Today in Argyle, Texas: Husbands and school age children are on one side, wives, young children and elderly are on the other side–trapped by the rising flood waters.
Five years ago — count’em people that’s 60 months, 260 weeks, 1,825 days — Reichmann Petroleum built a pad site and grossly altered the flow of floodwater along Britt Drive and Hickory Hill.
Today, our neighbors are trapped.
To demonstrate how much the area was altered:
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
- Web |
- More Posts(5121)
i lived on hickory hill rd next to the creek from 1977 to 1979. my parents lived there until 2002. this creek has always flooded when there have been heavy rains. hickory hill rd was shut down at this creek when it flooded its banks. im sure the drilling didnt help the situation at all however records will show this area to be in a flood plane. can you tell me what property exactly this well was drilled on and when? im thinking it may have been my old home place
What a shame. O&G in action! Worthless state agencies, WCEQ and RRC, Bought-off politicians at all levels, along with oil-soaked Texas courts!! No help. Oil company is laughing all the way to the bank and thumbing their nose at the ordinary peasant who lives on the land–welcome to Tx.
@Rebecca,
If it's in a flood plain that has a history of flooding like this, then why would it ever be considered ok to put a gas well there? Either the drilling company was wrong to drill there in the first place, or they messed it up big time.
Rebecca – my home adjoins this property and yes part of it is in the flood plain. And yes, this is a flood sensitive area with prior flooding on Hickory Hill. I have lived here for close to 10 years and the creek would not flood on Britt Drive in the years prior to the pad being built – we only have one way in/out. Since the erection of the pad site (the well never drilled) the creek does flood on Britt and traps our neighbors for hours. It is a very dangerous situation and Sue Ann is correct – Reichmann Petroleum should never have built up this pad site and redirected water flow into our neighborhood thus changing the water flow paths and topography of the area. Now, Reichmann has filed bankruptcy and we are left with the aftermath. Our prayer is that someone is not harmed/killed in the raging waters before the County finds another entrance/exit to our neighborhood. The acreage on which this pad sits is the old George property.
Rebecca, the former drill site is in the 1500 block of Hickory Hill on the property owned by the late Bonnie George. Denton county significantly improved the drainage at the low spot by Pecan Acres. You are correct that this area floods, it is the low spot in the area adjacent to the Fincher Branch which ultimately flows to Hickory Creek. Reichmann Petroleum had a 1+ acre pad site erected on the 16 acres that stands 6 to 7 feet tall, the sludge pit was in part of the flood plain. The pad site sits at the point where storm flow used to be dispersed through the acreage. The addition of the pad split the flow into two directions, toward my home which is not in any flood plain and toward the creek and Hickory Hill. The family that leased the property for drilling had a home built, in the meantime, Reichmann filed for bankruptcy when the City of Denton sued them. Part of the sludge pit was used to build the pad for the home. The dirt worker for the home told my husband and I that he fixed our problem by redirecting all the flow to the creek. The first dirt worker warned Reichmann that the pad would alter the flow, he also said that the pad at the Dean/Neece site, next door to this property also altered flow. I moved to Britt Drive in 1996 and never experienced these situations unless we had close to 6 – 8" rains, but the flow was IN FRONT of our house, not behind. Now, a 2" rain will trap us on our street. In April 2007, Denton County had severe flooding, we had storm flow 4 feet over our road, our only way in and out. The ultimate point is that an operator built a pad in an unregulated, unincorporated area and altered the storm flow of what was an already sensitive area. Homes were planned and built out of the flood plain prior to this pad going in, the flow changed significantly when the pad was put in. Carrizo Oil and Gas took over this site two years ago and failed to obtain their drilling permit. They were urged by the Railroad Commission and State Representative Tan Parker to address the storm flow changes, despite agreeing to help, they never did. The site is now supposed to be moved to Fincher Road. Everyone please remember that they drill, place compresror stations, injection wells, land farms, and all the other nasty stuff OUTSIDE city limits, no city oversight, no city permits, no city SUPs, with one inspector from the Texas RRC responsible for more than 4000 wells. Watch the RRC site and notice how vague the plats are on the applications. No one watches what goes on in our unincorporated areas, it is up to the citizens. Finally, after 5 years, we are getting some help. I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have, Jana DeGrand
bonnie george was my mom. i appreciate the responses i have recieved concerning this property. i know none of us heirs would have sold this acerage if we had known what they had planned to do with it. such a beautiful piece of property ruined. i totally understand your frustration with the situation. why did the homeowners lease it in the first place and do they bear responsibility for any of this? also why was the city of denton suing reichmann? looks to me like someone could get a bulldozer and take the pad down. certainly whomever owns this mess would like it restored to pasture. please keep me updated. rebecca
Rebecca – the City of Denton sued Reichmann Petroleum because we sit in the City of Denton's ETJ and they have limited authority to regulate this area. The City of Denton's gas well inspector found that Reichmann Petroleum had not properly permitted or turned in plats for their gas well sites outside the city limits. They refused to turn them over so the City sued and Reichmann in turn filed bankruptcy. The family that bought the property leased to Reichmann and after bankruptcy that lease was flipped to Carrizo Oil and Gas who also tried to drill. Our neighborhood fought the site all the way to the Railroad Commission in Austin and ultimatly won therefore, temporarily disallowing the drilling of the well. We have been told that Carrizo is planning to reapply to drill the site in another location – but we have no verification. In the meantime, we would love to have the pad restored to the original grade and slope but ultimately that is the homeowner's decision and they are employed by a gas company and desire to have it drilled. They attended the hearings in Austin and fought to have it drilled with full knowledge of our flooding dilemma. You can read about our 5 year ordeal on the 5 part series that the Denton REcord Chronicle published. It used to be on this site – let me know if you can't find it. Let me know if you have any other questions – my home is the one with the pool that you see in the pics. We used to really enjoy your mom's cows in our pasture while we were swimming:)
Rebecca – the City of Denton sued Reichmann Petroleum because we sit in the City of Denton's ETJ and they have limited authority to regulate this area. The City of Denton's gas well inspector found that Reichmann Petroleum had not properly permitted or turned in plats for their gas well sites outside the city limits. They refused to turn them over so the City sued and Reichmann in turn filed bankruptcy. The family that bought the property leased to Reichmann and after bankruptcy that lease was flipped to Carrizo Oil and Gas who also tried to drill. Our neighborhood fought the site all the way to the Railroad Commission in Austin and ultimatly won therefore, temporarily disallowing the drilling of the well. We have been told that Carrizo is planning to reapply to drill the site in another location – but we have no verification. In the meantime, we would love to have the pad restored to the original grade and slope but ultimately that is the homeowner's decision and they are employed by a gas company and desire to have it drilled. They attended the hearings in Austin and fought to have it drilled with full knowledge of our flooding dilemma. You can read about our 5 year ordeal on the 5 part series that the Denton REcord Chronicle published. It used to be on this site – let me know if you can't find it. Let me know if you have any other questions – my home is the one with the pool that you see in the pics. We used to really enjoy your mom's cows in our pasture while we were swimming:)
Rebecca, we live next door to Jennifer. When Bonnie passed away, her dog Maddie came to live with us, we also took care of the blue healer that she had before taking Maddie back. We called the healer, Blue. His grave was bulldozed when the pad was put in. The 16 acres was split, to 4 plus the house and the remaining 12. My husband tried to keep the barbed wire fence fixed to keep the cows in, we used to hand feed them and loved all the critters that wandered in through the fence. The pad is supposed to be knocked down, but has not been removed yet. The side of the hill was cut out and the slope of the lot was changed to accommodate drilling. Since you lived there, you should know that the pasture dispersed the storm water, but the pad changed it. Your mom was always kind to us, although late, please accept our condolences, we do miss her. It is sad to see what was your home, now destroyed. Jana