Hillwood begins gas drilling near Argyle Intermediate School

Submitted 04/07/2010 Approved 04/09/2010

HILLWOOD O & G OPERATING CO LP (388852)

WHITEHEAD

1D

09

DENTON

Directional

Hillwood was approved for the first of 36 wells to be located near the Argyle Intermediate School (AIS). Workers were on site yesterday staking the boundaries of the road and pad site soon to be developed. 


History:
The Argyle Superintendent was made aware of the location of the two well sites and community concerns in late February early March. The school board met March 22 but this topic was not put on the agenda resulting in an inability for the board to discuss the situation.  However, presentations were made to the board and a call to action was requested. It was requested that a representative from the school speak at the town council meeting the following evening to publicly state the school district's position. This did not happen but the superintendent and one board member were present.


At the council meeting on Tuesday, March 23rd, the council approved all 36 wells to be located near AIS. Four Union Pacific Railroad representatives ( 2 public safety and 2 attorneys) were in attendance and one representative spoke in opposition to the proposed truck route. The route for the Whitehead well (24 of the 36 well bores) which will be located on the east side of the railroad tracks near North Star Bank will use Old Justin Road, line up with Front St. and continue to and from 377. One concern mentioned was for a gas truck or trailer to get high centered on the railroad tracks. This could present grave danger to homes, Intermediate School families, and anyone else who travels through that area. If this were to happen it becomes a matter of how fast can you stop a train and UP has 24 trains coming through a day. (Maybe it is time for us all to put UP's emergency number in our phones) The other concern is that one of the large tanker trucks can not pull up to the stop sign and clear the crossing guard – there simply is not enough space.  So, if it is stopped and a train comes, it will be forced to pull out onto the shoulder of 377, which is of course, a very dangerous situation.


Council gave very little dialog to this issue. The only addition to the approval was to put together a task force to better address the issue. The task force consists of town officials, UP railroad, Hillwood and the superintendent. I think this is a great idea, but should we not understand and address the public safety issues before we rush to approve massive gas sites. What is the hurry? The gas is not going anywhere. 


View from the road in front of Keller Williams Realty. Looks nice now..... but will people want to move to Argyle when the first thing they see is dozens of gas wells.