Did Berkeley Neighborhood association throw Mistletoe Heights under the bus in drilling lease agreement?

Mondalejones says:

Contact: J.R. Martinez 817.455.6422

RANGEL PROPOSES MORATORIUM ON GAS DRILLING NEAR TRINITY RIVER

Today District 9 City Council candidate Juan Rangel proposed a 6 month moratorium on any gas drilling within 1,000 feet of the Trinity River. “This buffer will protect our water source and give everyone some time to come up with a way to preserve the Trinity Trees." Rangel also recommended that the City reconstitute the Gas Well Task Force to improve protections for natural resources like water and neighborhoods.

An eight-acre wooded parcel of land along the Trinity Trail near Rogers Road, which most people thought was a park, is now owned by Chesapeake Energy. Plans are being finalized by Chesapeake to destroy 2.5 acres of the trees to be used as a gas drilling site. Recently, citizens have expressed opposition to the destruction of these trees.

On Friday, a gas drilling company spilled 5,000 gallons of dyed red diesel fuel into Grassy Creek. Rangel said "We don't want to turn the Trinity River into the Red River."

"The Barnet Shale has been here for thousands of years and its not going anywhere. It's more important to get this done right than get it done quickly," Rangel added.

Rangel proposed that the Gas Well Task Force should include a representative from each part of Fort Worth and two at large representatives, one charged with protecting neighborhood interests and another charged with protecting the environment. The committee would address issues such as sound limitations, model lease provisions and neighborhood protections. "Gas drilling in neighborhoods should be safe, rare and respectful of neighborhoods.”

rpm4565 says:

Do any of you ever bother to check your facts before making outrageous allegations? The primary blogger here simply lies about the facts, while another opportunistic politician jumps on it as an opportunity to spout sensational fears based on a complete lack of information. How do you people sleep at night? If you had bothered to check with anyone with responsibility for Mistletoe Heights neighborhood leasing you would have learned that they are very pleased with the Berkeley & Ryan Place deal, as are the residents of Ryan Place. Juan Rangel was even present during the presentation of the Berkeley Place deal to it's association and heard how this deal presents no threat to Mistletoe, yet he chose not to correct your false accusation in favor of his political gain. Shameful. And where was Rangel when the City Council formerly voted to allow clearcutting of ALL Trinity Trees by the previous landowner? In fact, where were any of you whiners? Previous TT owner was authorized and planning to remove entire grove of trees for a business development, while gas driller proposes to preserve the majority of that property. Now, who is the real bad guy? Berkeley fought hard to find a deal that could protect every resident in the area from both realistic and hysterical fears about drilling, and succeeded. Before making false claims, try checking your facts. Fortunately I've never seen this blog before and only registered in order to post this reply. At least I've learned early that there is no reason to revisit this site as there is little chance of valuable or accurate information appearing here.

TheCaravanOfDreams says:

Thanks for reading. Wow. Where to begin. As far as lies, I'm not sure what you mean. If you have a specific allegation, please make it. I would be happy to address it.

Certainly, there are many people pleased with Berkeley and Ryan Place agreement. Is that sentiment unanimous? No.

<a href="http://thecaravanofdreams.blogspot.com/2007/09/neighborhoods-at-crossroads.html">Allow me to refer you another article on this agreement.</a>

<blockquote>These neighborhood associations believe the terms incorporate residents' safety and quality-of-life concerns and could become a model for other neighborhoods in the area.

Writes Jim Fuquay: "Principal among the Ryan Place and Berkeley concerns was the drill site. Fort Worth Energy plans to use a site east of Jennings Avenue and north of Page Avenue, in an industrial area, to reach those neighborhoods. The lease specifically excludes the use of a site between Eighth and Stanley avenues, land held by Four Sevens Resources, which leases in the area for Chesapeake."

Also, Bill Conley, the head of the Ryan Place leasing committee, told the S-T that the Ryan Place/Berkeley lease specifies which drill sites may and may not be used, and guarantees that drilling activities must be at least 600 feet from neighborhood properties, a figure that would rise if the city of Fort Worth increases its 600-foot separation rule.

However, what the S-T didn't mention is that according to local attorney Liane Janovsky, the proposed drill site is 4 blocks from Daggett Montessori Elementary, and 6 blocks from Daggett Elementary. Below is part of a letter she wrote to her neighbors:

"Needless to say, I’m very disappointed with the outcome, and particularly disappointed that the RPIA Gas Taskforce (of which I was a member) was not briefed or informed about the plan before it was presented and endorsed.

"The lease is modeled after the Tanglewood N’hood Assoc lease. Variations with different drill sites are being proposed throughout the 10 Southside neighborhood associations. Berkeley has already proposed a similar lease (drilling at a “secret site” north of I-30, but not on 8th Avenue), and the other Southside neighborhoods will roll out their proposals in the days ahead under the auspices of the 'Joint Neighborhood Committee.'

"I bring this to you attention so you can be aware that the gauntlet is now down for people to demand (and get) $10,000 / acre signing bonuses. Judging by the standing ovation the RPIA plan got last night, some people are clearly more thrilled with the cash than they are concerned about the risk to the children in nearby schools, high traffic, pipelines, water abuse and safety."</blockquote> It remains to be seen where the Berkeley drilling site will be. That may determine how many in Mistletoe Heights feel about the deal.

This is the point of my article: "This is the downside to the lack of leadership from the City on this issue. As Wendy Davis tried to explain at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, we need to go back and revisit the urban gas drilling ordinance. As it stands right now, neighborhoods are free to cut their own deals. But if your Neighborhood Association cuts a deal that results in a well being stuck in some other neighborhood, how do you know some other Neighborhood Association won't do the same thing to you down the line?"

I believe the city needs to revisit the gas drilling ordinance, and <a href="http://thecaravanofdreams.blogspot.com/2007/09/city-to-revisit-gas-drilling-ordinance.html">now that looks like it is going to happen.</a> Color me pleased.

If you are OK with the drilling well you are making money off of going a few blocks from an elementary school, that's your decision. Sign away.

How do I sleep at night? Very well. How do you?

rpm4565 says:

Once again your disregard for facts is astounding. However, your reliance upon Ms. Janovsky could be the obvious explanation. Since she was the first to posit the outrageous allegation that one neighborhood had acted in total disregard for a neighboring 'hood, it's becoming clear where you come from. And why facts mean nothing to you. It's unfortunate that you were not present at the Ryan Place association meeting where Ms. Janovsky tried to disrupt the presentation by baseless allegations that Ryan Place and Berkeley had acted with disregard to other neighborhoods, or the Joint Neighborhood Committee, which includes other neighborhoods in addition to Mistletoe, Ryan, Berkeley. Had you been there you would have seen how her initial accusation that the JNC was not aware of the Berkeley/Ryan Place action was proven incorrect and baseless, and how she then was forced to change her disruption tactics and posed a new concern for the supposed proximity to the Daggett School. Her transparent attempt to change tactics in mid-stream after the initial approach failed was laughable, and the audience was observed to react to her appropriately...with little respect. Your lack of facts? Well, how about the fact that the proposed drill site was shown to be more than 600 feet away from any Mistletoe residence and eveb north of the railroad bridge? Only by ignoring those public statements of the Berkeley "deal" could you make your allegations. Raising the accusation of "thrown Mistletoe under the bus" (which is direct quote from Janovsky, I might add) in the face of such readily available facts can only be attributed to a conscious intent to misrepresent, or an incredible lack of concern for truth vs. the chance to raise a fearful allegation. As for water: Gas uses LESS than 1% of all water in FW. Fact. Check it out. Highest user is lawn irrigation. And gas folk are pursuing recycling because it's in their financial interest. Can irrigating homeowners say the same thing? Traffic: Are you aware of the city ordinance limitations that insure gas traffic is kept to truck and commercial routes that already carry such traffic? Have you bothered to point out those "facts" when you raise your fears? Did Ms. Janovsky bother to tell people that those schools that she now suddenly champions are more than 1000 feet from any possible drill site? Of course not, it's much better to imply frightening proximity than to be limited by real facts. Sadly, the facts don't support your agenda, but you can keep trying. The fact that you can't recognize how posing baseless arguments that are easily blunted serves to damage your message rather than enhance it is what I find amazing. But keep talking. Thanks to folk like you and Don Young, the rest of us look that much more reasonable. And what sort of leadership do you expect from the city council. This is private property and private landowners can lease or not with whomever they choose to do business with. The city council can do nothing outside of their permit regulatory authority to affect my contract rights. And their regulatory authority is limited. With no engineering or safety facts to support a permit denial, it will not stand legally. And unfortunately, for your agenda, the engineering and safety facts come down in favor of drilling, even on 8th. Which makes the Berkeley/Ryan deal even that much more important. But keep fighting it. If you disrupt it enough, you'll increase the likelihood of more leasing that will support drilling on 8th. Berkeley &amp; Ryan have taken a great deal of land out of that market, but you are certainly free to force people back to that option. That would be very smart.