CORINTH — Residents packed the council chambers and overflow facilities for the second time this month, asking the City Council to deny 11 variances requested by XTO Energy for drilling at least two natural gas wells at Lake Sharon Christian Center.

Community organizer Cora Bell presented a petition with 977 signatures collected in eight days, opposing the company’s request and asking the City Council to conduct an independent environmental impact study of the drill site, to be paid for by the company.

DRC/David Minton

XTO Energy is seeking 11 variances from the Corinth City Council to drill at least two gas wells on Lake Sharon Christian Center property, shown Friday.

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Leaders of nearby homeowners’ associations also came to voice their official opposition to the site during Thursday’s meeting. Nearly 100 people stayed until 11:30 p.m. to hear the council once again vote to continue the public hearing and table the variance requests to April 29.

Council members first voted to continue the matter on April 1 and held a five-hour workshop discussing some of the issues last week. The city also has retained an independent environmental engineer to help it evaluate the application, Mayor Paul Ruggiere said, but the consultant did not speak Thursday night.

Earlier in the week, XTO agreed to waive its right to have the application considered within 45 days of submittal, City Attorney Debra Drayovitch said.

The application arrived at City Hall in pieces between March 1 and April 8, so the 45-day deadline could have expired as early as Thursday.

It was unclear whether the application, in its current state, would have had the council’s support Thursday, had the company held to the deadline.

Council member Joe Harrison, who is up for re-election in May, said late in the meeting, before the motions to continue the matter, that he was ready to offer his opinion.

“I’m reluctant to support the permit,” Harrison said, to cheers and applause from the residents still there.

At the beginning of the meeting, his opponent, Sim Portnoy, read back to the council minutes from four previous meetings to remind everyone of the history of the issue.

“You are creating policies without your constituents at your back,” Portnoy said.

XTO representative Robert Manthei told the council the company could drill up to seven wells at the location, based on its current lease holdings.

If the company were able to lease “360 degrees around the site,” Manthei projected XTO could drill up to 20 wells at the popular site for religious retreats and other community activities. He could not predict how many tanks, compressors and other stationary equipment would be needed upon completion of the wells, nor into the future.

Council member John Booher asked Drayovitch whether the council could do more than ministerial handling of the application, given that one of the permits had already been approved by the Texas Railroad Commission.

Manthei told the council that XTO expected the commission to grant an exception to the other drilling permit that would allow it to drill even though it has not leased from everyone in the neighborhood.

The permit is under protest.

Red Oak Energy Partners sued Flower Mound in June 2008 when the town denied the energy company 12 variances to drill there. A Denton County court upheld the town’s right to deny those variances. Terry Welch, an attorney for Flower Mound, said Red Oak filed a second case over whether the denial of those variances constituted a “taking” of the mineral rights, but no trial date has been set.

Cherelle Blazer, a clean-air specialist with the Environmental Defense Fund, told the Corinth council members that they had the authority to do a lot to protect the health, safety and welfare of residents, pointing out that the friction seen in other communities comes from people who feel they aren’t being protected.

New regulations are coming soon from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the council could “take that to the bank with these health concerns that are being seen,” Blazer said.

To testify in the public hearing, many residents stuck it out through long blocks of testimony — not only from XTO but also from an independent environmental scientist and a toxicologist from TCEQ.

Nearly 20 spoke Thursday against either the variances or the permit application, most of whom were not among the 55 people who spoke against the matter on April 1.

In addition, Ruggiere read into the record opposition declared by two dozen other residents.

Several expressed concern that the request to reduce the setbacks would increase the risk for future residents. One resident pointed out that children from Hawk Elementary School are supposed to go to Lake Sharon Christian Center should the school need to be evacuated.

Hawk Elementary Assistant Principal Monica Graves confirmed Friday that the school has such an agreement with the center, but the school had other options if the center itself was affected.

Chris Boyd, president of the Lake Sharon Home Owners Association, presented the group’s official opposition and expressed his own frustration in his personal dealings with the energy companies. XTO bought the leases from Braden Exploration.

“The gas and oil companies make their living off misinformation and non-information and outright deceit,” Boyd said. “I’m one of the closest homes to the site, and I signed one of the variances for distance because I thought it was going to be nothing. The lack of information is infuriating.

“I’d like to express to you: Don’t be surprised if there’s an actual uprising. This is a very, very frustrating process.”

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

ELEVEN VARIANCES

XTO Energy has asked for 11 variances to drill for natural gas at Lake Sharon Christian Center.

* To allow a $25,000 bond or check per well in lieu of a letter of credit to pay for road damages.

XTO has said it’s against company policy to issue letters of credit. Council member Randy Gibbons has said a letter of credit is counted as a liability in a company’s balance sheets.

* Reduce the setbacks to allow drilling within 300 feet of a protected use.

XTO claims it has received waivers from the Lake Sharon Christian Center and nearby residences and discloses that one of the protected uses — one of the buildings at the center — is 200 feet from its operations.

* To not require a chain-link fence around the drill site.

XTO has said it will install a noise fence, which is not penetrable, on three sides of the pad site. The company said it would consider a chain-link fence on the north side, but it is not preferred.

* To drop the requirement that the area within 300 feet of the drill site be kept free of weeds, trash and debris.

XTO has said part of that perimeter is in the city’s right of way, and it cannot go there without the city’s permission.

* To drop the requirement that drilling fluids be contained in pipelines at all times, including for movement to a disposal well.

XTO has asked that it be able to temporarily store fluids on site until they can be trucked to a disposal well.

* Reduce the setbacks to allow a tank battery within 100 feet of a protected use.

XTO claims it doesn’t have enough space on the well site to meet this requirement.

* Reduce the setbacks to allow waste disposal tanks within 100 feet of a protected use.

XTO claims it doesn’t have enough space on the well site to meet this requirement.

* To allow a lift compressor station.

XTO claims it doesn’t know whether the well will produce without one. 

* To drop the masonry fence requirement.

XTO claimed the cost — about $75,000 — would not create the screening that could be affected by a “living” screen the company would rather install, and would make it more difficult to re-enter the site for additional operations. Manthei has told the council it could drill as many as five to 18 more wells at that site.

* To drop the tree mitigation requirement

XTO claims it would cost $1 million to comply with this requirement, making the site too expensive to develop.

* To drop the requirement to disclose the pipeline route for the site

XTO claims it is too expensive to secure the easements without knowing whether it will be permitted to drill.

RESIDENTS’ VOICES

Organizers presented a petition with nearly 1,000 signatures gathered in the last eight days, asking the City Council to deny variances requested by XTO Energy to drill at Lake Sharon Christian Center. Many residents crowded the council chambers, lobby and conference room for the second time this month to protest the wells.

Here is some of the testimony offered during the meeting.

* “You don’t want to be the mayor of a superfund site.” — Cherelle Blazer, Environmental Defense Fund

* “The only access was through crossing wetlands, the floodway and floodplain.” — XTO representative Robert Manthei on why the company moved from the original drilling location

* “Do citizens need to be declared on the endangered species list to be protected?” — George Weidemer, resident

* “They have all these euphemisms. You have to watch the language.” — Virginia Holt, resident

* “Your duty is to protect us and our health and well-being.” — JoAnna Empie, resident

* “There is no place for these in a residential area. My business partner [a former fire chief] thought you were insane to allow this in our community.” — Robert Zazula, resident

* “You can allay our fears by protecting our property values and not letting us become lab rats.” — Tom Bowater, resident

* “People’s lives and health are at stake. I think it’s worth taking that battle on.” — John Sullivan, resident

* “Your constituents are speaking, the question is: Are you listening?” — Mike Davis, resident