FW CanDo!

After receiving my newly minted gas drilling lease in the mail Friday I took a drive around the greater Meadowbrook area of east Fort Worth. I wanted to try and remember what it looked like two years ago before drilling started and before the next wave hits.

For one who studies urban gas drilling like a monk studies scripture, I was still taken aback at the extent to which our neighborhood has changed in such a short span of time.

We are surrounded by gas wells. From the edge of downtown to the east Loop, there is no escaping them. They have replaced former ball fields, drive-ins, native prairie, floodplains and wildlife habitat along the Trinity River. Now the drillers want to get closer to our homes.

When faced with the reality of gas drilling, virtually every neighborhood group in the city has, in order: expressed shock and concern, resisted, become apathetic, organized, made deals with drillers and held signing parties at neighborhood churches. The only real difference is that the money pile has grown larger.

FWCanDo originated in the Meadowbrook area in response to gas drilling threats at our treasured, Tandy Hills Natural Area. We were one of the first groups in the country to point out the "true costs" of urban gas drilling.

Eastsiders were informed early on about environmental and safety trade-offs that erase much of the expected windfall. We pulled back the veils on corrupt elected officials and their industry-friendly ordinance. We scoffed at the misleading language of industry ad campaigns. We questioned the ethical lapses of our daily newspaper. We knew about the risk that gas drilling posed to our neighborhood integrity.

For these reasons, I fully expected the Greater Meadowbrook Mineral Leasing Task Force to tell the industry to take their gas wells and shove 'em. We would Just Say NO!, thank you very much. After all, everyone knows that urban drilling is dangerous and unprecedented. We had a fighting chance in a court of law.

Such a bold strategy would not be a cakewalk, but knowing what we know how could we NOT blaze such a path. Our neighborhoods and the health and safety of our residents are worth it. Besides, Eastside activists have been known to fight much harder to keep out far less intrusions. We can’t be bought off, right?

Eastsiders would never accept more homeless people on E. Lancaster Avenue in exchange for a monthly check. Nor would we consider looking the other way, if a proposed strip bar on Riverside Drive offered us a hefty bonus and a percentage of the door. So why have we gotten into bed with XTO Energy?

XTO may have been a savvier negotiator than Chesapeake Energy, (more shrewd, at least). But it doesn't matter WHO drills the hole the result is the same. You can't pretty up a smelly hog. Gas drilling causes significant environmental impacts and serious safety risks. Big piles of money cannot conceal the truth that urban gas drilling:

1) Brings radioactive material to the surface.

2) Impacts groundwater & surface water.

3) Produces millions of gallons of saltwater that must be disposed of.

4) Uses fluids containing toxic chemicals which are introduced into our air, water and soil.

5) Increases air contaminants at every stage of production, including flaring.

6) Puts thousands of new vehicles on our roads and their emissions in our air.

7) Removes green space that helps clean the air and prevent erosion.

8) Reduces the value and marketability of our homes.

9) Impairs the beauty and essence of our public parks and natural areas.

10) Runs off our remaining wildlife.

Multiply all that by a predicted 3,000 + gas wells inside Loop 820 and tell me how this deal is good for anyone. Meadowbrook should have set a higher standard for others to follow.

The Eastside already has the most gas wells in the city. Why should anyone assume that a deal with XTO would keep drilling “mostly out of Meadowbrook?” On the same day this "historic" deal was announced, workers for Chesapeake Energy surveyed my street for, guess what? Not only do they own 55 of the most picturesque acres in east Fort Worth, they are ruthlessly competitive with XTO and will not let any neighborhood group stand between them and a few mil. Remember Trinity Trees?

"OK, Don", you say, "You don't have to sign. It's your personal choice." True. But we all drink the same water and breathe the same air. By trading your signature for pile of cash you become partners with a company that is depleting our quality of life and putting us all at greater risk. By opening the door to XTO, you endorse industrial activity in residential neighborhoods. You encourage them to expand further into our city. You become shareholders in a company that puts corporate profits above environmental stewardship. Your credibility dims. Better to Just Say No.

We can’t fight to protect what is left of our neighborhood integrity AND lease our minerals. We simply can't have it both ways. As for me and my house, we will keep our minerals.

Don Young

PS: Kindly return unwanted, Just Say NO! to Urban Gas Drilling signs. The people of Flower Mound and other neighborhoods still need them.

Image copyright: Don Ivan Punchatz