KATY WOMAN LAMBASTES WESTERN GAS EFFORTS    BY GEORGE FLYNN

Katy Woman Lambastes Natural Gas Storage Site

By George Flynn

The Houston Chronicle

Richmond - A Katy-area woman Thursday described how the legend from her youth of a haunted house on nearby land turned into what she says is a real-life nightmare of booming noises and huge bursts of flame.

Testimony by Helen Grisham highlighted the opening day of testimony in the condemnation lawsuit by Western Gas Resources for underground natural gas storage rights beneath her property.

The company offered her about $1,700 for those rights beneath her six-acre homestead about two miles south of Katy.  Western last year began operating a 2,000-acre underground storage facility adjacent to property Grisham has owned for nearly 30 years.

Walker Beavers, attorney for Western Gas, says the $300-an-acre offer was suitable for about 60 percent of the surrounding property owners.  He said the offer is about 50 percent higher than offers made by comparable facilities in other states.

Grisham's lawyer, Mark Breeding, says evidence will show that her homestead dropped 30 percent in value after the gas storage hub arrived and that she deserves about $82,000 in compensation.

Far higher stakes are involved in the jury trial before County Court Judge Larry Wagenbach.  The outcome is expected to help decide settlements for some 150 other property owners and residents near the 82-acre Western facility.

Grisham recalled how the land adjoining her property in the semi-rural area had been largely the domain of romping children and grazing cattle in earlier years.

Every youngster in the area, she said, had explored an aging, vacant structure there.  "That was the haunted house on the property," she said.  "It was kind of a fairy tale to (the children).

"Slowly other people began to move out here," she said.  "I guess because it was nice and quiet -- the same reasons we had moved out earlier.

Western's arrival destroyed that tranquility, Grisham said during two hours of testimony about her fears from plant operations.

She told of noises that ranged from the loud droning of heavy equipment to what sounded like jets taking off and even sharp explosive noises.

Grisham said she awoke one night to see a plume of red flame rising above the treeline of her property.  She called and was told it was only the flaring of a well, she said.

Beavers objected sharply to her comments, saying she was trying improperly to turn the proceedings into a nuisance lawsuit.  However, the judge upheld Breeding's position that the impacts on the "use and enjoyment" of property are legitimate factors in the case.

Western officials said that drilling operations produced noise and inconvenience that is not a part of their operations.

Beavers said Grisham stores diesel and propane gas and uses a portion of the land to hold heavy equipment in a leasing business that she and her husband, Charles, operated.  He died in 1992.