Slouching Toward a Drilling Ordinance
by Steve SmithThe big news out of last night’s City Council meeting was more about what didn’t happen rather than what did. The Council approved most of a new Gas Drilling Ordinance – with the exceptions of a setback distance from a multiple well site and the definition of a protected use. Those were continued until next week.
But everything came full circle Tuesday. As he did back in February, Mayor Moncrief spoke once again about how the ordinance should maintain “quality of life†in this city. For me, what came to mind was the line from the W.B. Yeats’ poem, “What rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?â€
If this entire enterprise began with low expectations nine months ago, the outcome managed to dash even those meager hopes. I feared that the most likely outcome would be to maintain the status quo. Unfortunately, gas drilling industry actually gained ground, and the losers were, once again, the people of Fort Worth. That’s trouble with low expectations. Sometimes you don’t set the bar low enough.
In spite of the Mayor’s claim that the entire process has worked hard to achieve transparency, the inner workings of this process were designed from the start to be anything but. Even until yesterday afternoon, the Mayor had put the full-court press behind the scenes for the Council to approve the entire ordinance with the reduced 525-foot setback for a multiple well site. When it became obvious that he wasn’t going to get a unanimous vote in favor, the Mayor retrenched and continued that discussion until next week. More than ever, the Mayor is about keeping up appearances.
Any good news? There is the potential of an environmental impact study from the Railroad Commission that would not be complete until 2010 at the earliest. There’s also the possibility that the Council could revisit protections for the Trinity Trails after a study from Gideon Toal commissioned by the TRWD. And even the Mayor says he understands that the ordinance isn’t perfect and will need to be revisited from time to time. To all three of those points, don’t get your hopes up. I could write the executive summary for both of those right now. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Of course, this all begs the question: why bother? The Mayor said he wants closure on the “us vs. them†infighting that has pervaded this discussion, and I think he has successfully done that. If the “us†are the people in Fort Worth who want to know more about the chemicals going into the ground, the water and the air and a real say in how these operations are regulated and conducted, well those people lost. The “them,†the people in the Chesapeake-green stickers, the Ken Barrs and Julie Wilsons who have strong-armed this process the entire way, those people are the winners. To go back to Yeats once again, the center cannot hold. And it hasn’t. The most combustible mix in the Barnett Shale isn’t condensate and open flame, it’s a little bit of fear and a whole lot of Chesapeake PR money.
Next comes the payback. The Mayor has successfully gotten this off the radar before the spring election cycle began. But he doesn’t have to worry — there were plenty of his political supporters in council chambers last night as the police and firefighter showed up to watch the swearing in of the new police chief. He’ll cut his big check to Bryan Eppstein and he won’t need a commercial to safely win re-election by a hefty margin. Others may have more of a fight. The rumors have been bouncing around though that Chesapeake is searching for candidates to face Joel Burns and Sal Espino. And the battle for the late Chuck Silcox’s seat could make last year’s District 9 race look tame.
We aren’t done slouching toward a drilling ordinance. But we might as well be.
Tags: Barnett Shale, Chesapeake Energy, chuck silcox, Joel Burns, Mayor Moncrief, Sal Espino
2 Comments, Comments or Pings
greg
Wow, and I thought I was depressed before I read this post. The truth hurts, but thanks for writing it.
Dec 10th, 2008
John MacFarlane
I can’t say that I’m surprised. The word on the street and by Jim Bradbury, that there was no substantial change for the better. All this quality of life b.s. from Mayor Mikey is getting really old and is just a farce. He really doesn’t believe in that or he would be for stricter regs on gas drilling, clean air, clean water, historic preservation, etc.
The good news is that there is a bill being introduced in Congress from Colorado that would force gas companies to reveal all the chemicals they are shooting down into our groundwater during the fraccing process.
It’s a sad sad state of affairs here in Funkytown.
Dec 11th, 2008
Reply to “Slouching Toward a Drilling Ordinance”
By posting your comment, you agree to abide by the terms of the West and Clear comment policy.