RESIDENTS WANT RESOLUTION OPPOSING NATURAL GAS STORAGE PLAN:
RESIDENTS WANT RESOLUTION OPPOSING GAS STORAGE PLAN:
County Commissioners Agree; KISD Hears Request
Residents Want Resolution Opposing Gas Storage Plan
Katy school board members have been asked by
district residents to approve a resolution opposing the construction of a gas storage
facility south of Katy.
Just hours after a similar resolution was approved by Fort Bend County
Commissioners, homeowners in the Green Busch/Katy-Flewellen Roads area asked Katy
Independent School District trustees to approve the resolution in an effort to halt
construction of the natural gas storage facility by Western Gas Resources, Inc.
Addressing the KISD trustees at Monday night's regularly scheduled
meeting, Bill Bell, a resident of the 2800 block of Saddle Horn, told school board members
county commissioners had approved the resolution earlier Monday.
"Fort Bend County Commissioners, in a 4-1 vote,
approved a resolution opposing the storage facility," Bell said.
"We're coming before the school board to ask the same thing,
and to ask you to send the resolution to the Texas Railroad Commission and the Texas Air
Control Board."
According to Bell, there are 450 homes on land
under which the gas storage facility is to be built, with an additional 1,400 acres
available for residential development.
The homes, Bell said, have an average value of $150,000 each.
"With the additional land available for development," Bell told
trustees, "you're looking at $750 million in taxable valuation at build-out."
That figure, Bell noted, includes residential development as well as
other tax sources on the property for the school district.
"If you lose five percent or ten percent of the taxable value, the
potential value of the loss outweighs the gain you'd realize from taxes on the storage
facility" Bell said.
Also addressing board members was Sheriee
Harrelson, a resident of the 24900 block of Saddle Spur.
Both Harrelson and Bell were among area residents who also
addressed Fort Bend County Commissioners earlier Monday.
"I ask that you take a stand on this facility,"
Harrelson told school board members, "because I fear for the safety of the children in the
area.
I urge you to stand with us to oppose the Western Gas Resources plan
to create the Fulshear Fields storage facility."
Representatives from the Denver, Colorado, based
company said they intend to utilize injection wells to repressurize the natural
underground dome to a pressure of 3,000 psi.
However local residents have opposed the plan, citing safety
and environmental concerns, including concerns over the presence in the area of plugged
wells, previously drilled into the dome and the underground water supply.
Although representatives from Western Gas Resources
addressed Fort Bend County Commissioners Court Monday, the commissioners approved a
resolution opposing the facility as well as a request to submit the resolution to the
state railroad commission, which is charged with granting or denying the permit for the
facility.
Bill Koch, manager of special projects for the
company, said the company proposes to pump natural gas into a reservoir of sand located
7,000 feet below the surface and asked commissioners to "reserve judgement" [sic]on the
issue until they have had an opportunity to see the evidence to be presented at a railroad
commission hearing.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Alton Pressley told fellow commissioners Monday
he, accompanied by the county attorney, would attend the railroad commission hearing on
the facility slated for Dec. 2 in Austin.
Koch said the reservoir has "excellent storage characteristics" and the
sand dome "held gas for millions of years."
Precinct 4 County Commissioner Bob Lutts
recommended the resolution contain a request for any additional hearings on the proposed
storage facility be held in Fort Bend County.
A previous hearing was held several weeks ago in Katy.
Koch said the hearings are expected to last three-to-six days and would
include a presentation of technical information on the subject.