AREA RESIDENTS PLEAD CASE AGAINST GAS STORAGE PLAN:

Area Residents Plead Case Against Gas Storage Plan

The Katy Times

October 20, 1991

Several distressed Fort Bend County residents sought legal and technical experts from the county Monday, Oct. 14, at the regularly scheduled county commissioners court meeting.

In a continuation of their fight against a proposed gas storage facility underneath their homes located in the "Fulshear Field," at the intersection of Green Busch and Roesner Road:  local residents met with Fort Bend County Commissioners.

Western Gas Resources, Inc., headquartered in Denver, Co., plan to drill ten injections wells for supplying and withdrawing natural gas from a 7,000 ft. underground reservoir.

Phyllis Vicars, a representative of the resident group opposed to the facility, said Western Gas plans to store and inject gas purchased from local pipelines into the reservoir.

Residents say they are concerned about how such a facility will effect their property values, safety, heath and water purity.

Vicars told the commissioners the safety issue is concern since the filed is some 40 years old and Western Gas plans to re-pressure the reservoir.  She questions whether all the old wells have been properly plugged and documented.

"The presence of even one of these old unknown and/or unplugged boreholes could prove disastrous," she said.

Vicars voiced concern not only about residents water wells being endangered, but the entire area, including Katy.

"An industrial site located in a predominantly residential area will have a negative impact on future development as well," she said, "We believe that we are being forced to bear substantial risks, unnecessary risks, so Western Gas can buy gas at bargain basement prices and sell it at a profit later.

Bill Bell, an engineer who lives in the disputed area (on Saddlebrook Lane) said Western Gas plans to increase the field pressure to around 3,000 pounds per square inch (PSI) from the present level of 150 to 250 PSI.

County Judge Roy Cordes Jr., said he wants to be brought "up to speed" by the county legal and engineering departments so the court will have a basis for a decision on the issue.

The resident group said the next Railroad Commission meeting on the proposed facility is Oct. 28.

Western Gas is being represented by the Houston law firm Vinson & Elkins, a group spokesperson said.