Can Flower Mound Residents Stop the Gas Drilling Invasion?

by Jess Leber · 2011-02-10 09:00:00 UTC
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Flower Mound, Texas is one of five communities EPA has chosen as ground zero sites for a study on how "fracking"—a dangerous and controversial natural gas drilling method—is contaminating water supplies around the country.

As TX Sharon at Bluedaze: Drilling Reform for Texas reports, "Flower Mound and Bartonville are to make the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of us. They will be the guinea pigs the EPA uses to trace contamination from hydraulic fracturing."  The two Denton county towns join Bakken Shale in Berthold Indian Reservation, N.D.; the Marcellus Shale in Green County, Pa.; and the Niobrara Shale in Laramie County, Wyo as sites where fracking is occuring now, and the risks are very real.

These finalists are in the running for a prize they do not want to win. 

In fact, Flower Mound residents have started a petition on Change.org asking their city council to continue a current one-year moratorium on centralized natural gas facilities until the city can put in place a far more protective gas ordinance than the one that exists today. "Once the moratorium is lifted, Flower Mound will be vulnerable once again to the threat of gas companies moving these large industrial facilities into our town - close to our homes, businesses and schools," writes petition creator Jennifer Rogers.

Last year, Rogers says, more than 6,000 Flower Mound voters took action by signing a petition requesting the town create an Oil and Gas Advisory board to fully examine the issue before making a decision.

Drilling has already hurt the town of Flower Mound, as documented by the site Flower Mound Citizens Against Urban Drilling and by the fact that it is a candidate for the EPA case study.

But centralized, large-scale facilities would make the situation far worse. They create more risk, more harmful air emissions, and would collect waste fluids in one place. They have already taken over nearby towns, such as Argyle and Bartonville, and the only reason they are not yet in Flower Mound is because of the actions of the community. Now, the curent moratorium expires soon—and residents are asking for an extension at a hearing this Saturday .

These are reasonable people who aren't against gas drilling, per se. They are simply out to protect their homes, they health and their community. Please support their request.

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Photo credit: Marcellus Protest via Flickr

Jess Leber is a Change.org editor. She most recently covered climate and energy issues as a reporter in Washington, D.C

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