COLLEYVILLE - The city may block Titan Operating from fracking its wells later this month after raising concerns about emissions, water usage and truck traffic.
Community Development Director Ron Ruthven said the drilling site at 7504 Pleasant Run Road - where Titan initially planned to start fracking on Jan. 31 - currently is not in compliance with several portions of the city's oil and gas drilling provisions."As it stands right here, at this day and at this time, they cannot frack?" asked councilman Michael Muhm."That's correct," Ruthven said during City Council discussions last week.Titan's originally planned to drill the wells and wait on fracking until a pipeline is built to send the gas to market. But when both XTO and Chesapeake dropped plans to drill in Southlake, and pipeline installations there were suspended, Titan was left without a regional pipeline system connection.Titan can perform fracking procedures without a pipeline, but the city says some of its latest proposals go against city ordinances. Ruthven's report said the company wants to conduct flowback operations 24 hours a day instead of only during daylight hours, and it wants to use more than three million gallons of city water for fracking during a time of water shortages.City staff does not believe that Titan's proposed enclosed system to handle gas flaring will result in zero emissions.Titan could request waivers from Colleyville to get around the ordinances - it would have to apply for three - but according to the city it has not done so. The council would have to vote on whether to grant any waivers.One would address the flaring and venting of gases, another for permission to operate trucks to haul away flowback materials on a 24-hour schedule, and the third for city water usage for fracking during a restricted water-rationing schedule.However, in an email to the Colleyville Courier last week from Titan spokesperson Susan Medina said that, according to Titan president Mark Schumacher, the company does not intend to vent or flare gas; it will operate trucks only during the daytime hours in compliance with Colleyville's ordinance, and it will not use water from the city of Colleyville.It intends to operate within the provisions of the ordinance, Medina said.Earlier, Schumacher told the Southlake Journal that an enclosed incinerator with zero emissions could be used to handle the flowback of gas from fracking procedures instead of open venting or flaring the gas.Kenneth Tramm, the city's environmental consultant, said on Tuesday that a 98 percent emissions control is "about as good as it gets" with enclosed systems.City council members also heard the 2011 annual Crime Report by Colleyville police chief Michael Holder. The report stated that Colleyville had 201 reported crimes during 2011, and 192 of them were property crimes. The nine violent crimes included four robberies and five aggravated assaults. There were 144 thefts, 42 burglaries and six auto thefts.Council members approved rezoning that will enable Bluebonnet Hills cemetery to enlarge its mausoleum facilities.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
