Downtown Drilling Begins
by Steve SmithFrom the desk of Julie Wilson:
We thought you’d like to have a heads-up on an exciting event: Chesapeake will be spudding Fort Worth’s first downtown well this Friday, August 15.
Trinidad Rig #111 – the same turquoise rig that drilled the Pearson site (aka the “Trinity Trails” site near Colonial) will be drilling the Westgate 1-H on the south edge of downtown behind the old red brick Star-Telegram warehouse off Lancaster. We’ll be doing preliminary work and rigging up from Tuesday to Thursday and turning the drillbit on Friday morning.
The initial well will be drilled westerly, not actually under downtown. Key mineral owners for the first well include UPRR, J. Don Williamson, World Life Insurance, Richard May, Robert Ritter, Champion Parts, Ron Investments, and Harmony Realty Corp. Future wells from this site could develop the minerals underneath City Hall, the Convention Center, the Fort Worth Club, portions of Sundance Square, and other parts of downtown. Chesapeake plans to develop the balance of Downtown from our four other sites in the area, including our “Ron” site - located behind the Ashton Depot, the “Dakota” site - located northwest of Downtown near the railroad tracts and Dakota St., the “Henderson Bazaar” site - located at the intersection of Jacksboro Highway and Henderson St., and the “Fourth Street” site - located just east of I-35W and south of 4th St.
This Trinidad is one of the newer, quieter, and more attractive rigs in our fleet. Because this location will have such high visibility from the highway as well as downtown, we want you to know that we’re paying special attention to the noise and aesthetics. Frankly, the noise shouldn’t be an issue as this is close to the active train tracks as well as the highway, but we will nonetheless be very mindful of neighbors and install sound blankets. We will be restricting our construction traffic to avoid business commuter times (curtailing from 7 – 9 am and 4 - 7 pm). The city-approved traffic route is from I-30 to Lancaster to Lamar. As with other wells, the drilling here should take about 18-24 days. We are only drilling one well here at this time, so the rig will move off in early September.
Because we anticipate interest in this location will be high – and the location convenient - we’ll offer a series of “rig tour” times for civic leaders, city staff, and council members. Although we don’t know yet exactly what time the drilling will commence on Friday, we will hold a small inaugural tour at 2 pm for those who’d like to be present on the exciting first day. If you would like to participate, please let us know, as space will be limited. Otherwise, we will send you a schedule of other tours so you can select a convenient date and time.
Anyone want to go? Email Julie Wilson now. Tell her West and Clear sent you.
Tags: Chesapeake Energy, Julie Wilson
10 Comments, Comments or Pings
John
This is getting fucking ridiculous. How are we going to promote tourism when our “model” downtown (not to mention our bicycle trails, Stockyards, etc) will be littered with gas wells? Why would anyone want to go downtown now?
My wife asked a very good question some of you may could answer: Are there any other cities that have or will have the gas well density that FW has and will have? And if so, what are their regulations?
Aug 13th, 2008
Ben
Do you even know where these locations are? I’d say the only one that is really downtown is the Ashton Depot. Besides, since the Bass Brothers are the ones responsible for bringing downtown back to life, they should be able to develop their minerals if they want!
Aug 13th, 2008
Suzette
John - I heard at the joint meeting between GDTF and City Council that an urban pipeline maze has never been done like we are hearing of “them” doing in our City of Ft. Worth — I’m don’t know about gas well density, but my guess would be no. Try googling it.
Aug 13th, 2008
Pete Wann
Ben — So, if the Bass brothers wanted to sell every inch of downtown that they own to a driller to flatten every building and put wells and tanks and pipeline hubs in, then they should have free reign to do that as well, since they were responsible for “bringing downtown back to life”?
I’m just curious… Where does the balance between the good of the few and the good of the many fall for you?
No one can argue that the Bass family (and many other super-rich families with names we’d all recognize) have done great things for this city through their philanthropy and entrepreneurship, but at what point do those good works cease to be theirs and become property of the City as a whole? (I use the term “City” in this sense not as a political subdivision, but as a way of summing up everyone who lives and recreates in Fort Worth.)
Aug 13th, 2008
Ben
No I would not be in favor of that! The buildings they own downtown are what make FW unique. A surface parking lot or an industrial area outside of the downtown core is not unique, nor would there use as a drillsite keep tourists away. When someone drives past the huge drillsite/compressor station by Mercado Juarez do they even notice? Not sure I would want to stay in that hotel, but I wouldn’t really recommend any hotel within a 2 mile radius of the Stockyards. These are not residential areas, so why shouldn’t they be allowed to develop their minerals?
Aug 13th, 2008
Jacko
I would be in favor of replacing the Burnett Tower Building Whatever with a gas well. It would look nicer from afar.
Aug 14th, 2008
Kevin Buchanan
The well off Lancaster most certainly is in downtown. It’s remarkably stupid to allow Chesapeake to crap out one of their drillsites right off a street we have spent so much time and effort to restore from the mistakes of the post-war “urban renewal” idiocy that left the south side of downtown a wasteland.
It’s sad - the Barnett Shale ain’t going to solve our energy problems, folks. Natural gas ain’t going to power automobile-dependent sprawl and Wal-Mart. Keep sticking your heads in the sand and believing that new fuels will keep our pointless sprawling nightmare going indefinitely. This mindless waste we’ve been building since World War II is going to collapse under the weight of its many flaws, and all this rush to Get Behind The Shale is a false hope.
Aug 14th, 2008
TXsharon
Amen Kevin!
Chesapeake’s new plan to boil drilling waste into the atmosphere has a few flaws in it.
http://txsharon.blogspot.com/2008/08/chesapeake-energy-latest-plan-for.html
IJS
Aug 14th, 2008
Greg
Tell City Hall: “Moratorium on new permits.”
Otherwise there won’t be a Fort Worth to love.
Aug 15th, 2008
John K.
Anyone know what happened with this? It seems the drill disappeared as quickly as it showed up…
Sep 2nd, 2008
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