I'd just told my little story of my fun at Tandy Hills Park today. Then I went to check email to find an urgent message from Don Young. Don Young works hard to preserve Tandy Hills and to get the people of Fort Worth to realize what a treasure they have in the heart of their city. A treasure that has been long neglected and is currently threatened, again, by Cheseapeake Energy's plans to drill on the west side of the park. Tandy Hills Park does not need a drill rig lighting it at night. Nor does it need the noise. Or the dust. Even if only for the few months it takes to get the drilling done.Below is Don Young's Call for Action----
Dear Friend of Tandy Hills Natural Area-
Once again, our park is under attack from gas drillers. Exactly one year ago 80 of you wrote letters of protest when Chesapeake Energy bought 50+ acres on the east boundary of THNA. Thankfully, no drilling has been done there. Now, they have leased 30 acres adjacent to the west side of the preserve. Your letters and emails are needed again to help stop this affront to our vanishing prairie lands.
Your influence is urgently requested to help persuade Chesapeake Energy to not drill adjacent to Tandy Hills Natural Area (THNA). They recently filed for a permit to drill the so-called, Thomas Well, on a 30-acre private tract, due west of THNA.
Read on for details or scroll down to ACT NOW!
This forgotten corner of the city is one of the last surviving pieces of original, Fort Worth Prairie in the city. It is not an ordinary vacant lot, but exactly like THNA, with an incredibly diverse ecosystem containing over 500 native plant species, home to a variety of wildlife and breathtaking views.
The proposed gas well is less than 600' from a neighborhood that would ordinarily require waivers, but Chesapeake has, apparently, used a loophole in the ordinance to buy the affected property. Legal or not, this action violates the spirit of the ordinance. It will seriously impact the West Meadowbrook neighborhood as their equipment and trucks would likely access the well from historic, Scott Avenue. They also want to run an odorless, gas pipeline through the neighborhood and, who knows, what else.
The city gas well inspector told me that the well and access road would require the removal of a lot of trees. I have walked the property and observed the same thing. Many old growth trees are in the way of the necessary road and pad site.
More importantly, the integrity of THNA is at stake as Chesapeake continues to nibble around the edges of our park and neighborhood. It is clear that they are marching eastward towards Scenery (Broadcast) Hill bringing more devastation. Just one year ago, over 80 master naturalists, biologists and esteemed members of the community wrote letters to Chesapeake expressing serious concerns about their purchase of this equally at-risk site.
Even if gas drilling were safe and environmentally benign, it is not the appropriate use for such exceedingly rare land. The surface is far and away more important and more valuable to the public than any short-term profits derived from what lies 8,000 feet below.
I understand that my request may seem overwhelming, but I also know we can prevent drilling on this site if enough of the right people take charge and find a solution. I urgently implore you to do everything possible to help Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area save this property from destruction and get in the park system where it can be protected.
Sincerely-
Don Young
ACT NOW:
1) Send an email right now to District 8 city council rep. Kathleen Hicks asking that she use her influence to halt this permit. Remind her that the Tandy Hills area is NOT just a vacant lot, but a rare and endangered ecosystem that must not be drilled on.
Kathleen.Hicks@fortworthgov.org
2) Please cc Julie Wilson at Chesapeake Energy, Mayor Mike Moncrief and Don Young:
julie.wilson@chk.com
mike.moncrief@fortworthgov.org
donyoungglass@earthlink.net
3) Please forward this email to anyone else with whom you have influence . If you represent an organization, church or business, please send letters and emails on your letterhead.
I wonder how much it costs Don Young to fill up his Conastoga Wagon? Because if he’s driving an automobile, or using electricity to cool his home, or plugging in his computer to write a blog … if he’s doing anything that uses any produced energy, then Don Young defines hypocrisy.
ReplyDeleteIt really is that plain and simple. I’ll get back to Don in a moment, but first, let’s take a look at the general hypocrisy of America’s energy policy.
In 1995, President Bill Clinton vetoed legislation to drill for oil in the Alaskan Arctic. If that bill had been signed, 1 million barrels of American oil – 27 million gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel – would be on the market today.
With all that extra American oil available, we would not be suffering from skyrocketing fuel and grocery prices today. Supply and demand. The greater the supply, the cheaper the cost.
But Clinton vetoed the bill and all that Alaskan oil remains untouched … right beneath the surface of our own feet. And out of our current 100 United States Senators, 72 of them have voted to keep that estimated 10.4 billion barrels of oil off the market.
“Not here,” those 72 Senators said with their votes. “Not here.”
But that hasn’t stopped the politicians from hijacking a microphone to complain about skyrocketing prices at the pump.
It’s time to pull the plug on the hypocrites. Because, as columnist George Will astutely pointed out a few weeks ago, “Don’t drill here seems to be our national energy policy.”
That sounds familiar, kind of like the loud minority of so-called “activists” who oppose development of the Barnett Shale. “Don’t drill here,” they say, even though the technologies of natural gas drilling and production are incredibly safe and unobtrusive. Even as our nation is in desperate need of affordable, clean, efficient energy … and it rests right beneath our Texas dirt, waiting to be produced. Even though this vast resource provides not just a tremendous boost to the Fort Worth economy, but a viable means of meeting America’s energy needs with less reliance on foreign oil.
And our reliance on foreign oil is a critical and growing problem. It’s not going away and it’s only going to get worse.
T. Boone Pickens recently pointed out to Congress that America is spending $700 billion per year for foreign oil. That’s more than the Iraq war is costing us! And with new demand for oil from nations like China and India, the price tag is only going to go up … until we do something about it, something for ourselves.
And there is a way out of this mess. In his testimony, Pickens told Congress that if we converted America’s transportation fuel from gasoline to natural gas, we’d cut our dependence on foreign cabals by 38 percent. Get a calculator – 38 percent of $700 billion – we’d save $266 billion every year, just like that.
But there’s more good news. According to the prestigious scientists at the Colorado School of Mines, we have a 120-year supply of natural gas right here in North America, right under our feet. And natural gas is, by far, the cleanest burning fossil fuel known to man. It’s affordable, it’s clean, and it’s available right here at home.
Right here, at home in Fort Worth … right under our own feet.
But, “Not Here,” says Don Young. “Not Here,” say a small minority of “Not Anywhere Naysayers.”
But they still drive their cars. They still complain about the price of food that was shipped to their local grocer in gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicles. They still turn on the air conditioner or the stove at home.
And they still plug in their computers to declare “Not Here” in their blogs and emails.
Which brings us back to Don Young … and hypocrisy.
Don, if you were Amish, I’d understand. Because as New York Times reporter Peter Applebome wrote, the Amish “… live what they espouse.” They use no produced energy.
So, Don, if I see you around town in a horse-drawn wagon, I’ll wave and offer a note of respect.
But as long as you keep plugging in that computer to destroy America’s efforts to lessen our dependence on foreign oil … well, you’re just another “Not Here Hypocrite” that, frankly, isn’t worth the energy it takes to listen to you.