Stop Drilling on Eighth Avenue, Sign the Petition
by Steve SmithFort Worth, we have a problem.
The specific issue is related to the Eighth Avenue Drilling Site, but there’s more to it than that. The real problem is that the people of Fort Worth have been cut out of the decision-making processes on almost all aspects of gas drilling. The Mayor and the City Council spend more time listening to the gas drilling companies than their own constituents.
So, the time has come to send the City Council a message: you are accountable to the people of Fort Worth and you have lost our confidence. We need immediate action. We need an immediate moratorium on all high-impact drilling until the Gas Drilling Ordinance Task Force can complete its work.
Furthermore, we call for more public input into the gas drilling issues this city faces. The people of Fort Worth are being cut out of the process on high impact wells, disposal wells and pipelines. We need a new entity to represent neighborhood interests on these issues. We ask the city to appoint a permanent citizens committee to advise the City Council and represent neighborhood quality of life issues related to urban gas drilling.
If you agree with these points, please sign the West and Clear petition to Stop Drilling on Eighth Avenue. NOTE: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DONATE TO iPETITION FOR YOUR SIGNATURE TO BE RECORDED. If you have any trouble signing the petition, please e-mail your name and address, city ZIP to me. and I will add it to the petition. Time is critical. We need as many signatures as possible by Monday or Tuesday. Please e-mail the link to the petition to your friends and family. Any resident of Fort Worth is eligible to sign. All we ask for is your name and address. You can choose whether or not to display your signature online. No addresses will be displayed online. We will send this petition to the Mayor and City Council next week.
The Eighth Avenue Drilling Site is an example of everything wrong with the process on gas drilling. According to the city’s gas drilling ordinance, gas drilling is not permitted within a high impact permit 600 feet of a residence, religious institution, public building, hospital, school, or public park. However, there is an exception to that rule.
If a gas driller can get signed waivers from all of the property owners inside the 600-foot high-impact waiver area, they may drill. Even if the driller does not get waivers from the protected use property owners, drilling can still go forward if a variance is approved by the City Council after a public hearing. At the hearing, the City Council may consider whether the gas drilling would conflict with the orderly growth of the city, whether there are other alternative sites, access for fire personnel and equipment and the recommendations of the gas inspector. The City Council may accept, reject or modify the application.
Sounds nice, doesn’t it? It sounds like there is a process in place to protect you. However, that would be an incorrect assumption. Gas drillers don’t sit around to wait and see what happens. They make things happen.
The on-going saga of the Eighth Avenue Drilling Site is the best example of this. The use of this location was the dealkiller in Chesapeake’s negotiations with the Berkeley, Mistletoe Heights and Ryan Place neighborhoods, and when these neighborhoods decided to go with XTO, the belief was the Eighth Avenue Drilling Site was a deader than Julius Caesar.
But it wasn’t. Chesapeake decided it would be a great location for drilling to the north under the All Saints site. At least until hundreds of pissed off people started contacting City Hall. Then Chesapeake said that they really weren’t going to use the site. Now, because it seems unlikely that a high-impact variance could get through City Council, Chesapeake has decided to buy their way out of this dilemma.
But if a company can essentially buy a high-impact variance, why even have a gas drilling ordinance anyway?
To borrow the words of Mayor Mike Moncrief, it’s about quality of life. The gas drilling ordinance is to protect the health, safety and well-being of the people of Fort Worth and their neighborhoods.
Unfortunately, when our Mayor talks about quality of life, the implication is that he is more interested in protecting the people of Fort Worth than the other way around. But is he?
Consider:
Obviously, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes. Gas drillers like Chesapeake Energy spend a lot of time meeting with your City Council representatives behind closed doors. They have access and they make the most of it. This is not meant to insinuate anything illegal or untoward, it is only meant to make a point — your City Council representative spends a lot more time talking about gas drilling issues with the gas drillers than they do with you.
This isn’t right. The people of Fort Worth should have more say about what happens in this town than the people who profit off of what is underneath it. Please sign this petition immediately to voice your concerns.
UPDATE: Everyone: you should not have to make a contribution to iPetition to sign this signature. It is not West and Clear’s intention for you to have to pay money to sign this petition. NOTE: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DONATE TO iPETITION FOR YOUR SIGNATURE TO BE RECORDED.
Instead, e-mail your name and address, city ZIP to me. and I will add it to the petition. We apologize for any inconvenience or difficulty.
Thanks
Steve
61 Comments, Comments or Pings
adrienne
thank you so much for organizing this, and so quickly. forwarding to everyone and their mamas now…
Mar 7th, 2008
Sarah Dyer
I’m a Fort Worth resident. I don’t think high impact wells should be given a waiver by the city! The wells are still too dangerous, loud and pollute the area – like my backyard, which is 750 feet from a few wells ;(
Mar 7th, 2008
Beverly Humphries
I am the blogger in the S-T Barnett shale who has been bitch’en
since last summer 2007, about the Mega Bonus’s and Concession’s
the above neighborhoods got. I am the person who wondered how
they were going to get any wells for royalties drilled outside
of their boundries without violating someone else’s property and
piece of mind, due to their stipulations in their lease deals.
I cried Foul then on them, and can’t help feeling a little smug
against them now. Since I am practically their neighbor, who 1/20
separates us, and I got squat for bonus money and they got Mega
Bonus money, no, I will not sign this petition. Go look at the
Blog archives and see how clever these people thought they were.
I am also the blogger who has been one step ahead on calling out
the Mayor and city council before these things started happening.
Read the blog people, I told you. Moncrief even said it was up
to the neighborhood associations to do their own drilling ordinance
the city was not going to Police the Drilling. It’s in his speech.
He also wants to change the zoning laws, for a Mix, he say’s.
U-know what that means, let heavy industrial into residentual areas.,
for drilling. Montcrief and the council also passed the buck to
a task force for the injection well’s, to absolve himself and the
city of liability for our water table.
I have made my points for almost a year, mostly being ignored by
you citizen’s, now, everything I have predicted and pointed out
to all you is Really Happening Now. SOL, I have my own problems
with Four Seven’s Energy and have been advised to hire an attorney.
Mar 7th, 2008
Pete Wann
Wow. I’m sorry you’ve had so much trouble, Beverly.
The point of the petition is NOT to protect Ryan Place (my neighborhood), Berkeley, and Mistletoe Heights, but rather to demand that the city government start considering EVERYONE’S interests instead of just the drillers.
Basically that they start doing SOMETHING. Something besides rolling over and taking a belly rub whenever a gas driller comes a-callin’.
Please, folks, don’t think that just because your neighborhood isn’t affect by this that it won’t be. Sign the petition and make your voice heard.
Mar 7th, 2008
Rose Lynn Scott
Gee, when is an ordinance really an ordinance? Why does the Mayor keep passing the buck to the neighborhoods and not stand up for us? 600 feet means 600 feet, not 300, not 450, not 599.
Mar 7th, 2008
Beverly Humphries
I would sign a petition to Impeach Mayor Mike Montcrief and get
a restraning order on the City Council from issueing any more
drilling permits and leasing any more city properties until all
the issue’s are in order, that will protect all the neighborhoods.
The problem is on a much larger scale than Eighth avenue. It is
county wide, including our surrounding counties.
Let’s do the protest Big people, instead of makeing a dent.
Mar 7th, 2008
Alida Labbe
I think it’s great that you are helping to get something organized!
Beverly, I can’t understand why, if so passionate about this subject, you’d rather sit in the corner and pout about your blog not stirring up this much attention instead of joining the petition and getting something done. Go on with your smug self.
Mar 7th, 2008
Anonymous
I’ll sign as long as it’s a moratorium on drilling near ALL neighborhoods. I live in the Mallard Cove subdivision in East Fort Worth. There have already been 2 wells drilled and they’re about to drill a third. They’re constructing the rig now. For some of us, it’s almost in our backyards. Just drive along Goldeneye Lane in the next couple of weeks and you’ll see what I mean. The noise, the trucks, the dust, the bright lights….it’s terrible. And even when they’re finished drilling, the compressors run all the time and they’re almost as loud as the drilling itself. I’m our property values are plummeting.
Mar 7th, 2008
Anonymous
left out the word “sure’ in that last sentence.
Mar 7th, 2008
Beverly Humphries
Alida “nobody puts beverly (baby) in a corner” (pun, Dirty Dancing movie). Get over yourself, I don’t pout, and if you read the
BS blog including the archives, I got plenty of attention from
Landmen. I said I would sign a big petetion, just not this one.
Mar 7th, 2008
Beverly Humphries
Print – Close Window
Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2008 14:59:31 -0600
From: “Tom Rodgers”
To: “BH”
Subject: Re: 4/7’s
We did get your letter, and we did show it to Chesapeake in person as part of our own complaints on February 15. Sorry I haven’t time to write back to you. We are in a terrific struggle against Dale in our own area right now, and that is taking all our volunteers time.
My advice would be to consult an attorney and consider suing. A lot of people of are doing that now, and with the negative media coverage about Chesapeake recently, you might have a good chance of winning.
Regards,
Tom Rodgers
On Sun, Mar 2, 2008 at 1:58 PM, BH wrote:
Hi. I sent my bogus cover letter and lease to your office in arlington
weeks ago. haven’t
heard anything back. I believe you were going to pass it along to the
district landman
for chesapeake. What is his name?
Do you know who the poster is on the barnett blog that use’s the
handle JW ?
what is his name and who does he work for?
Now, 4/7’s will not send out correct 1099’s for bonus money.
thanks, Beverly Humphries
Mar 7th, 2008
sigh
BH–Thanks for being a team player. United, not divided
Mar 7th, 2008
Beverly Humphries
sign, thank you, have a nice day.
Mar 7th, 2008
Pam Smith
Pam Morrow Smith opposes any drilling on the 8th Ave. site
Barton Stephen Smith opposes any drilling on the 8th Ave. site.
Please submit our names to your petition.
Mar 7th, 2008
Stan Demke
The city needs to understand the importance of it’s residents, and move the wells further back. I’m sure there is plenty of gas under there, why do they have to drill so close to our homes? They have the technology to drill horizontally and get wherever they need. Move the wells back to 2000 feet!
Mar 7th, 2008
Gary Hogan
My name is Gary Hogan I helped initiate the first Task Force with Chuck Silcox to put some protections in place after a well I had no say so about arrived 610 ft behind my home in 2005. Yes that Task Force was slanted in favor of the industry. I tried to get a 1,000 ft setback and I am on record,out voted for recommendation of never closer than 600 ft. I have tried to be a strong voice as a neighborhood protectivist on this issue of urban gas drilling. I have made my time available over the last 2 years to speak to any group that would listen . I now sit on the reconvened Task Force. I have been asked what I hoped would be different. My reply is simple . THIS TIME, now that this industry has approached or invaded more of our neighborhoods, that more people have woke up to the negatives and the paultry return of their few peices of silver, that they now will SPEAK OUT AND DEMAND THIS CITY PROTECT & SERVE THEM rather than the interst of this industry. IF NOT we will wake up one day to reap the spoilage this industry will leave behind.
This situation at 8th avenue is typical of the industry TRY and TRY until they get what they want. I am so tired of Chesapeake propoganda full newspaper and radio ads, TV promos and billboards stating Chesapeake is “GOOD” for Fort Worth. They know that the 8th avenue site is undesirableand not what the residents want so they will try and BUY them out. Need a pad site to serve Colonial Country Club’s mineral interst? ( No can’t put it on land of FW’s rich and famous playground, buy land nearby and spoil public recreational river walking trail. Park or not it’s a greeen belt come on.IF people did not give them a balckeye on that they would of torn all the tress out. Hey how about Chesapeake running a pipeline through the front yards of homes on South Hills Dr.? Sure your a good neighbor,propose to take a 20 ft swath of front yards, tear out their trees,driveways and beloved landscape,for a gas gathering line, destroy their resale and property value. They say NO WAY you say WAY Eminent Domain. Sure you want to be a GOOD neighbor, GOOD for ALL FW. YES it is BEST for ALL if a neighborhood can TO JUST SAY NO.DO NOT SIGN ANY LEASE AGREEMNT UNTIL YOU FULLY UNDERSTAND ALL THE POTENTIALS and demand every protection in a lease IF you do sign.It is more than a well site NOW it’s pipelines and compressor stations. It’s the SELLOUT of FORT WORTH for Urban Gas Drilling. They continue to propoganda IT’S GOOD but IS IT ? I am so tired of Chesapeake propoganda full page newspaper and radio ads, TV promos and billboards stating Chesapeake is “GOOD” for Fort Worth. IF it’s so good why are they spending a foutune trying to CONVINCE US?
I pledge to serve the citizens voice on this TASK FORCE. I need your voices LOUD and Clear for the changes you demand. I need you to demand to be heard. I want and need to hear from YOU.Also contact your District representatives and demand they speak for you also.
Gary Hogan hogangaryfwtx@aol.com
Mar 7th, 2008
Suzette
When I signed the petition today, I didn’t have my purse and credit cards near me and didn’t feel like going out to the car to get it to make a donation for the ipetition. Do I need to sign it again or does it go thru w/out a donation to ipetition? Good job Steve-O on organizing this petition. If you ever intend to “pack the City Council Chambers” please let us know when to show up.
Mar 7th, 2008
Steve-O
Everyone: you should not have to make a contribution to iPetition to sign this signature. It is not West and Clear’s intention for you to have to pay money to sign this petition. NOTE: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DONATE TO iPETITION FOR YOUR SIGNATURE TO BE RECORDED.
Instead, e-mail your name and address, city ZIP to me. and I will add it to the petition. We apologize for any inconvenience or difficulty.
Thanks
Steve
Mar 7th, 2008
Eastsider
Does it hurt, Ryan Place?
Just relax and get used to it. And watch while the rest of the city, and its leaders, sit by. (You get the government you deserve, right?)
Fort Worth was always just okay, could’ve been something, but not anymore. Like something that needed precise care to amount to anything, it has been totally trashed instead. (Remember, in the last presidential election, Tarrant was the most pro-Bush county in the ENTIRE NATION, and leads in supplying recruits to this never-ending war…you think this town is gonna go anti-industy and do something for the common citizen besides rape them?)
The Mayor and Council know damned well what is good for this city in the long run, and THEY DO NOT CARE.
As soon as hubby retires, or I get rich, we are out of here, and my roots here go back generations. It is not a matter of being quitters, but knowing when to cut your losses and move on.
Sorry, but that’s how it is.
Mar 7th, 2008
Barbara Tumlin
I oppose a drill site on 8th Avenue.
Mar 7th, 2008
Tracy
To the makers of the petition. Just an observation, but I think some people are thinking that when they leave comments here and leave their name that they’ve actually signed the petition. I would suggest, where it says “If you agree with these points, please sign the West and Clear petition to Stop Drilling on Eighth Avenue” maybe saying “If you agree with these points, please click here to sign the West and Clear petition to Stop Drilling on Eighth Avenue”.
Thanks.
Mar 7th, 2008
Steve-O
Good point, Tracy. If you want to sign the petition, please email me or click through to the link on the post. Leaving a comment here is appreciated, but it does not equal signing the petition.
Another point is this petition is not exclusively about Eighth Avenue. This is an attempt to fix the root problem that Eastsiders, Westsiders, Northsiders and Southsiders all are dealing with — how do we get our city government to be accountable on this issue.
Please help us demand some accountability.
Thank you
Mar 7th, 2008
Kendall McCook
This assault on our neighborhoods cannot go unchallenged.Shame on Texas Christian University and Colonial Country Club for contributing to the blight that will cover our city if our governmental officials fail to stand for the quality of life we all enjoy(enjoyed?) in South Fort Worth.
Mar 8th, 2008
John Kline
I am opposed to gas drilling on Eighth Ave.
Regards,
John Kline
Mar 8th, 2008
Zoe Stein Pierce
I am comletely opposed to gas drilling on 8th ave.and ANYWHERE ELSE that does not meet the 600 foot away guideline.These gas companies are as squirrely as they come -completely untrustworthy and self-serving.WHEN is our city leadership going to protect our neighborhoods and our “inner-city” quality of life?All neighborhoods deserve to be represented in this matter.
Mar 8th, 2008
Will
I wonder if there is a study yet of all gas well explosion incidents in various Texas counties? I seem to remember reports of at least two large ones in rural areas.
Mar 8th, 2008
Eduardo Aguilar, Sr
I’m opposed to gas drilling on eighth ave. and any other area in the city of Fort worth.
eduardo
Mar 8th, 2008
quaid
Another case of Not In My Backyard.
Where was your indignation when it was happening to neighborhoods in North Fort Worth? Too busy to notice that this has been happening off of 287 for a long time. Do you care about those houses? We are part of the city too!
I like this site, but it should not be named West and Clear. It should be called South of the Wells Fargo Tower/West of 35/ North of 20 and East of Ridgmar Mall. Doesn’t have the same ring to it, but you get my point.
The same well you want to prevent from drilling near Ryan Place is near Northside Drive (close to houses), but they are not nearly as affluent as Ryan Place. When will the petition be started to stand up for them?
Mar 8th, 2008
Diana Dupre'
On Oakland & 1st a little league park used to exist. Kids showing up to practice were stunned. In a short time, the fields, concession stands – all created from fund-raised & donated funds are replaced with pipes strewn everywhere, deep furrows in the once green fields, stagnant water, choking smell, large trucks breaking up the roads, deafening noise, dumping of injection water into the ground. The list is longer… This is what WILL happen when (notice I didn’t say if) a gas well is being drilled in our neighborhoods. My grandchildren are faced with cancer agents in the drinking water, air pollution, life-threatening allergies & sickness. The nature areas are run over in the name of cracking the shale. My gas bill is higher, not lower. Who is getting the profits? Hmmmm. This is good for who?what?nature?
Mar 9th, 2008
Wayne McKinzie
I think 1,000 feet is too close. In the city limits is too close!
Mar 9th, 2008
Bernie
Quaid: Some of us on this site have been speaking out against Urban Gas Drilling for a long time, and we’re against it in any part of the city, be it the South Side, East Side, West, or yes, even the North Side. We’re just as opposed to a well in Rockwood Park as we are to the 8th Ave site.
Read the petition carefully. We use the 8th ave site as an example, but the petition applies to the whole city. We want the ordinance changed for EVERYONE’s benefit.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for taking an active role in the discussion. We appreciate everybody who has come here to make their voices heard.
Mar 9th, 2008
sirius
Quaid has a point – but should be reminded that this petition does not solely seek to protect the proposed 8th Avenue drill site. Neighbors on the southside are just as concerned about neighbors on the northside!
The headliner on this blog topic should be “Stop High Impact Waivers – Improve the Drilling Ordinance or – at the very least – stick to the 600′distance Requirement” which, by the way, was amended and approved by City Council in 2006 following the gas well explosion that killed an industry worker. More than 500 homes were evacuated after that incident. That well, also a HIGH IMPACT well, was within 500′ of homes.
the final provision in the amended ordinance states:WHEREAS, the provisions set forth in Chapter 15 shall be considered THE MINIMUN requirements for the development of gas and other hydrocarbon substances within and under the City and shall not relieve and person from any duty imposed by law to use reasonable care and precautions for the SAFEGUARDING OF PEOPLE and the protection of and noninterference of property rights.
Mar 9th, 2008
quaid
Bernie, I searched the site, show me where you have been writing about this plight in North Fort Worth. The earliest you mention it is TCU area and Tandy Hills.
Mar 9th, 2008
sirius
quaid –
sorry, wish i could say that i was as smart, athletic and wonderful as Bernie, but I’m not Bernie.
There are many posts on multiple websites and blogs about combined commitment to ALL the communities of FW. I’ve taken aerial photographs of the pillage in North FW and cried in the process. Believe me!
If we continue to divide our anxieties and protect ONLY our neighborhoods the drilling companies, Chesapeake in particular – will pick us off one high impact waiver at a time.
The best thing that I’ve recently heard is that Council Rep Burdette in District 7 is meekly suggesting the possibility of an environmental impact study. Late – yes – but I’d say it’s time to let him shine. Support him! Call him and tell him that you support him in his efforts to call for a study!
Mar 9th, 2008
Suzette
OH! Now that they have how many injection well sites, how many “Hi- Tmpact” well sites, how many well sites, …..and someone is suggesting an “Environmental Study?” What a F’ing concept!!! We are ass-backwards in the gas drilling deal in Fort Worth, Texas!!
Mar 9th, 2008
Don Young
Dear quaid and all. Please check out FWCanDo.org. We were opposing urban gas drilling, city-wide, in ‘05. But don’t thank us. Gary Hogan and a few others were actively engaged 2 years before FWCanDo existed. You see, it doesn’t matter who was first or when Bernie was active. Right now is all that matters. Be glad you have comrades who are supporting your neighborhood now. And we are. Like you, I have little sympathy for those south-siders who pulled up their Just Say NO signs after they signed a lucrative lease. Now that it’s come back to bite them on the ass they want our help. Hard as it is, I urge you to do it. I feel certain that they will come to your aid on the northside or wherever you live. This petition is a good first step.
By the way, the 600 ft. setback that everyone is defending was determined by the drillers themselves. From the beginning, FWCanDo demanded a 3,000 ft. safety zone. But the drillers got their way and now they have the nerve to ask for more. To defend 600 ft. is to defend what the drillers wanted to start with. If you want REAL protection for your neighborhood demand more than 600 ft. The Palo Pinto gas well explosion in ‘05 destroyed one square mile.
DY
Mar 9th, 2008
Bernie
Sirius- um… Thanks?
Seriously, You and DY eloquently make the points I was getting at.
And Suzette: Hell yes, it’s about time for an environmental impact study! It’s something we touched on in this weeks podcast, which should be up tomorrow.
Mar 9th, 2008
quaid
I have a bad case of Sour Grapes on this issue…
Ok, ok. I am off my “It’s about time you noticed” soapbox.
Support the petition or face the consequences…
Mar 9th, 2008
Terri West
Against drill site on 8th Avenue.
Mar 10th, 2008
brandon
Honestly, guys, this petition may serve long term interests (such as fixing/creating a drilling ordinance; initiating a rational dialogue with leadership by showing you are organized, with the emphasis on rational).
But it won’t do squat to stop drilling on this location. The immediate priority is to look at that map, realize who probably has the waivers, and go knock on their doors. Once you receive a commitment from one or more people to NOT sign the waiver, THEN prepare for round two, which is to show up and fight at the permit hearing. At this point, the petition might come in handy, but the most powerful tool here, once again, is the faces and voices of the people directly affected (again, those with waivers).
I think the key to stopping this site is organizing the affected people. Chesapeake might be shady, but they’re playing within current rules. You’ll have to defeat them within current rules, and it can be done. You probably don’t have time to change the rules.
Mar 11th, 2008
John Peter Smith
I wonder how many of the people within 600 feet of the proposed well sold their mineral rights to Chesapeake?
Mar 11th, 2008
Suzette
Sorry, I have to ask a question for JPS…I clicked on your name and an article about the Star-Telegram outsourcing production dept. jobs to India, dated March 11th!! Is this some bad joke???
Mar 11th, 2008
brandon
JPS, my understanding is that Berkeley (and others) organized and signed with a leasing partner of XTO, who agreed not to drill a “high-impact” well that affected their neighborhood(s).
Now Chesapeake is trying to use their site to drill elsewhere, and this is the big knife twist.
Mar 12th, 2008
John Peter Smith
No Suzette, it is not a joke. Actually, I believe someone on this site speculated about that possibility a while back.
Brandon: That was my understanding as well, which is why this is so puzzling. If the homeowners have a written agreement that there will not be any drilling at this site, why don’t they sue to stop it?
Mar 12th, 2008
Pete Wann
The homeowners’ agreement is not with Chesapeake. It’s with Fort Worth Energy/XTO.
Mar 12th, 2008
JW
Bev, what is with the obsession you have with me?
Mar 12th, 2008
brandon
JPS, the homeowners effectively leased their minerals to XTO, and they have an agreement that *XTO* will not drill a high-impact well near their neighborhood. That is why they signed that way.
There is no agreement with Chesapeake who owns this SURFACE tract for the purpose of drilling. It’s theirs and they can *attempt* to do whatever they wish with it. Currently they are *attempting* to use it to drill minerals they have leased elsewhere.
Mar 12th, 2008
Beverly Humphries
JW: Obsession? Since you are the total opposite of BC, whom I
despise, and you have helped me a little, in your own way—
I like you JW. Am trying to figure out if you are an attorney
or if you own 4/7’s or if you are a Landman,.Just love a good
mystery JW. Change that “obsession” to “curiosity”
My current obsession is reading IRS manual’s before I do my taxes.
Am going to nail 4/7’s for refusing to issue correct 1099 misc.
for bonus money. I refuse to report my $731.00 as “other income”.
which is so undefined and generic, when the money was for leasing
my mineral rights. If all else fails, I will not report it on my
tax form, send the 1099 misc. with a cover letter and let the IRS
figure it. Let the IRS get an explanation from 4/7’s on what it’s
for.
I just loved Betsy Price’s picture in the S-T yesterday, telling us
peon’s who pay property taxes, that don’t expect a reduction in
taxes just because of the Barnett Boom. She said this with a big
smile on her face and reminded everyone who got any royalties to
PAY UP. So many are delinquent she said. So give us some of your
profound wisdom on that, if you don’t pay up, are they going to
sell your mineral rights on the court house steps? .
Mar 12th, 2008
Anonymous
At least some of you HAVE mineral rights. We have a drill less than a thousand feet behind our house (600 feet from some of our neighbors) and we don’t have our mineral rights. We didn’t even think about mineral rights when we bought the house because who would’ve thought there would be gas drilling in a residential area?
We don’t get squat but still have to put up with the noise, traffic, risk of explosion, and lowered property values. Since there’s nothing we can do about it anyway, I would love to at least get compensation for our misery and our lowered property values.
Mar 12th, 2008
JW
Bev: It is with regret that I tell you that I must remain a mystery. All I will say is that I work in the industry but not for anyone you would know.
Good luck with the IRS.
Mar 12th, 2008
Ben Jamin
You better report your income or I’ll report you!
Mar 12th, 2008
Beverly Humphries
Ben J. Oh, how we suffer fools. Read it again, slower this time.
If you still don’t get it, try, try again.
Mar 13th, 2008
Beverly Humphries
JW* OK, I get it now, You manage the Montcrief Family O/G Trust.
Or, you are in the Tarrant County Gas Mafia, on a retainer.
Or, you work for that O/G company in Wise County that Jim Popp
is always bitch’en about. Or, maybe you are an Industry Spy
keeping an eye on TXSharon. “I must remain a mystery” that makes
me think of Dick Cheney and Haliburton, with daddy Bush and little
Bush as tags. Been to the Middle East JW?. “Nobody I would know”
hummm-and here I’ve been around the block several times. I know
how to spell “Bass”. I know you don’t work for the RRC, they aren’t
anywhere near US or the Barnett Shale. Now see, if my curiosity
turns into an obsession about you, it’s your own fault.
Mar 13th, 2008
Serena Keeler
I am against drilling on the Eighth Avenue site. I am against those gaining from the drilling money but not bearing the burden of the drilling in their own backyard. Putting pad sites in someone else’s backyard is not the right thing to do. I am concerned about our illegal air quality and the negative impact of natural gas drilling is having to further this downward spiral. I am concerned about my son’s asthma getting worse with the degrading air quality. I am concerned about streets already degraded being further degraded by natural gas trucking and tax payers having to foot the bill. I try to conserve water but wonder why natural gas drillers are not asked to do the same. I am asked not to put hazardous chemicals down the drain as not to contaminant drinking water. Yet gas companies are putting dangerous stuff dangerously near our water with no precausions. I wonder why gas revenues are not being used to make Fort Worth a leader in conservation and sustainable development as part of our patriotic duty for energy independence.
Mar 13th, 2008
Pete Wann
@Serena:
Thanks for putting things so eloquently. I think you’ll find a lot of support and agreement with your concerns here.
If you haven’t, PLEASE be sure to click the link in the article and sign the petition. Once you’ve signed, you’ll be asked to contribute a little money to the group that makes the petition software available, but you DON’T HAVE TO. It is not necessary to make a donation to have your signature counted.
Mar 13th, 2008
Gary Hogan
Iwish people would stop the bickering and join together , speak out and demand that our city leaders pay heed to the demands of the citizens ” a mere citizen ” even a courageous one evidentlydoes not make an impact. I have been asked many times ” What I hope will be differenrt from this Task Force ? ” I hope that now as drilling has touched all parts of our city, since people have seen how this industry really desires to NOT be a good neighbor, NOT have compassion for our citizens, continues to think that all can be bought and have proved they will pay a hefty price ( which only proves how astronomically the return in $$$$$ it is for them ) Continues to tell what ever lie suites them with bait and switch welling and dealing THAST CITIZENS WILL DEMAND OF THIS CITY COUNCIL ! 1. NO High Impact drilling permits unless the protected use is the mineral owner who lives near it and never again near our current Public Parks ( Ghee you’d think they could negotiate a better deal than put these high impact wells near our current and future parks ) 2. We MUST demand Environmental Impact studies be done and maintaned for all gas well sites to protect our clean air and prcious ground and underground water sources. These studies MUST be conducted by a renowed independent ( Non industry sponsored)environmental specialist. The past noise consultant studies to our last task force where done by an industry associated bought and paid for.The standards are good the process is faulty and manipulated.
PLEASE STAY INVOLVED AND DEMAND, PETITION, DEMONSTRATE SPEAK OUT AT ANY AND ALL PUBLIC INPUT MEETINGS, WRITE CALL or EMAIL ALL CITY COUNCIL. The time is now!
Mar 15th, 2008
Beverly Humphries
You left something out Gary Hogan. I am against the Energy companies
hiring illegal aliens to work in the Barnett Shale, so they can
send more American dollars to Mexico. Which does not help our
economy one bit, or American citizen workers.
(ref. Fort Worth weekly, Blue collar workers in the B.S.)
Mar 16th, 2008
Gary Humphries
Go to bed Mom, you’re drunk!
Mar 16th, 2008
Beverly Humphries
gary, I told you to lay off the evil weed. Your 39 years old,
when are you going to get a real job?, if you have finished your spanish as a first language class yet, what’s the hold up?
I can’t keep sending you money larry, I need it for my robotussin.
Mar 16th, 2008
Belle Starr
I signed the damn petition for BH. I have her power of attorney.
somebody needs it, she’s a stubborn, beautiful, toO bright for
her own good TAURUS.
Mar 17th, 2008
Marcus
We all know Gary Hogan is in the back pocket of Chuck Silcox.
Truly an unbiased member of the Gas Drilling Ordinance Committee????????????????????????????????????????
Apr 10th, 2008
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