A new Drilling ordinance in League City was just passed. Council chose to approve a 600 foot minimum buffer for wells to habitable structures, instead of the widely used 1000 foot or more buffer. City of South Lake questions and answers web page about their drilling ordinance and application procedures No matter how you look at it, urban drilling of oil wells in residential communities is incompatible.
Some cities have decided that 500 feet was too close and raised their setback to a 1500 foot buffer between habitable structures and oil wells. Flower mound just raised their oil well setback to 1500 feet.Flower Mound Texas information on Oil Drilling. Why do you suppose League City wants to learn things the hard way?
League City government is not effectively using the tools available to it to maximize the protection to its citizens from invasive industrial uses next to and in residential areas. Therefore our Government and our representatives are failing us as a community. The problem starts with some of our leadership that does not stand up for the best interest of the residential (voting) sector of the population.
I cannot imagine why council would not want approve a more restrictive 1000 foot minimum distance for drilling a well next to homes, churches and schools. As Councilman Phalen said the distance for well drilling could have been adjusted downward when necessary. I certainly don’t understand the comment by a council person that said “A 1,000-foot setback would require a well be in the middle of an approximately 70-acre site — something Becker said would be hard to accomplish” It does not sound that hard to accomplish to me! We are talking about urban drilling here, it is not supposed to be made easy to do. Maybe someone can explain it to me? I would think that if someone is going to drill into the ground and extract minerals for a profit in an urban area, the surrounding property owners should be afforded some reasonable protections.
99% of the residences of League City have surface rights ownership only, with no mineral interests. Without mineral rights, surface owners have a limited ability to restrict drilling. The surface owner's have only have the ordinances of the city such as zoning and the drilling ordinance as the mechanisms to restrict drilling on or near their property. Last Tuesday’s vote fell short of giving the citizens a reasonable measure of protection from chemical and fire hazard, noise, vibration, and intrusion into their quiet enjoyment of their property. I suppose some people want to treat League City, an incorporated residential metro-plex, the same as undeveloped property near Odessa or the Barnett Shale.
Don't get me wrong, I am not against drilling oil wells. I just don't believe that we should allow the drilling of oil wells with the least restrictive conditions allowed under the law right in the middle of the largest city in Galveston County.
This Link is a publication with many good thoughts about best practices for urban drilling.
Best Practices for Oil Well Drilling in Texas
Below, is some interesting reading on the health effects of an oil well fire issued by the Department of Defense.
Oil Well Fires
Southlake Oil and Gas Drilling 411 video
8 comments:
Marc,
I applaud you for being an advocate for homeowners’ rights on this issue. I understand, though, why 4 city council members voted for a 600 foot setback from the well to homes, businesses, churches, etc. The reason was fear.
While making policy based on the fear of lawsuits is in my opinion misguided, fearing a challenge to a “safe” 600’ requirement is valid. State judges have ruled against city oil and gas drilling rules. Just recently http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/specialprojects/drilling/stories/DRC_RayzorRuling_0730.747f833f.html League City council fears that a wayward judge could strip out many of the increased protections to public safety in the updated ordinance passed last week.
Maybe City Council should “go the distance” to 1000 feet in an amendment to the ordinance. If a judge rules this setback to an oil or gas well to be an unlawful “taking” of property (mineral rights), then council could simply repeal the amendment, leaving the original 2011 ordinance, with the 600’ setback and increased safety requirements, intact. Too clever by half? I don’t think so. Flower Mound has just increased their setback to 1500 feet http://www.scntx.com/articles/2011/07/19/flower_mound_leader/news/188.txt
I think League City council’s work on the new drilling ordinance is not done.
Seems lately, our P&Z, ZBA, and Council are making recommendations and decisions out of Liticaphobia!
This Sounds hauntingly familiar.
"The gas wells are where they are because staff/council fell asleep at the wheel. There were alternative drill sites but the leases expired so the city allowed Range to start drilling in the midst of hospitals, homes, nursing homes, schools, parks, and medical offices. Only in Denton, where we're green and progressive could this happen. This should not have happened, particularly with councilmembers Gregory and Engelbrecht who both promised the safety and integrity of our neighborhoods. These issues are unfolding in Mr. Engelbrecht's district where he does our bidding with openness and transparency. Just like the transparency with the appointment of the Citizen's Committee to address city ordinances dealing with urban drilling. Its seems we're ready for a complete housecleaning."
Denton Case
This is a blog from some folks in the Barnette Shale.
This Blog is dedicated to urban drilling issues
The worst thing that can happen to League City is that they discover gas or oil.
"I think the residents in Eagle Ford Shale are in the "perfect storm." Few at the meeting, if any, had heard about the dangers associated with natural gas fracking. All truly believed that the Texas Railroad Commission, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the EPA were agencies whose sole purpose was to protect them. They also mistakenly believed there were laws and legislation in place to protect them from drilling companies' greed"
Drilling video
There is a valid reason to increase the setback from 600 feet to 1000. The idea that safety from an urban drilling explosion does not increase meaningfully with an increase in that distance is incorrect. Yes, the danger from blast effects decreases exponentially (the square) with an increase in distance. However, the danger from fire increases exponentially with distance. Granted, this latter danger depends on hot, dry, and windy weather conditions. These conditions have been with us in Texas for the entire summer. Areas north of I-10 have seen many wildfires, which don't take much to get started. And if you're down wind of it, a wildfire could burn down your house, kill you, and generally just ruin your whole day.
The two opening photos set a good pace for a scary article about oil drilling disaster, but Marc fails to caption or support them as such.
We are not talking about a BP Amoco refinery or Gulf oil spill projects here. A littld more perspective and a little less hysteria might be nice.
The pictures you posted were definitely scary and alarming and people who plan to sell off their Fayetteville Shale Mineral Rights ought to be aware of such consequences.
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