Gas Drilling in NW Dallas area? (inspections, moving, place)

[adixyz]

Originally Posted by JLO

adixyz - if I already owned a home, or were selling homes in your area ... I'd probably make the same argument. I understand your point. Let's focus on the positive right? There are positives to FM. My fear is for FM's future. The OP asked for opinions. I gave mine about buying in your area.

With full disclosure I bought a house in FM a year back knowing about drilling after comparing numerous DFW areas & public schools.
On the fear of future, nothing can be predicted about other communities as well. Give and take the property prices are pretty stable in DFW area for houses under 500K.
I know for sure the air quality I am breathing on a daily basis is better than others. While there might be a lot of open rural areas in FM the average base price of new houses build is not less than $450K. With a centralized location near to DFW airport, there will always be demand for houses under 400K and most of the FM houses fall in this range. With similar demographies, its still a lot lower than Southlake.

We can discuss more about fracking and can dive deeper but lets keep this thread for the intended purpose.

[ROckjaw]

All:

Many thanks for the info - if FM, Southlake and Coppell are all experiencing this, it there an area that is not (Westlake?)? What about the areas within Dallas proper, that are nice - is Dallas impacted by the gas drilling also?

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by ROckjaw

All:

Many thanks for the info - if FM, Southlake and Coppell are all experiencing this, it there an area that is not (Westlake?)? What about the areas within Dallas proper, that are nice - is Dallas impacted by the gas drilling also?

Gas is being drilled from the Barnett-Shale, which is believed to be the largest accessible natural gas field in the US. The "core" drilling areas (where it is easiest to drill) are in Tarrant, Denton, and Wise counties. If you are seriously concerned, you should avoid any homes in those counties (roughly everything west of I-35E).

The Barnett-Shale extends west, so Dallas County, Collin County, and counties east and south of Dallas have no natural gas underground to drill. Is drilling is a deal-breaker for you, I would recommend focusing on these areas....however that may not be realistic if you want a commute under "x" and have a job near DFW, Downtown Fort Worth, etc.

[adixyz]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

The Barnett-Shale extends west, so Dallas County, Collin County, and counties east and south of Dallas have no natural gas underground to drill. Is drilling is a deal-breaker for you, I would recommend focusing on these areas....however that may not be realistic if you want a commute under "x" and have a job near DFW, Downtown Fort Worth, etc.

The eastern edge of Barnett shale also covers some area of Dallas County and touches Collin County as well.

[TurtleCreek80]

You can look up the article on Dallasnews.com today (12/7/10), but here's a real life example of a "day in the life" of living in an area with natural gas drilling.



EPA says Parker County homes at risk of explosion after aquifer near 'fracked' gas wells is contaminated
05:49 PM CST on Tuesday, December 7, 2010
By RANDY LEE LOFTIS / The Dallas Morning News
rloftis@dallasnews.com

Natural gas from drilling that used the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing has contaminated a drinking-water aquifer in Parker County, putting two homes at risk of explosion and triggering a federal emergency order, the Environmental Protection Agency's regional chief said late this afternoon.

[PanTerra]

Your Federal dollars at work.

Chris Tucker: EPA is a no-show in Texas fracking case (http://washingtonexaminer.com/print/opinion/op-eds/2011/01/chris-tucker-epa-no-show-texas-fracking-case - broken link)

EPA put forth in issuing an unprecedented “emergency order” -- demanding, among other things, that Range plug up its wells and go home.

Just one problem: The isotopic analysis EPA used as the basis for its order doesn’t include a word about nitrogen; EPA never ran those tests.
Fortunately, experts from Weatherford Labs in Texas did. And at a hearing of the Texas Railroad Commission in Austin this week, those experts testified that the methane found in those private water wells in question came from the Strawn, not the Barnett.

What that means in practical geological terms is that Range isn’t (and in fact couldn’t be) responsible for the occurrence of methane in those wells – it has no wells in the Strawn.

[nonekhgkjgh]

You are mistaken. There is explorer pipeline. It carries diesel/jet fuel. It runs thru all these towns and out of dallas. It has leaked and been sued by dallas for water contamination. i wouldnt move here and am moving out

[nonekhgkjgh]

They are drilling all over the place and south and north and west of dallas. get your facts straight

[Twincam666]

Personally, I work in the business. I deal with drilling, inspection, Halliburton, Baker and I am a former employee of BJ's Services.

I'm not going to go into a long drawn out thing. BUT, if it makes you the least bit nervous or hesitant...Do not move there....
Better to have your peace of mind rather than always wondering.

[TX75007]

Back to the OT.

Mineral rights and surface rights are two different things. And in some parts of Texas, you also have to worry about water rights as well.

We have a number of oil and gas leases on our property as well as a major pipeline. ( We do own the water under us but not the hydrocarbons.) We have a good relationship with them both.

The drilling firm pays us a yearly amount for each active well and the pipeline company paid us a lump sum at the very beginning. (You can negotiate what you want within reason.) One of our older relatives who lives nearby monitors the wells and deals with both firms.

Every time they have to go in, he also negotiates with the crews to get things done on our place that requires their heavy equipment, ie ditches cleaned out or a road fixed. Sometimes all it takes is asking, other times, he gives the dozer operator a hundred dollar bill. He also takes the crews Pizza/Cokes on their last day to thank them for being careful.

The crews have made some errors, but that is part of life. The supervisor set us right and took care of things.

The thing to keep in mind is that everyone involved entered into agreements that are well understood by MOST people. People come in later and buy the land and do not think what it means to not have the mineral rights. When they get the notices that drilling may occur or that a firm has notified them that they may explore, they ignore it. When the drilling manager shows up to work with the landowner, that is the first time the owners start to think about it.

Since a number of people buy small tracts of land and move to the country to enjoy peace and quiet, its really a PIA for them when the drill team shows up. Some people way overreact. The funny thing is, the owner of the mineral rights did not overreact when the new people moved in and built a house on top of his or her minerals.