Protesters stall gas firm’s work

ARGYLE - Protesters opposing a natural gas company's plans to build wastewater tanks and compressors in a rural neighborhood temporarily blocked workers' access to the site Monday morning, in a move designed to draw attention to their plight. DRC/Barron Ludlum Protesters temporarily block a line of trucks Monday at a natural gas facility under construction south of Argyle. The wastewater tanks and compressors near Frenchtown and Jeter roads would serve an estimated 20 wells. Some protesters also carried signs opposing plans to drill near Argyle Intermediate School. View larger More photos Photo store

A line of protesters blocked the gate to a 7-acre property near the southwest corner of Frenchtown and Jeter roads south of Argyle for about 35 minutes, forcing contractors to wait in a line of idling pickup trucks until Denton County sheriff's deputies arrived. The protesters stepped aside when a deputy told them they couldn't block access to private property, but they remained standing beside the road holding signs throughout the day as bulldozers cleared the site, razing several large oak trees, and as trucks hauled in gravel and equipment.

"Today we hope to have a visual for people that will bring awareness and hopefully involvement to this cause," said Jayme Sizelove, a founding member of the Argyle-Bartonville Communities Alliance, which organized the protest. "We feel that it is very important that we protect our children, because this is too close to homes."

The tanks and compressors would serve an estimated 20 gas wells being drilled or planned by Williams Production Co. on two properties in Argyle. Some protesters also carried signs opposing plans by another operator, Hillwood, to drill multiple gas wells near the southwest corner of Crawford Road and U.S. Highway 377, near Argyle Intermediate School.

Neighbors of the Jeter Road site say the equipment - along with the associated truck traffic and pollution - should be at the well sites, based on the principle that landowners profiting from drilling should have to deal with the visual and environmental effects. They say they're victims of "backroom deals" between Williams officials and Argyle Town Council members, several of whom have leases with the company.

The gas wells are on properties owned by Argyle council member Wayne Holt and former Argyle council member Lemoine Wright, according to public records. Neither could immediately be reached for comment.

Neighbors said company officials have offered conflicting information on how many compressors, tanks and other equipment are planned at the site, which Williams owns through an affiliate company. Workers on site Monday either declined to comment or said they had no information on the project.

Williams officials have publicly said the land could be used as a centralized compression and wastewater collection facility serving the company's Argyle gas wells. But the site may be used only temporarily, possibly for six to nine months, as the company looks for an alternative location, spokesman Kelly Swan said.

The company has installed gas and wastewater pipelines at the site, but they would be needed regardless of where the company ultimately places the tanks and compressors required in the long run, Swan said.

"The only thing that we are working on right now is we've begun some clearing today for 12 produced water tanks" to allow production to begin on new gas wells at the two Argyle sites, Swan said Monday. "We have been very upfront about those plans. We have repeatedly been in contact with the neighbors. We have been available to answer their questions 24/7, and all of our actions are consistent with our words."

A small gas-lift compressor may also be needed at the Jeter Road site in the short term, depending on how the new wells perform, he said.

Neighbors said they're bracing for the possibility of up to 32 wastewater tanks, based on information from an onsite worker. Swan has repeatedly told neighbors only 12 tanks would be built and said the higher number had "absolutely no basis in fact."

The tanks would hold the wastewater for eventual disposal elsewhere. Williams announced in February that it had abandoned plans to sell part of its Jeter Road property to another company to run a wastewater disposal well. The liquid byproduct of gas drilling is mostly salt water, or brine, but can also contain toxic metals and radioactive substances, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Some residents have raised concerns about the potential for wastewater pipelines to leak and contaminate drinking water supplies. The state has detailed standards for disposal wells but lacks rule-making authority over wastewater pipelines, state officials said during a public meeting on Williams' plans in January.

The site, located east of U.S. 377 between Argyle and Bartonville, is part of a flood plain that carries water south to Grapevine Lake, meaning any surface spills could threaten that water supply, neighbors said.

Sharon Wilson, a representative of the Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project who attended the protest, said the best option would be for Williams to recycle wastewater at the drilling sites.

"Williams has said that they want to consolidate operations, so it would make sense for them to recycle on the two sites rather than making a third site" at Jeter Road, Wilson said. "So this will ultimately be a money-maker for them. They'll bring in waste from all over, and it [the neighborhood] will be heavy industry."

Swan said Williams isn't considering wastewater recycling in Argyle, even though the company has employed recycling in states including Colorado.

"The logistics and the demographics we're dealing with in terms of working in an urban area are vastly different from where we've employed recycling before," he said. "Where we have done recycling, that's where we have connected multiple well pads via pipelines laying on the surface, in very rural areas, where we bring that into a centralized water recycling center. Those same logistics would not be feasible, practical or welcomed where we're operating in the northern end of the Barnett Shale."

Swan said moving the proposed tanks and compressors from the Jeter Road site to the Argyle drilling sites simply wasn't an option, but he declined to say why.

"I prefer not to get into contractual arrangements in the press," he said.

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com .