Argyle - Bartonville Communities Alliance

Friday, May 28, 2010

ABCA has a new ADDRESS

ABCA has a new address: http://abcalliance.org/

Thank you for following this blog. ABCA greatly appreciates your willingness to be informed and take action. We are excited to direct you to our new site that will offer you even greater flexiblity. Please use abcalliance.org as the web address to view the latest gas related information for Argyle and Bartonville.

The new site offers:

Search catagories with greater ease
Subscribe to receive email updates on the catagories you choose.
Join the alliance
Get facebook and twitter updates

Thank you again and we will see you on our new site: http://abcalliance.org/

Article from examiner.com

In an article published yesterday, Argyle was mentioned. Here is what was said....

As for Williams, they aren’t acting very neighborly in Argyle, where they just bulldozed a seven-acre, heavily wooded site to make way for a condensate tank farm, wastewater pipelines and a natural gas compressor complex in an unincorporated residential neighborhood along Jeter Road. This soon-to-be-industrial operation is within 100 feet of three high-dollar homes. That’s not a typo – it’s within 100 fracking feet! It’s also in a FEMA flood plain and within a few feet of a creek that empties into Lake Grapevine. How patriotic!

And get this: The site will house between 12 and 30 tank batteries to accept tens of millions of gallons of permanently contaminated wastewater from wells being drilled on properties owned by Argyle council member Wayne Holt and former member Lemoine Wright. Enraged locals don’t understand how Holt and Wright could use their public office to negotiate an agreement that allows drilling on their land, while their toxic waste is trucked to their neighbors, along with the accompanying threats to health, safety and property values.

Link to full article,written by Ladd Biro for examiner.com

http://www.examiner.com/x-44976-Denton-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2010m5d27-Flower-Mounds-landslide-election-victory-only-the-first-step?cid=email-this-article

Bringing in the Tanks - May 27th, 2010

Video with pictures of the Jeter Rd. site.

The kids get it. My daughter gave me this song and I think it is perfect."Protect our home" she says.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Letter to Denton County Commissioners Court

The Hon. Mary Horn, County Judge

Hugh Coleman, Commissioner, Precinct 1

Ron Marchant, Commissioner, Precinct 2

Bobbie Mitchell, Commissioner, Precinct 3

Andy Eads, Commissioner, Precinct 4

To the Members of Denton County Commissioners Court:

Thank you very much for allowing us to bring our concerns about the development of the natural gas industry in our county directly to you. We are encouraged by your willingness to appoint a task force to bring about the best practices throughout the county.

We are most encouraged that the court considers Drill Right Texas an appropriate framework for the start of the committee’s work. The Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project has tapped the wisdom and best practices from around the country in an effort to bring relief to North Texans who believe both their quality of life and property value has been sacrificed to the shale. We strongly recommend at least one person on the committee be from Texas OGAP, so that we have a direct line to that immense body of expertise.

We recognize that the industry must be mindful of their contractual obligations to their leaseholders and shareholders as they develop the immense resources of the Barnett Shale. To that end, any committee must be charged with a mission that includes recommendations for regulatory reform. This reform must occur not only in relevant state and federal agencies, but also in the next Texas legislature. Without much stronger enforcement of measures that protect property, and human health and safety, our county will continue to suffer a host of losses, from immediate, recurring damages -- such as those inflicted on roads, bridges and floodplain -- to a growing crisis of confidence that will stifle investment and economic growth.

We encourage this body to appoint a membership of strong, action-oriented, business-savvy representatives of our community who have already shown the courage, and made some pragmatic progress, in this march toward best practices. These people can be found troughout the county, and not only in Precinct 4.

As you evaluate candidates, we implore you to rule out anyone who does not understand the urgent need for an “eyes wide open” look at the impact of current practices and understand the true costs to our community long-term if these are not addressed. Similarly, we hope you will select candidates who understand that they must help information flow between the task force and their peers as well as their constituents.

(For example, a candidate chosen to represent municipalities should not only bring wisdom back to his or her own city, but also help other cities unite in their protection of constituents both in their corporate limits and their extra-territorial jurisdictions.)

Candidates should complete personal financial disclosure statements, similar to those completed by any other elected official, so you can be assured you have not appointed anyone with a significant financial relationship to the outcomes. While, at first blush, that appears to create a problem for representation from the industry, we feel that there are sufficient professional associations in the area -- the Society of Petroleum Engineers, for example -- to meet this requirement.

This body should receive testimony not only from local but also national experts when necessary. Its decisions need to be data-driven. This body will need support as it manages data from laboratories, industry, government and independent sources, including inspections and audits and other findings.

This body must meet in public. During its sessions, this body should document the applicable state regulations and local ordinances that coincide with best practices, and document those places where best practices are not being used in order to achieve the standard.

A minority report should accompany any block of recommendations that does not have unanimous support.

Sincerely,

Argyle Bartonville Communities Alliance

Keep Argyle Beautiful

We have heard from some of our readers that you moved to Argyle from larger cities such as Southlake, Grapevine, Coppell and Colleyville just to name a few because of the rural feel of Argyle. The large trees, wide open spaces and large country estates are breathtaking and appeal to many. Our schools are second to none and our town made for the perfect place to raise a family and plant your roots. We even have an organization in town whose mission is to preserve and enhance that very thing. The mission statement of the organization “Keep Argyle Beautiful” is:

Keep Argyle Beautiful is organized to preserve and enhance our local natural environment through educational and motivational programs. To achieve this purpose, Keep Argyle Beautiful will establish and maintain a continuing litter control program; investigate, study, develop and propose plans to bring about community appearance improvements; promote increased public interest and responsibility in the maintenance of a clean, healthy, beautiful environment; and work with the community to reduce and prevent pollution.

So, do you think this is beautiful?

Does this maintain a clean, healthy environment?

Does this reduce and prevent pollution?

The children of Argyle, particularly those near the Intermediate school, are certainly going to receive an education about this industry as they will be able to see, hear, smell and breathe the operations from their playground. I know that is not the type of educational programs you envisioned.

And perhaps to keep with the “go green” views of this organization would you want to have a community garden on a pasture that has been landfarmed with the drilling mud and waste?

Lastly, do you think one of our local drilling sites can receive the “yard of the month”? See criteria below:

CURB APPEAL: landscape features such as birdhouses, ironwork, attractive mailbox, etc.

ENERGY CONSERVATION: Use of alternative power sources or reduction of conventional energy sources.

CREATIVITY: Colorful plants, heights, textures, etc.

USE OF RECYCLED PRODUCTS: Mulch, manure, compost, tires, etc.

WATER CONSERVATION: Xeriscaping, Waterwise landscaping

So, you be the judge – are we keeping Argyle beautiful? We think not! So, we are asking Keep Argyle Beautiful to partner with the alliance to help maintain your mission. The drilling operations are an oxymoron to everything your website states you stand for and we are ready to work with you to ensure these goals are not compromised.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

EPA steps in to gain control over one of TCEQ's biggest air pollution permits.

TCEQ and EPA, control over one of its biggest air pollution permits
The permitting process has created problems right here in Argyle. The EPA is catching up and starting to make changes. Dr. Armendariz and his team agree that the gas industry needs significant changes in order to protect citizens. See the below example of some of the work the EPA is doing. (ABCA)

SEE FULL ARTICLE in the Dallas Morning News / 12:28 AM CDT on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 By RANDY LEE LOFTIS / The Dallas Morning News

The Environmental Protection Agency's takeover of a key permit governing Flint Hills Resources' East Corpus Christi refinery marks a widening gulf between federal regulators and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

The EPA, for now, has stopped short of seizing control of the state's entire air-pollution permitting system. But the agency's top regional official said he is preparing to take over more Texas permits and is insisting the state make basic changes.

"The EPA is serious about requiring that air-quality permits held by companies in Texas are federally sufficient," EPA regional administrator Al Armendariz said in a telephone interview. "If the state agency is unwilling or unable to issue those permits, the EPA must and will do so."

The TCEQ has insisted that its permit system is legal and effective. In a letter to the EPA dated Monday, TCEQ Executive Director Mark Vickery said the state understood that legal deadlines might force the EPA to take over some Texas permits while the agencies try to resolve "significant differences in opinion."

Armendariz said the EPA's choice of Flint Hills Resources to begin its permit takeover did not reflect a particular problem with that facility. Rather, he said, the agency believed objections to its state permit were on especially strong legal grounds.

The TCEQ issued a draft operating permit for the Flint Hills Resources refinery last October. The EPA formally objected to the state permit in December, saying it omitted required information about emissions and environmental requirements.
Without that information, the agency said, neither the public nor regulators could adequately monitor the refinery's pollution.

That process also will occur at other facilities with disputed permits, Armendariz said. In the past six months, the EPA has filed formal objections to major Texas permits at 40 facilities, an apparently unprecedented number in any state.

Armendariz said Texas permits have taken improper shortcuts, omitted key information and made it difficult to tell if facilities have skirted mandatory reviews.

The TCEQ says its system cuts red tape without violating the law or sacrificing public health. In his letter Monday, commission chief Vickery recounted what he said were ongoing efforts to find common ground.

KEY POINTS: EPA'S CASE

The EPA said Flint Hills Resources' draft operating permit, written by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, violates the Clean Air Act because it:
• Improperly relies on the refinery's separate "flexible" permit, which itself does not comply with the Clean Air Act.
• Obscures key requirements by directing the reader to other documents instead of stating the requirements plainly. The Clean Air Act mandates a "clear and meaningful" statement of permit provisions so the public can monitor a facility's operations.
• Requires just three years of environmental record-keeping. The Clean Air Act requires five years.
• Fails to identify the specific equipment covered by some requirements.
• Omits information needed to determine if the refinery should have been subject to enhanced scrutiny.

SOURCE: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency