Manual Email Moderation

Sorry about the junk mail. Google's junk filter has been VERY good in the past. Unfortunately, some bonehead in China somehow emailed a slug of junk onto the blog. I am now moderating the email manually. Your comments will show up on the web site immediately but will not go out to the group by email until I have reviewed it. I'll forward the comments to the group manually so no junk mail will go through.

Sincerely,

Michael Dallas

Questions

I am posting this notice So that everyone knows what's going on. Last Sunday, the neighbors on Love Circle and I met informally. I wanted to hear their concerns and share the information that I had. I wanted everyone to be up to date. The meeting was productive with about a dozen neighbors present.

Neighbor concerns included:

Drilling:
I emphasized that: 1) it will be important for the neighborhood association to be involved in the engineering process for the gas drilling, 2) the neighborhood association needs to form a gas committee with representatives from each part of the NA. It will help with the negotiations for those who own minerals as well as address environmental concerns of everyone.

Since Love Circle is not on city water and the neighbors get their water from wells, the issue of clean water was foremost. Questions about the water included:
How will drilling affect well water?
Will it contaminate the water?
Will drilling use ground water? If so, will this drain the wells?

Water and sewer installation on Love Circle:
About half the people were anxious for water and sewer to arrive. About half wanted to wait.
Are water and sewer going to be installed at the same time?
Will property owners be compelled to hook up?

Nature Center changes:
Is the nature center planning on adding a new entrance on Love Circle?
Is the nature center planning on banning boats north of Jacksboro Highway?

Dredging:
Will dredging affect the docks?

Crystals:
Neighbors are tired of pornography blowing into the park.

I have not heard from the engineering department this week. As I learn more, I will post it here. The blog contains a long list of questions that already have been submitted by neighbors. You may want to review these and add more. Please post your questions soon. I will be submitting a question list in the near future. The more questions I can get answers to, the better.

Also, anyone who would like to serve on the gas committee, please let me know. I will be posting a date for a neighborhood meeting. We will elect the committee at that time.

Michael Dallas
mdallas@scenicshores.net

Water Questions

Thank you Michael.

Did you get an answer on our aquifer as well?

When they drill through our only water supply (well water), what precautions will be taken?

dan deetz

Signs in the parks

The notices on the parks are not "condemnation" but "conversion." Conversion means that part of the park property will be "converted to another use." In this case, the minerals are converted away from from "recreational use" and are being sold from under the park. The signs clearly state that there will be no drilling units in the park. Moreover, the engineering department told me that the city has made extensive efforts to avoid drilling in the parks and has no (current) plans to drill in the parks. I was told that the drilling for the mineral extraction of the Love Circle area will be done from the other side of the lake.

Good question. These signs have a lot of people wondering.

Michael Dallas
President
Scenic Shores Neighborhood Association

Signs in the Parks

By the park being condemned, can they drill on it?
See attached picture of sign found on access road by Casino Park.

dan deetz

Be kind. We're in this together.

Blogger.com (which is owned by Google) is being used to host the discussion (it posts the comments and sends out emails to everyone). Evidently, the good folks at Blogger.com thought yesterday's message was so good, they sent it out 9 times in a row to everyone. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Please understand that the people working in the Scenic Shores Neighborhood Association are just neighbors who are selflessly volunteering their time. They are not city employees. None of them (including me) make a dime doing this. Their only motivation is to help make the neighborhood better by helping you. I would encourage everyone to be nice to these folks and to offer to help once in a while. You might be surprised how far a kind word goes.

Sincerely,

Michael Dallas

Comment

I have received this email a total of 9 times today. Do you think you fix this error.
Also a previous email sent by one of your staff had everyone's email address listed.
Maybe you could explain "bcc" to her and not share our email addresses with everyone.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Love Circle Meeting

FYI: The Love Circle Meeting this Sunday, March 9th at 2:00 PM will be at 7504 Love Circle.

Michael Dallas
President
Scenic Shores Neighborhood Association
Private email: mdallas@scenicshores.net
817-733-9056

Latest News

Dear Neighbors:

This morning, I spoke with Jean Petr, Land Lease Agent for the City of Fort Worth on the Gas Lease Program. I expressed the neighbors' concerns about the impending gas drilling. Given the intense concerns among neighbors, I specifically asked her whether drilling locations under consideration include Peninsula Club Circle and Love Circle Park. I also expressed my concern that the decision-making process (about where to put wells and equipment) be open and inclusive of neighborhood participation.

She said that (for now at least):

1) The city is following the rules on the 600 foot distances and prohibition of drilling in parks.
2) Peninsula Club Circle does not qualify as a drill site since it is within 600 feet of residences.
3) Love Circle does not qualify for drilling since it is a park.
4) Other potential locations have been identified that would get the gas out from under our part of the lake.
5) The city plans on requiring "closed-loop systems" (instead of "ponds") to minimize environmental impact and chance of pollution.
6) The city's drilling plan is to start the engineering at the south shore of the lake. The city engineers will work around the lake taking "chunks" of the land in sequence. Our "chunk" of land probably will not be ready for engineering until next year.
7) She will be talking to her superiors as to how the engineering department will communicate with us as the decision making process moves forward. She suggested that maps might be provided by the city with potential drilling locations. She also suggested that email notices may be sent to us as events develop.

As I learn more, I will let you know. Please send your questions and suggestions by replying to this email. Your comments will be sent to everyone who is participating (currently about 28 email addresses) and will appear at http://www.SSNAGas.com.

Sincerely,

Michael Dallas
President
Scenic Shores Neighborhood Association
Private email: MDallas@ScenicShores.net

Comment

Below is a great resource link. John Baen is a friend of mine and totally plugged into the gas scene/ Barnett Shale. His opinions are educated and reliable. The video on his webpage was a presentation at the last Barnett Shale Expo.

http://www.coba.unt.edu/firel/baen/

On March 29 from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm, there will be another FREE Barnett Shale Expo at the Fort Worth Convention Center Exhibit Hall. Go to www.barnettshaleexpo.com for more information.

Barbara Wooten

Secretary

Lake Worth Civic Club

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Love Circle Meeting - Sun March 9th 2:00P

FYI: The neighbors on Love Circle have organized an informal meeting on Sunday March 9th at 2:00PM. We will chat about an hour.

If the other neighbors would like to chat, I am available. I'm here to help.

Michael Dallas
President
Scenic Shores Neighborhood Association
Private email: mdallas@scenicshores.net
817-733-9056

How to Use this Blog

For those who have not used an open email blog before, it is very easy. Everyone who is interested in the discussion will get emails like this one. To add to the discussion, just reply to the email. That email will go out to everyone also. To review the ongoing discussion, just go to the "blog" website (in this case http://www.SSNAGas.com) to review the emails. This discussion method allows people to join at any point without derailing the group with redundant questions. Occassionally, I will edit out redundant or unnecessary comments to make the website more readable.

This method will come in handy as we move forward. For example, an email with a long list of good questions about drilling was circulated a couple of days ago. Those questions are a good starting point for our discussion with the city. As we get answers to those quetsions, we can put the answers in an FAQ sheet so everyone knows what's going on.

If you would like to test the discussion blog, just reply to this email. Then go to http://www.SSNAGas.com with your Explorer or Firefox browser. Your comment will show up on the site shortly. If you want to try it out by sending "test" emails, be my guest. I'll delete them from the blog later. Even if you don't intend on using the blog, you should try it just for fun.

If you know people who would like to be emailed when new comments about the drilling are added, they can enroll in blogger and subscribe, or they can simply send me an email. I'll add them to my special list.

Michael Dallas
Gas discussion email: talk@SSNAGas.com
Private email: mdallas@scenicshores.net
Phone: 817-733-9056