Until this afternoon–Tuesday, Aug. 10–a bitter fight was being waged over a request from Chesapeake to be granted a variance for the location of four natural gas wells between the Como and Ridglea areas of West Fort Worth. A majority of home owners were against granting the wavier needed to drill the wells–needed because the wells were well within the 600′ distance from homes mandated by the city’s drilling ordinance. And Chesapeake was having no luck securing the waivers needed from the people who lived within that 600′ area–despite being said to have
offered up to $7000 per household to obtain them.
So Chesapeake planned to go directly to City Council tonight to simply ask for permission to drill anyway. Which raised the ire of local activists. And certainly raised the specter of the council simply ignoring their own rules.
But surprisingly, in the middle of the afternoon, Chesapeake spokesperson Julie Wilson sent an email to the mayor and other council members respectfully withdrawing their application for the well permits.
A press release by the North Central Texas Communities Alliance sent out shortly after Chesapeake’s email notes that “we want to congratulate the citizens of the Como community as well as the Ridglea/Westridge area for banding together in a strong, unified effort for this success. It shows what informed, caring citizens can accomplish.
“And it proves that citizens who truly care about their neighborhoods can’t be bought off.”
Note to all who are cheering: An application withdrawn can be reinstated at later date. So it may not quite be as over as it appears.
Cautious is right. We know that Chesapeake will be back offering folks more money and pushing buttons at City Hall. These gas drillers are like the Grim Reaper, never really going away even though we want to forget about it. I’ll save my dance for when I get out of the State of Texas.
The Grim Reaper is skulking in the dark planning a sneak attack.