It was another night of kabuki theater, of course. But it was important kabuki theater. If none of us attend they can say whatever they want about what they approved.
Moncrief was in fine fettle and looking robust. The first hour and a half was spent conducting ceremonies to laud various people for their fine contributions to our wonderful city. A new police chief was officially sworn in (again) and Moncrief presented him with two surprises. His parents had been flown in (at our expense, no doubt) to witness this second swearing in. Each council person delivered an obsequious speech about how fortunate we are to have this new chief. Then Moncrief made a big deal about a new policy instituted for this new chief, not only because of his incredible record, but also because we are the 17th largest city in the US now, and big cities have their police chiefs wear four stars on their collars instead of the three we had previously prescribed.
Meanwhile people who had serious business to bring before the council had to wait, but they performed the important duty of scripted adulation at the appropriate points in the script.
Finally the council got down to business. There were three gas drilling related items on the agenda. They all had to do with a package deal CHK had to offer the city in exchange for abandoning their pipeline to nowhere through the residential area south of TCU where the dead-on-arrival drill site by the TCU football stadium is located. Of course, Kevin Strawser, the PR front man for CHK who delivered the presentation, never mentioned that feature of the deal--probably because so many of us had seen through that ploy. Carter Burdette was strangely silent for a change. Of course, as usual CHK was given unlimited time to pitch their case to the monolithic 9 on the dais and the rest of us. Then the people were allowed their usual three minutes to speak.
There were a number of Hispanic homeowners whose homes were within 600 ft of the multiple well pad sites. Their stories, pieced together, painted a picture of typical deception and coercion by the industry landmen who obtained the waivers necessary to put in these 30 odd wells within 600 ft of their homes. Time was, not so long ago, when it was necessary for the drillers to get 100% waivers to even come before the council with an application. Time was when such applications were called "high impact" applications. No more! CHK boasted 90-odd percent waivers in one case and 79% in another, for applications that are now called something else other than High Impact use. I don't recall what the new term is.
I spoke about the arbitrariness of the 600 ft setback rule and how it had nothing to do with public safety. I told them (once again) that the data show that 600 ft is insufficient to define the kill radius of an explosion of a 16 inch gathering line.
A new witness spoke about a significant incident at a CHK site on Henderson recently in which there was a fracking accident that caused a pool of fracking fluid to spread over the entire width of the drilling pad. He showed a photo of it. You could see what appeared to be a white foam on top of the liquid at the center of the spill (if "spill" is an accurate description of what happened). The man said that this foam was a chemical mix placed there by workers who were trying to clean up. Apparently the incident attracted the attention of nearby residents who the man said were frightened. He mentioned that there were children who were frightened. None of us had heard of this incident and were wanting to hear more. But those on the dais sat silent and stone-faced and made no response. The man said it was time to stop the drilling and ask some serious questions. Ho Hum! Stone-faced silence. Moncrief warned this man about his reference to CHK during his three minutes and said he'd better not disobey the speaking rules. Finally, we were treated to the obligatory unlimited council member Wesson Oil party speeches about how in all these hearings there are winners and losers and it is the difficult job of the council to make decisions. Carter Burdette was mercifully silent for a change. All bit players in the script were thanked for their concern and sacrifice of time for civic duties, and they assured all of us that we had been heard.
Joel Burns, who had orchestrated this deal, spoke of how he had been concerned about the lack of a master plan for District 9 (and, oh, by-the-way, a "small part of District 3", which has had no representation since Chuck Silcox passed away). So he was pleased that CHK had developed this "master plan" and he praised it and their civic mindedness and pronounced it good. There were other obsequious speeches to fit the standard requirement for this act of the kabuki theater form. The vote was unanimous.
Note how perception management is used here. "High Impact" is gone. The need for 100% waivers is gone. The need for 600 ft setback is gone, and now we have a "master plan". They have stolen our idea for a master plan, twisted it beyond recognition, and fed it back to us with a straight face. Kabuki theater has replaced the democratic process, relegated public safety to the dust bin, and glorified the looters.
