KATY AGAINST SITE:
Katy Against Gas Site:
By Mignette Y. Patrick
The Katy
Times
Katy residents at the Nov. 14 Katy City Council meeting protested the
underground natural gas storage reservoir Western Gas Resources proposes to refill south
of Katy.
The turnout was partly in response to an anonymous advertisement run in
the Katy Times newspaper, touting the alleged danger's [sic] of the reservoir.
Though Mayor Skip Conner says he did not "like the ad telling citizens
to come to the meeting," he was in support of the council's 4-1 vote for a resolution
opposing the facility.
"We're almost totally neutral in this thing since
most residents there (in Pin Oak area south of Katy) can't vote for or against us," Conner
explained.
"But if it were under my house, I'd feel very uncomfortable.
South Katy resident Bill Bell, addressed the council, asking for its
support in opposing the company's plans which include a building designed to house 10
compressors.
Councilman Don Rao, who has previously expressed
interest in having the Pin Oak subdivision within Katy's Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction,
was a bit more aggressive in his opposition.
"You live in Denver," Rao told Western Gas
Resources executive David Sander.
"If there's a problem (with the reservoir), you'll be out on
the golf course."
Councilwoman Johnnie K. Shepard, says the meeting was conducted in poor
taste, and she "did not want any part of it."
I think we went far outside of our realm of
responsibility.
The ad in the paper was awful and the information did not correlate
with what we (council) had received.
The atmosphere and some of the things said were distasteful,"
she explained. "I think it shows the worst of living in a small town and in a small
community."
"The Katy school board acted appropriately in
wanting to let the facts come out.
We should have done that too," says Shepard.
While the KISD trustees allowed residents to speak out against the
facility at its Oct. 24 meeting, the trustees stopped short of endorsing or opposing the
company's plans.
Sander, who said he had learned about the meeting from a friend,
defended his company.
He specifically addressed the problems of air
pollution and property devaluation.
Sander says the emissions that will escape from the compressor
building are comprised primarily of methane gas, a substance lighter than air.
Such a substance cannot "fall to the ground," Sander says.
Rao had complained that chemicals emitted may not "dissipate before they
fall to the ground."
Sander also explained that gas stored 7,000 feet
(more than a mile) below the surface of the earth cannot cause property values above
ground to devaluate.
He cited the wealthy Champions area near FM 1960 as an example.
The Champions subdivision was built over and
adjacent to the Bammel Gas storage Field.
The field extends to the north and south of FM 1960, from the
Hardy Toll Road on the east to Champions Forest Drive on the west.
"Though the Bammel Field was not designed with state-of-the-art
equipment back in 1952, numerous housing developments have built up over there," Sander
says.
Bill Duncan, owner of Bill Duncan Realty operating in the FM 1960 area,
explained that property values have increased since subdivisions were constructed.
"Subdivisions have flourished within and without
gas fields," Duncan says.
"Some of the homes in the Champions area are worth more than
$1 million.
According to the Multi-Listing Service, they are some of the faster
selling homes around.
The Multi-Listing Service is a real estate computer data network
utilized by real estate agents and appraisers in determining property values in Harris
County.