Fort Worth public hearing on Barnett Shale Monday addresses noise issues, drilling rights

by Erin Rice

FORT WORTH — On the drive to Monday night's Public Hearing of the 2008 Gas Drilling Task Force at the Fort Worth City Hall, one couldn't help but notice the knowing smile of Tommy Lee Jones looking down from the sky and asking citizens to "Get Behind the Barnett Shale." It was a topic of chuckle for the 300* or so who showed up to learn more about the Task Force's amendments and to speak about their own experiences. Listening to the stories of many who spoke, it was one of just a few details to smile about tonight.

More than one citizen speaker brought up the 1937 New London, TX school explosion that killed nearly 300 children and teachers, blamed on an odorless gas leak.

The public hearing opened with a presentation from the Gas Drilling Task Force to talk about proposed amendments to add a noise mitigation plan to the gas well permit application. Many in the crowd, when it came their turn to speak, related their experiences with excessive noise, caused not only by well fracing, but the by the 24-hour-operations of compressors. One speaker talked about buying a home next to a vacant lot and never receiving a straight answer about the lot's intended use. Within months a well site moved into the location and he claims to wake up and go to sleep every day and night to the sound of a compressor, a sound he compares to hearing a plane go overhead.

Another speaker asked the task force to recommend the practice of constant monitoring of noise output at a well site and to record the results. In the current modification, a citizen within 1,000 feet of a proposed well site can call a gas inspector and complain if they believe a site is not complying with the noise management plan, but there is no guarantee on when the inspector can make it and whether the company can modify, or dodge, the noise level for a bit to avoid the fee.

Several more speakers addressed the issue of noise with concerns about the appropriate ways to discern ambient noise levels and to remember to consider variants in how sound travels under given conditions. The majority of speakers, however, were there to speak on other issues concerning drilling.

The tone of the meeting was hopeful desperation. There were a number of homeowners in attendance who had been approached by gas companies, allegedly lied to concerning rights of eminent domain, tricked into signing contracts, and given incomplete information throughout their process. There were also representatives of neighborhood associations, grappling with selling drilling rights and how to not get bullied. Then were was a subsection of those who belonged in neither group but were concerned about the environmental and societal impacts of drilling a proposed 3,000 gas wells in the Interstates 820 Loop.

The feeling of desperation came from all the individuals who had experienced how little the laws protected their property rights and quality of life. They were mostly fed up with the Fort Worth City Council, who one speaker remarked, "has yet to see a high impact permit it wouldn't approve." For many in the room, the Task Force represented their last hope to be protected, and several reminded Chairman Bob Riley and the other members of that responsibility during their allotted three minutes.

While I drove to the meeting, under Tommy Lee Jones crooked smile (who was the character he played in Batman Forever?), I prepared myself for a rather empty chamber and some complacent speakers. To see, however, the vast number of people who turned out (several standing against the wall and sitting on the ground because there were no seats left), 37 of whom signed up to speak, most of them with much more than three minutes to say, it hit me how affected so many of our neighbors are by drilling in the Barnett Shale. As one of the final speakers reminded the crowd, if they wanted things to change, they would need this kind of turnout at council meetings. It remains to be seen.