Keep Flower Mound Oil and Gas Ordinance Strong

To:  Flower Mound Elected Officials

To: The Town Of Flower Mound And Its Elected Officials
Recently the Town of Flower Mound's Oil and Gas Ordinance held up in a Denton County Court of Law. At this moment, Flower Mound’s Oil and Gas Ordinance is being challenged again. Williams Production, with the support of some residents in rural West Flower Mound, wants to change the ordinance to include seismic testing and drilling waste water pipelines.
Whether or not you have signed a gas lease, you should be concerned about any changes to the Oil & Gas Ordinance. Many, who have signed, did so believing the current ordinance would be in place to regulate drilling and protect the town.
Seismic Testing on public roads
The town has stated they are not willing to take the risk of damages to public road (estimated replacement costs of $450 million of tax payer’s money). Our roads were not designed to bear the weight of two 60,000 pound trucks moving slowly sending vibrations through the ground.

Residents should also not take the risk of damage to their private property. Foundations, walls, driveways, and/or pools. How far does your home sit from the public street? Does your insurance cover this type of damage? Many insurance companies consider this to be “Earth Movement” which is excluded from most policies. Any damage would be the homeowner’s responsibility.

Rural verses Urban
There are many differences between rural and urban areas of Flower Mound. To protect our urban neighborhood the community put the 1000 ft setbacks in the ordinances. Seismic testing in rural areas (1 acre or more) can already be done on their personal private property. That is how they do it in other rural areas. They don't want to do it, because they don't want to risk having their personal property damaged. Which, by the way, sit back further from the street than more urban neighborhoods.

Williams has sent the town an agreement that totally indemnifies them of any liabilities. Which again leave residents to deal with any damage to their homes, sidewalks, wall, and pools out of their own pockets.


Wastewater Transported in underground pipelines
The gas industry through the Halliburton Act does not have to disclose what chemicals are in the wastewater. Undisclosed contents of what is being pumped through the pipelines they are asking to bury would run 4 feet underground though out our whole community.

Trucks will not be removed from Flower Mound Roads. There will be the same number of trucks on Flower Mound roads. Trucks will still be hauling this material between the collection locations and the disposal plants. The individuals, who are asking for this change, signed a gas lease knowing that this would increase the risk to their neighborhood by adding more truck traffic.

Leaks verses spills. If a pipeline leaks or breaks it is almost impossible to identify quickly. It isn't until vegetation and animals have died that action is taken. This was the case a few months ago in Pittsburgh with a leak in a similar waste water pipeline system. If a truck turns over it is known immediately and quick action can be taken.

Privatization of the Natural Gas, Water, and Wastewater Utility Systems.
With privatization, gas companies again reduce their risks by putting unknown businesses as the middleman between them and us. Who then becomes responsible if something happens?

Big profits for developers and gas drilling companies
Take a good look at Fort Worth, claiming the "financial benefit" for their town and schools for the past 5 years. Fort Worth School District falls short on federal standards for the 2nd year in a row and the town plans to cut city jobs to meet their 2010 budget. This is not about the money that you, or your neighbors--or even that the Town will receive. And after the money stops, what's our town going to look like? They'll move on, but we'll be left with the mess.



Petition

We do hereby request that the Town of Flower Mound and its elected officials do not open and revise the town’s Gas and Oil Ordinance to make any changes to the current ordinance and/or to change or interpret the current ordinance to allow Seismic Testing on public streets or to allow Gas wastewater transportation pipelines on public or private property.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Keep Flower Mound Oil and Gas Ordinance Strong Petition to Flower Mound Elected Officials was created by Flower Mound Citizens and written by Tammi Vajda (tammivajda@yahoo.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.