A Few Comments on the Eagle Ridge Lawsuit
Many of you now know that the city filed for a Temporary Restraining Order last week against Eagle Ridge Operating LLC to stop drilling operations on wells near Bonnie Brae and Vintage. You can read up on that case in the Denton Record-Chronicle. A hearing for a Temporary Injunction was scheduled for next Wednesday, October 30.
It is important to note that on Tuesday afternoon of this week, the city filed for “non-suit” in this case, effectively pulling out of the lawsuit. As such, there will be no hearing on this issue next Wednesday.
As news broke on Wednesday that the city had done this, understandable concern ensued from many people in the community who had been following this issue. Here’s what I can tell you:
I assure you that the city is fighting to preserve the integrity of the ordinance and the citizens and environment that ordinance is meant to protect.
The city initiated last week’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order because, as the legal documents made clear, we demand that all operators follow our laws. This continues to be our stance and Tuesday’s move to back-off this particular suit is not a retreat from that position.
Realize, however, that there is a bigger picture here of vested rights and a bunch of existing well sites out there where claims that our rules don’t apply will continue. Many of these sites happen to be in parts of the city where we anticipate some of the biggest population growth in the next 20 years. Check out Professor Adam Briggle’s brief article visualizing the drilling landscape in Denton and notice how many well sites exist in the Western part of the city. It is therefore imperative that we get this right and proceed prudently to set legal precedent in our favor.
As you saw from the judge’s initial rejection of our request for a Temporary Restraining Order, these issues are highly complex, legally speaking, and aren’t always as simple as “this is a clear violation of the law, now punish them.” We expect any successful legal strategy defending our ordinance will mean we have to be committed for the long haul.
The drilling that is occurring in that area is awful, given its proximity to homes and kids who play in their streets and yards. I urge all of us to temper our initial desire for quick justice in this instance with what is in the long-term interest of our community so as to make sure we are in the best position to defend our ordinance from here on out. I’m asking for patience and a bit of trust while we work to do this right and reorient our strategy to achieve the best possible outcome.
2 Comments
My trust in the city went out the door with the Razyor Ranch drilling, the industry slanted make up of the “official ” “unofficial” task force, the new drilling ordinances which have multiple loopholes allowing drillers to pretty much do as they please, and no follow through on a pledge by city council to develop a monitoring program.
By the time this city acts and follows through we will be on our fifth set of bottom feeding drillers who have bought and sold mineral leases and reworked the gas wells so many times, under vested rights of course, there will be nothing left to save.
Don’t pretend or promise the city is doing something, do it!
It is absolutely heartbreaking to be a victim and to see others suffer at the hands of the shale gas industry that invaded many communities like an army. It only takes a little education and some common sense to know that you don’t zone heavy industrial mining in residential neighborhoods. The largest investment a family usually makes is the purchase of a home. Now that American Dream is smashed to pieces, and the full effects of this zoning blunder are yet to be seen.