New Articles

Corinth denies 2 well permits

Council meeting on contentious issue lasts into early Friday morning

CORINTH - After working through a core of six variance requests made by XTO Energy, and denying five of them, the Corinth City Council brought seven hours of deliberation to an abrupt end about 2:30 a.m. Friday, unanimously denying permits to drill two wells at the Lake Sharon Christian Center. DRC/David Minton Corinth City Council member Bruce Hanson points to a map of the Lake Sharon area held by interim City Manager Jim Berzina while asking about potential gas well locations. The council met in a special session Thursday to decide if variances should be granted to XTO Energy for well development. View larger More photos Photo store

After denying one request to drill closer to homes and other inhabited buildings than the current ordinance allows, the council denied four other variances without prejudice. Those variances are related to tree mitigation and placing equipment, including tanks and compressors, closer to protected structures than allowed by the ordinance.

Then, after a 20-minute discussion in closed session, the City Council passed over the other five variance requests and voted unanimously to deny the two permits.

Because the council denied without prejudice, XTO officials can resubmit an application to the city if they find another drill site, Mayor Paul Ruggiere said later Friday. DRC/David Minton XTO Energy representative Robert Manthei speaks at the Corinth City Council's special session on Thursday. View larger More photos Photo store

Several council members questioned pastor Donny Forson, of Lake Sharon Christian Center, and XTO representative Robert Manthei about the leases and agreements XTO bought from Braden Exploration, which was the first company that tried to put the Lake Sharon unit deal together before selling its interests to XTO.

Council member John Booher maintained that the application was incomplete and that it was not the city's job to rescue XTO from a bad contract with its leaseholders. DRC/David Minton Although not as large as at previous meetings, a crowd of more than 60 spilled over into the hall Thursday at a Corinth City Council special session on proposed gas drilling at the Lake Sharon Christian Center. View larger More photos Photo store

"You voluntarily signed some of your rights away," Booher said.

Although the crowd was a little smaller than at previous meetings, residents turned out in force again, filling the chambers and much of the lobby. Nearly 1,000 people signed a petition opposing the variances and permits, which was presented to the council two weeks ago. About 100 spoke against the proposal during a public hearing that began April 1 and was continued over three meetings.

Only a handful spoke in support of the application.

Many residents began leaving as the first variances were denied, but others stayed until the end.

Michael Hanson stayed to speak against the variance that would have allowed the tank battery closer to his home than the ordinance allowed.

Alluding to a remark made by council member Joe Harrison, Hanson said he was offered "more than an ice cream cone" in order to agree with the variance. He refused XTO's offer, saying it was not safe for a tank battery to be near his home for decades.

"I was offered $500 to sign the waiver," Hanson said. "I want the amount of distance afforded me in the ordinance."

Council members were not told what compensation XTO offered affected residents for those waivers, Harrison said. DRC/David Minton Donny Forson from Lake Sharon Christian Center was on hand to answer questions at Thursday's Corinth City Council special session. View larger More photos Photo store

The only variance granted was one that would allow XTO to truck wastewater out of the city, instead of building a wastewater pipeline to take the byproduct to a disposal well.

Manthei told the council that, unlike its power to build gas gathering lines, the company did not have eminent domain power to build a wastewater pipeline. Furthermore, Corinth doesn't allow disposal wells inside city limits and the company's nearest disposal well is in Cooke County - 31 miles away.

Manthei told the council no other city has such a requirement.

Flower Mound recently approved a zoning change that would allow pipelines and centralized facilities, but a successful petition to roll back that measure in an election puts the future of that measure in doubt. Fort Worth recently approved the pipeline option, Manthei said, but operators are still allowed to truck there.

Council member Jim Mayfield, a retired mechanical engineer, said he was uncomfortable with enforcing the wastewater pipeline part of the city's ordinance. Unlike a truck spill, which can be seen and cleaned up, a pipeline could leak for a long time before anyone noticed, Mayfield said.

His motion to grant the variance came with four amendments, since the mayor and other council members agreed the variance was reasonable.

One amendment requires any wastewater hauler to have the same insurance levels as the operator. Two other amendments specify that the waste transfer be supervised and occur only during specific hours to protect public safety. Harrison added a fourth amendment attaching applicable technical specifications from elsewhere in the ordinance to that operation.

"Because we didn't consider the possibility [of trucking wastewater], that information [setbacks, etc.] isn't in here," Harrison said.

City Attorney Debra Drayovitch said that the city staff could adapt that technical information at the same time the police chief and public works director adapted the trucking hours, when it came time to write those amendments.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com.

top picks
Comments

To post a comment, log into your chosen social network and then add your comment below. Your comments are subject to our Terms of Service and the privacy policy and terms of service of your social network. If you do not want to comment with a social network, please consider writing a letter to the editor.

Copyright 2011 The Dallas Morning News. All rights reserve. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.