling crude". Only ole Tim and Christine aren't millionaires and going where there are swimming pools and movie stars. Although they certainly deserve too.

The Texas Railroad Commission has been notified but so far no action taken.

Click here for the whole story from TXsharon.

House explosion in Minnesota may be related to horizontal drilling

Crews from Centerpoint Energy were installing a telephone cable using the method of horizontal directional drilling. The problem is with so many pipelines and changes in the earth (settling and erosion) it is hard to be 100% sure of where the pipelines are.

The more pipelines the more difficult the process is. Here are a few paragraphs from the Minnesota Public Radio article.

It's known as horizontal directional drilling. Crews use small tractors with hydraulic rams to shove steel pipe through the ground -- instead of digging down from above with a shovel. It's a method cheaper and faster than other tactics.

But as good as the technology is, there's still no way to see what else is underground that might be in the way of their drilling. Sunderland's crew had to thread their way through gas lines, telephone wires, TV cable, sewer connections and even a sprinkler system.

Experts say there may be several such collisions -- called crossbores -- in every mile of underground pipe installation. Inspectors have found them in pipes leading to hospitals and schools.

Gasland: The Movie

Last night, Gasland opened the Denton Thin Line Film Festival. What an amazing film. Josh Fox takes you on a journey through America's Gasland. He shows you the real horror story with large doses of compassion, reality, and humor.

After the viewing, the theater guests were treated to a question and answer session with Josh and some of the "Gasland" residents.

Great! Now the Coal Industry wants to put their fingers in the gas shale cookie jar!

The Washington Post reports that Alpha Natural Resources is expanding their natural gas business. The coal industry believes there may be stricter regulations of the coal industry. They also have seen the utility companies switching to natural gas to run their power plants. What we need is stricter regulations on natural gas drilling too.

As we have said before, we do not dispute that natural gas burns cleaner, it is the extraction process that is dirty. Natural gas has a dangerous side to it as well. We saw evidence of this last week with the explosion of the Kleen Energy Plant and other natural gas facility explosions that have occurred in the past few years.

Natural Gas Plant Explosion, a reminder that NG can be deadly

Yesterday's deadly blast at the Middletown, CT Kleen Energy Plant is a reminder that natural gas can be deadly.

The structure is so unstable that they called off the search this morning. They are still trying to get a list of workers who may have been working in the plant at the time of the explosion. Most of the 100 people believed to be there have been accounted for. The plant was designed to run by burning natural gas and construction was almost completed.

Those of us who live in our nation's "shale country", know this "clean burning" involves very dirty extraction and processing. We can add "explosive" to the list. It sure wasn't hard to find other natural gas processing, energy plant explosions, tanker truck dangers, storage tanks and pipeline dangers. Here are just a few.

Carthage, Texas DCP Midstream gas processing plant.

Natural Gas tanker truck dangers.

Bushland, Texas near Bushland High School

St Elmo's Fire in Illinois above ground gas storage tank

Natural Gas Plant Alaska

Justice, IL natural gas plant

And for those of us in Flower Mound. Hear is one from our "good neighbor" Williams.
Williams Production Co. field natural gas processing plant