Like water seeking base level, the fight over urban gas drilling in Fort Worth always seems to come back to the Trinity River. Much like the Trinity Trees situation last year, the current debate over the Greenwood Cemetery drilling site wraps up all of the dilemmas and contradictions the public space / private property situation in one neat little package.
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There may be some hope yet for the city’s tree planting program. Last week Mayor Mikey told Channel 5 that the program could avoid the budget ax altogether thanks to some creative bookkeeping to access the money from the gas drilling lock box.
Of course, I’m wonder what happened to the $500,000 that Chesapeake pledged for planting trees as part of the Trinity Trees settlement. A source at City Hall said that the money was promised as $500,000 over five years, not one lump sum, and the source is confident that the city will eventually get that money. However, the city still has not received a penny of that money pledged almost 11 months ago. Did someone forget to send an invoice? The city could sure use $100,000 for trees right now.
Also, if you would like to take a survey about the city’s tree planting program, click here. The survey is live until Friday.
This week, we’re joined by Jason Smith, the attorney challenging the shady dealings at the TRWD and City Hall around the Trinity Trees Drilling site.
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