FW CanDo!

Fort Worth, Texas has never been known as a hot-bed of activism, but when the City of Fort Worth foolishly approved a High Impact drilling permit near Scott Avenue it was expected that area homeowners would be up in arms - that civil disobedience would take root - that the "tipping point" had been reached - that things might get ugly. Scott is a narrow street in an historic neighborhood next to a cherished and endangered prairie park. This gas well pad-site would also lead to the first UN-odorized gas pipeline in a neighborhood. Public health, safety and property values were at stake. Citizen outrage was a foregone conclusion.

Didn't happen. Why not?

Turns out, most Scott Avenue homeowners had signed mineral leases with Chesapeake Energy and had cashed in their "mailbox money" months before. They watched quietly from their front porches as giant Chesapeake trucks, assisted by the City of Fort Worth, rolled triumphantly down their street, like Hitler's invading army. My strategically placed truck and car were not enough to deter the blitzkrieg for long.

C'est la vie.

Shreveport, Louisiana will likely be the next big city to allow urban drilling. People say that the city and its residents will embrace drilling despite environmental and safety concerns. As we have learned in Fort Worth, money and false advertising blinds and deafens common sense on contact. Will Shreveportians gamble their future for mailbox money?

At least they've been warned. The message of common sense has been delivered by The Shreveport Times:

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20081130/NEWS01/811300321/1060

DY