City gets highest bonus reported: $23,511/acre

The Star Telegram reports on a lucrative lease deal.

Overton West Bylaws

Amended Bylaws adopted last week: please click here.

Report on 12-6-2007 Meeting

The Overton West Neighborhood Association ("OWNA") met on December 6, 2007.

Members present adopted Amended Bylaws for the OWNA which will be made available soon.

New officers were elected to the Executive Board:

• President: Troy Tuomey
• Vice-President: Andy Keetch
• Secretary: Amy Raines, P.E.
  
• Treasurer: Robert Reynolds

City Councilman Chuck Silcox was kind enough to come to the meeting on short notice. He spoke about the importance of neighborhood associations and about gas/drilling issues.

The OWNA voted that the Executive Board should appoint a Barnett Shale Committee to represent the OWNA in gas lease negotiations.

Many issues regarding Barnett Shales leases were discussed, including: surface use restrictions, bonus payments, royalty amounts, title risk allocation, traffic issues, enclosure of compressors, limitations on primary term and elimination of shut in terms, possible unity with other neighborhoods, whether an attorney should be engaged and similar issues. The Barnett Shale Committee is expected to examine such issues and report recommendations back to the Executive Board.

Representatives of other neighborhoods came to the meeting and encouraged persons living in our neighborhood to remain unified. Our strength in negotiations and discussions is our unity.

A new neighborhood web site is in the works thanks to Carey Hilton of Boulder Run. When the new web site is ready, a link will be posted here.

Finally, members are strongly encouraged to talk to their neighbors who did not attend the meeting. Please advise your neighbors of the OWNA's plans and 1) the need to be unified; 2) remind neighbors that they should not sign any lease; and 3) refer all inquiries to OWNA president Troy Tuomey. Troy's email address is tuomey AT charter DOT net.

Copy of Agenda for 12-6-2007 Meeting

AGENDA

Overton West Neighborhood Association

Meeting: December 6, 2007, 7:00 pm, Tanglewood Elementary

I. Introduction and announcements

II. Barnett Shale General Issues

III. Status of Overton West Neighborhood Association (“OWNA”)

IV. Recognition of Representatives from the City and Other Neighborhoods

V. Ratification of Amended Bylaws

VI. Election of Officers

A. President

B. Vice-President

C. Secretary

D. Treasurer

VII. Election of Barnett Shale Committee (“BSC”)

VIII. Open discussion

IX. Adjourn

*** IMPORTANT NOTES: ***

1) Keep updated: http://overtonwest.blogspot.com/

2) Do not sign any lease! Wait to hear the recommendations of the BSC.

3) Please provide your name, address, phone number – and most importantly – your email address.

4) Direct any inquiries from gas companies to the OWNA or the BSC.

City Ordinance to be reviewed

The City of Fort Worth is preparing to re-open the debate about its gas drilling ordinance, possibly in January. Matt Hudson, who is President of the Fort Worth League of Neighborhoods, writes:

“Well, as you all know, we have been actively working with the city Council and Mayor to reopen the gas drilling task force and we finally got a commitment this week to do so!

While this is great news, we also asked the city for 2 other things:

1. Conduct and independent study of the environmental impacts of urban drilling on our neighborhoods including water, earth, noise, light, etc.
2. Declare a moratorium on new drilling permits while the study and task force work.

As you can imagine, the second point did not go over too well. But we will still keep trying. We believe it is time to call a timeout or halftime if you will and dig deep into the impact that gas drilling has had on our city and plan for the future.

To aid in this matter, we have created a new section of our website that lists resources you can use for your NA meetings. As always, all of the League material is open to all members. Which means, feel free to download any of it and use it in your communications or meetings.

We do have one request though. During our last Gas Drilling Education event, we asked those present to send us their concerns about drilling. In other words, we are trying to compile a list of issues we as neighborhoods want the task force to address when they reconvene after the Holidays.

Please email us (president@fwlna.org) your list and we will compile the results.

Also, we will be sending out a survey asking for your support on the two points outlined above. the more people who respond, the better voice we will have with the city.

The FWLNA believes that there are unanswered questions regarding urban gas drilling and we want the city to make sure we get the answers before it is too late.”

I am not so sure I would agree with Hudson’s suggestions to the city, but this is obviously of interest.

You might also be interested in the Startlegram’s Barnett Shale blog: http://startelegram.typepad.com/barnett_shale/

Arlington neighborhood sets new market for bonus payments

The Startlegram published a story today on a neighborhood which just leased for a bonus of $15,850 an acre. This is far in excess of the $10,00 per net acre offered in the letters sent by XTO and Holland, but it is significantly less than many companies are willing to pay.

While most homeowners would like to reasonably maximize the financial aspects of a lease, surface operations restrictions are also important. I know some of our neighbors are concerned about the surface location and where the production equipment (specifically the compressors) will be located. I have heard that the current plan is for this equipment to be located near "Hooters" restaurant. I have also heard that XTO has enclosed compressor sites in other parts of the city. We may wish to seek an enclosure requirement in relation to the compressor site. The drilling rig will leave in 60 days, but the engines will be here for a long, long time.

These are just examples of the types of issues that can be addressed in leases.

NOTICE OF MEETING

Topic: Oil and Gas Lease Issues
When: Thursday, December 6, 2007, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Tanglewood Elementary Auditorium

You probably received a letter from XTO Energy and Holland Acquisitions. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the issues raised by the letter and to identify the best way, as a neighborhood, to move forward.

IMPORTANT: You should not sign any lease or related document before this meeting. If you do, you could cost yourself (and maybe your neighbors) money.

The game plan for the exploration companies is “divide and conquer.” Individual homeowners have very little negotiating power. If we organize and work together, our neighborhood can negotiate more effectively and hopefully improve the final terms of any lease document(s).

We look forward to seeing you Thursday evening.