Chesapeake Wants To Drill In Downtown
by Kevin Buchanan
(Photos by Fort Worthology reader John Kirking)
Back in September, I wrote on Fort Worthology about a plan by Chesapeake Energy to drill for gas at a spot behind the historic Texas & Pacific Warehouse on Lancaster. This site is roughly:
87 yards from the historic T&P Warehouse, a protected landmark.
350 yards from the historic Post Office.
524 yards from the T&P Lofts/Terminal.
100 yards from the newly remade, narrower, pedestrian friendly Lancaster Avenue.
54 yards from the rail lines which will be used by the Southwest-to-Northeast commuter rail line.
100 yards from I-30.
50 yards from the planned Lamar-to-Hemphill connection.
520 yards from Burnett Plaza, the city’s tallest building.
540 yards from the new Omni Hotel & Condos.
Between 200 and 450 yards from quite a few other office and residential buildings.
Why the measuring? I just get curious, recalling the explosion in Hood County that blew out windows 400 yards from the site - and that wasn’t even the main well exploding, just a tank full of explosive water (and get your head around that) which had been used during the extraction process.
The drilling site is simply too close to current residences (such as the T&P Lofts) and businesses, and to protected historic landmark structures. It doesn’t stop there, though.
The city is expending huge amounts of effort to remake Lancaster to its former glory as a proper urban environment. This gas well would not help this project. All along Lancaster, the now-removed north side of the old widened street is marked for dense, walkable redevelopment, which would be home to many shops, restaurants, and new residences.
Besides the issues of having an explosive well so close to dense residences and pedestrian traffic, the wells themselves are harmful to the urban environment thanks to their design. They are not pedestrian friendly - rather, they are harmful to the streetscape. Their construction requires large amounts of heavy truck traffic and extensive disruptive work not compatible with a dense urban setting. Even after the rig is gone, the remaining pump system would block any new development there for a long time. A hazardous dead spot would be plunked right into an area the city is trying to redevelop. Not to mention the interference it would cause with the planned Lamar-to-Hemphill connection. And not to mention the damage the constant truck activity would do to the newly completed Lancaster Avenue.
Then, there’s the T&P Warehouse directly adjacent to the site. Plans are afoot to transform the warehouse into 300+ apartments and ground-level retail space. Eighty-seven yards from a protected historic building, the planned redevelopment of which would be an enormous boost to the Lancaster project, and which would house hundreds of residences? That is simply unacceptable.
Then, there’s the proximity to the rail line and the Interstate. I’m more than a little queasy about having a drilling site directly adjacent to not only heavily-traveled I-30, but also a busy rail line that will be serving thousands of riders when the Southwest-to-Northeast line opens up.
Basically, this gas well is bad news. I’m not against gas drilling or private property rights, but once you’re talking about downtown, property owners must be held to standards of urban design and planning. This well would be a serious mistake, and we’re going to have to start looking in to ways to make the city aware of just how bad an idea this is.
8 Comments, Comments or Pings
Anton
I drink YOUR milkshake!
Apr 25th, 2008
Steve-O
Joke’s on you. I got a cold.
Apr 25th, 2008
steph
Chesapeake has truly gone batsh*t insane!
This will be such a step backwards for Lancaster! What can we do to stop this?
Apr 25th, 2008
Adam S.
This could just be a classic negotiation tactic. Ask for way more than you expect to get. In the end, you get what you really wanted in the first place when the other side talks you out of the obscene B.S.
Apr 25th, 2008
AndyN
Was it just me, or was that sign virtually impossible to see from the road?
Apr 25th, 2008
Chewy
I’m all for urban drilling but there’s something extremely wrong with this. How can anyone on City Council or in the Mayor’s seat approve this or sit idly by while this location that close to those landmarks and buildings is being drilled?
Apr 26th, 2008
Ben
Ok - maybe your argument about gas wellls not being pedestrian friendly is valid, but active railroad tracks aren’t very friendly either. These are not side tracks used by little mom & pop railroads either! This is busy mainline UP double track. Safety issues? If you are worried about things, you should worry about what’s travelling in those railcars outside your window! For every worst case scenario you can throw out, I can cite a situation where a tank car derailed or a semi ran into the side of a train. Truck traffic? Like the traffic that has been there for the last 2 years during construction or the semis delivering mail? Also, the owners of the property are obviously being paid so don’t they have some say? Shouldn’t they get some return on their investment after the city backed out of the hotel deal? These are certainly valid issues for a truly residential situation, but these people who choose to live here can’t really complain about noise, truck traffic & dangerous possibilities.
Apr 27th, 2008
John K.
Well it looks like they are really going through with this. Driving by you can see that they’ve cleared the land behind the Star-Telegram warehouse, and created that familiar dirt square. I think that they are doing this now because they can disguise it as part of the Lancaster construction. At first I thought the T&P warehouse developer might protest it, but they could probably use the money for redevelopment anyway. I’m just dreading the day the derrick goes up…
May 13th, 2008
Reply to “Chesapeake Wants To Drill In Downtown”