Fort Worth citizens ask task force for gas drilling master plan, moratorium on Monday

by Erin Rice

Just over 100 people attended the second public hearing of the Gas Drilling Task Force on August 11 at Fort Worth City Hall. In the crowd were a number of familiar faces, including several moratorium activists sporting their yellow "Just Say Whoa" buttons and PR folk from the various energy companies.

City Attorney Sarah Fullenwider opened the meeting to update the task force's progress (though she's not an actual member of the task force). The brief opening presentation informed those in attendance of the task force's recommendation to require a noise management plan with each gas well permit. Fullenwider also informed the crowd that the task force had not yet reached a consensus on what the definition of a public park should be. Currently, the Trinity Trails are not defined as a public park and therefore will not be considered a protected use area. Finally, Fullenwider reminded the group that the task force does not have authority to enact a moratorium.

The reminder did little to dissuade such mention from the motivated crowd.

At the previous hearing in which public comments were allowed, 37 people used their right to address the task force. On this Monday night, about half that number signed up for their three minutes at the podium. Unlike the last meeting, however, the message from the crowd was more cohesive, perhaps, organized.

Coming on the heels of last Thursday's joint council/task force session and preceding rally, seven of the speakers asked the task force, in the capacity that it could, to support a moratorium on drilling and gas well permitting. The proposed year-long moratorium is meant to allow time for Fort Worth to put into place the appropriate planning that many are worried the city is overlooking.

In that vein, several speakers asked for a master plan for all gas drilling activity. John Paul Rogues, Senior Minister of the Community Church of Fort Worth, told the task force that without a comprehensive plan, "everything is on a case by case basis, meaning we as citizens have to react instead of being proactive." Several other speakers also requested an environmental impact study conducted by an independent firm.

More targeted speakers included the President of the Lake Worth Alliance, Joe Waller, who would like Lake Worth and the surrounding parks (which were recently earmarked money for improvement projects) to be designated a protected use area. The now nationally-known Jerry Horton, who refused to sign papers to allow Chesapeake to bury a pipeline in her front yard and is undergoing condemnation proceedings, spoke once again of the issues facing residents on Carter Street and others in her neighborhood. Gordon Appleman of the western district of Fort Worth used his speech to say goodbye to the city as he knows it. "I close in fear of a farewell to a city that so many have worked so hard and so long to preserve."

Among the cheekier moments of the evening were the speakers who requested that the task force keep minutes of its meetings. A number of the speakers chided the task force, some even accusing the group of working against open government. Marjorie Montgomery, President of the League of Women Voters of Tarrant County, said that she specifically wrote Mayor Mike Moncrief to ask why the task force does not keep records of its meetings. The response: "The City could not afford to staff and provide you [the task force] with a secretary." At which point Montgomery advised that perhaps a member of the existing panel could pick up a pen and take notes.