KATY CITY COUNCIL NIXES GAS STORAGE:
"I guarantee...I wouldn't want it. -- Mayor
Council Nixes Gas Storage
By Trish Johnson
The Katy Times
Katy City Council has turned thumbs-down on construction of a proposed gas storage facility on land adjacent to the city's southern city limits.
Casting their lot with at least one other governing body as well as a residents' group opposing the plan, council voted 4-1 Thursday to approve a resolution showing they oppose construction of the gas storage facility at the Fort Bend County site.
Following on the heels of similar action by the Fort Bend County Commissioners about two weeks ago, council members at Thursday's regular meeting approved the resolution showing opposition to the facility proposed by Western Gas Resources Inc., of Colorado.
Voting against the resolution was council member Johnnie Shepard. Council members, Don Rao, Paulette Nelson, Malcolm Beckendorff and Raymond Guzman voted in favor of the resolution.
The vote came after presentations by Bill Bell, representing the Hillenbrenner Protestors, a group opposing the facility, and David Sander a representative of Western Gas Resources Inc.
"We are opposed to this project for many reasons," said Bell, a resident of the 2800 block of Saddle Brook. "Our basic problem with this project is that, as surface owners of the property, we cannot reject this project. We need your support.
Sander, who addressed council with Tony Marks, storage facility project manager for Western Gas, told council members the company expects the facility to become a top Katy Independent School District taxpayer as well as one of the ten top taxpayers in Fort Bend County.
"We will be a significant taxpayer," Sander said. It's a fairly large capital investment, in the neighborhood of $50 million...putting us in the top ten of the Fort Bend County taxpayers.
Sander also said the facility expects to produce an an... (The rest of the column has been lost.)
(Two photos accompany this article, one of Bill Bell and one of David Sander.)