Fort Worth Residents Take Drilling Concerns To State

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - When a state legislative committee met in Fort Worth Thursday to hear testimony from North Texas mayors about natural gas drilling issues, they heard frustrations very similar to the citizens who only weeks before had been complaining to city hall.

"I think people should come before profit," says Steve Deoung of Fort Worth, "Simple as that."

Deoung was alone in fighting the gas company trying to put a 16-inch pipeline through his front yard.

He says he spent a year complaining to a powerless city, to indifferent gas company lawyers, and to state agencies unsure about what could be done.

"I had to spend a lot of time just reading and trying to understand things," says Deoung.   "The railing on the porch there, that's been a project that's been on hold for a while."

Now, North Texas leaders are voicing the same frustrations to a legislative committee holding hearings in Fort Worth.  They complain state enforcement is ineffective.

"With respect to environmental oversight," Mayor Mike Moncrief of Fort Worth told the legislative panel,  "There is NO clear assignment of jurisdiction over oil and gas exploration.

The cities, from as small as Dish, Texas up to the size of Fort Worth, asked for more stringent regulation and enforcement.  But committee members say Fort Worth is blaming the state for the city's lack of oversight.

State Representative Lon Burnam, whose district is in Fort Worth, told the meeting tight city budgets forced the city to lay off its environmental manager.  "There are possibilities and responsibilities of local governments that I feel have not been met in this city."

State lawmakers are about to review Texas' major environmental agencies.  City leaders are telling legislators it's time to reform those agencies and give more enforcement tools to the cities.

"Give us the tools," says Mayor Moncrief, "let us do the job."