DISH — In a quiet, sparsely attended meeting, neither of the two residents who came asked to speak during a public hearing on the town’s proposed rules for natural gas metering stations.

Mayor Pro Tem William Sciscoe said after the meeting that many residents came earlier in the year to speak out against allowing another metering station inside town limits. Dish has three metering stations.

According to the Natural Gas Supply Association, operators build metering stations along their gathering lines to measure, monitor and manage the gas flow without impeding its travel down the line.

The proposed new regulations, which are scheduled for a vote Aug. 9, will follow the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ opinion in Texas Midstream Gas Services LLC vs. City of Grand Prairie, according to Bryn Meredith, Dish’s town attorney.

The lawsuit, filed in 2008, centered on a disagreement over whether cities could write rules to address aesthetics and nuisances for equipment built by pipeline companies, which in Texas enjoy the same power of eminent domain as public utilities.

The court’s opinion, issued June 1, reaffirmed the jurisdiction that Texas cities have over such issues as setbacks and other aesthetic requirements.

Generally, it would be considered unreasonable for a city to not allow the facilities at all, Meredith said.

Dish’s proposed regulations provide for masonry fences, landscaping, dedication of right of way and construction of appropriate pavement.

The new rules, which are not retroactive, would become part of the code of ordinances for pipelines and related facilities, Sciscoe said.

Residents have been troubled by “pop-offs” of relief valves along the gathering pipelines, Sciscoe said. A pop-off can empty the pipeline and release as much as 100 million cubic feet of gas.

Generally, a city cannot write an ordinance to forbid those releases, Meredith said. But the town can issue a penalty for the noise and nuisance of a pop-off, should it exceed the town’s regulated limits.

Once the ordinance is passed, Sciscoe said, the penalty clause provides for a fine up to $2,000 for each offense.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .