The Nocona News (Nocona, Tex.), Vol. 106, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 5, 2010 Page: 2 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Montague County Area Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Friends of the Nocona Public Library.
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Page 2, Thursday, August 5, 2010, The Nocona News
Demolition . . .
j
— Photo by Tracy Mesler
The four Road and Bridge Precincts combined manpower and equipment to demolish several old buildings and clear
the northern half of a block on the north side of the courthouse square last week. The county recently purchased the
remainder of the property which is being cleared — first to use as a park area and later, possibly, as the site for an
annex.
Sound off, readers!
RE: Fenco Contractors
Group, L.L.C., application
to the Texas Railroad
Commission for a permit for
an Oil-field Waste Disposal
Facility in Montague
County
There has been a lot of
recent, negative media cov-
erage regarding the oil-field
waste disposal facility pro-
posed by Fenco Contractors
Group, LLC to be located
about three miles southwest
of Saint Jo in Montague
County. Much of this infor-
mation has been put out by
people who have never
talked to me or actually
looked at what I am propos-
ing to do at the site. Some
of the information being cir-
culated to the public has
been false and misleading. I
want to take the opportunity
to set the record straight on
what I am proposing to do.
First, the Barnett Shale is
changing the oil and gas
industry in north central
Texas. Many experts refer
to the Barnett Shale as the
largest onshore natural gas
field in the United States.
As the demand (and price)
for energy increases, there
will be more drilling and
production from the Barnett
Shale. Oil and gas produc-
tion generates waste, and as
the production increases, so
does the amount of waste
being generated. With all of
the drilling and production
activities in Montague and
surrounding counties, that
waste has to be managed
somewhere. Right now that
waste is being managed by
what the Texas Railroad
Commission calls "minor
permits."
The reality is that these
minor permits allow the
operators to spread the
waste out on the drill site or
some adjacent property with
no liners and no groundwa-
ter monitoring systems.
Many that oppose my pro-
posed facility say that they
do not want the waste com-
ing to this area.
Unfortunately, it is already
here. Any of you who have
observed areas in Montague
County where waste has
been placed on the land
using this process, under-
stand that it can leave
behind some unwanted scars
on the landscape.
I recently commissioned
a review of the minor per-
mits in the eastern portion
of Railroad Commission
District 9; including, Clay,
Cooke, Denton, Grayson,
Jack, Montague, Wichita
and Wise Counties. From
October 2008 to June 2010,
the Wichita Falls District
office had 648 applications
for minor permits and
issued 636.
In Montague County
alone, the Railroad
Commission received 77
applications and issued 76
minor permits in that same
time frame. And, these
minor permits are not for
just water-based drilling
mud — the Railroad
Commission also allows oil-
based drilling mud and
other oil-based wastes to be
managed by minor permits.
Like it or not, oilfield
waste is already being man-
aged in Montague County.
The facility I am propos-
ing is located in an old
limestone quarry on State
Highway 59 about three
miles southwest of Saint Jo.
Many of you have probably
heard that I am proposing to
just dump oil-field waste in
this quarry. That is not a fair
description of what I am
proposing to do. Through
their permit process, the
Railroad Commission
acknowledges that oil-field
wastes have the potential to
harm groundwater. The pur-
pose of their rules and their
permitting process is to pro-
vide safeguards against
harming groundwater.
I am proposing to build a
state-of-the-art waste man-
agement facility with liners,
multiple monitoring and
groundwater protection
measures. This facility will
also be required to capture
and control the storm water
that falls on the site to also
protect surface water. I have
hired several experts to
assist in making sure that
we comply with the rules of
the Railroad Commission
and include appropriate
groundwater and surface
water protection measures.
It is also important to
understand that the protec-
tion measures to be used at
this facility are the most
stringent required by the
Railroad Commission as
well as exceed those meas-
ures used at most other
facilities already permitted
by the Commission. These
protection measures are not
cheap, either. My experts
tell me that the cost of these
protection measures is going
to be upwards of $250,000
per acre! But I have com-
mitted to the Railroad
Commission to make this
type of expenditure to be
sure that there is a place to
properly manage the waste
already being generated in
our area.
I invite you to come to a
public meeting I am hosting
August 25 or 26 in Saint Jo,
Texas. I will have docu-
ments and maps that will
describe what I am propos-
ing to do. I will also have
my experts there to make a
presentation about the facili-
ty and to answer your ques-
tions. Before you make up
your mind about my pro-
posed facility, please come
see for yourself what I am
planning to do.
No one wants to think
about having to deal with
oil-field waste. The reality
is: we already are! The
choice, at this point, is
whether we want to manage
this waste as we presently
do — without liners and
monitoring systems - - or
whether we want to manage
this waste at a state-of-the-
art facility that includes lin-
ers, monitoring systems, and
other measures that will
protect our precious ground-
water and surface water.
hi
Darren Fenoglio
OPEN
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801 Hwy. 59 N., Bowie
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This has been HOME to Ann Allred most
of her life. This is where she wants to be.
We are glad to help make that possible for Ann and many others.
Ann has always been indepen-
dent and self reliant. That, and a
smile as big as Texas, are her
characteristic trade marks . She
takes pride in the fact that this
location has been home most of
her life. We understand, 11Home
is where the heart is." And we are
here to help Ann, and others,
stay home for as long as they are
able.
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HOME HEALTH
507 Croxton, Nocona
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Tracks ii tracings . . .
Maneuvering
By Tracy R. Mesler
Whenever a govern-
ment's chief elected officer
dies in office, especially
during the midst of a politi-
cal campaign, there is a lot
of maneuvering.
Such was and will be the
case over the next three plus
months.
First and foremost, the
Montague County
Commissioner's Court had
to find someone to replace
County Judge Ted Winn
who committed suicide
Friday morning.
From the peanut gallery
there were two logical, sea-
soned, experienced options
facing the court. One was to
call back into service the
man Winn defeated for the
judgeship, James Kittrell of
Montague. The other was to
elevate retiring Pet. 4
Comm. Tommie
Sappington, the senior
member of the court with 21
years of continuous experi-
ence - one more than Pet.
Comm. Jon Kernek of
Sunset.
Personally familiar with
Sappington, and recognizing
that the voters had already
selected Sappington's
replacement in Bob
Langford, the other three
commissioners tapped the
Prairie Valley graduate and
Lake Nocona resident for
the position.
Sappington will complete
the remainder of Judge
Winn's four year term of
office, which expires at
midnight Dec. 31.
Other maneuvers may
not be as public as the
Republican Party has until
August 24 to select someone
to replace Judge Winn on
the November General
Election ballot.
Unlike the primaries,
where the voters select the
candidate, in this situation
the County Executive
Committee will select the
replacement - and because
nobody wanted to be a
precinct chairman, that is a
committee of two people.
Already between four
and six individuals are con-
sidering applying to be the
Republican's nominee and
for the right to face
Democratic candidate Lynn
Gray in the November elec-
tion. For may apply before
the two man committee
meets and chooses a substi-
tute candidate.
But the maneuvers do not
end there, as folks unwill-
ing, or unable, to run as
Republicans can file the
necessary paperwork with
the commissioner's court to
be listed as a write-in candi-
date on the ballot.
Several names have been
bandied about, and a couple
of individuals have admitted
interest without committing
to naming themselves as
applicants/candi dates.
By the 24th we will
know who the Republican
nominee will be as well as
any write-in applicants as
well.
Meanwhile, let the
maneuvering begin.
Gallery talk
Continued from Page 1
patrons.
Larry Lemons has shared
his love of art and the things
of Texas with hundreds of
young people all over the
county and parts beyond
through teaching about his
style of artwork. You will be
able to find out more about
this artist and his artwork at
a "Gallery Talk" on August
31st at the Kemp Center for
the Arts.
The Kemp Center for the
Arts is located at 1300
Lamar. Hours are 9-5
Monday thru Friday, and 10
- 4 on Saturday. Admission
is free to the public. For
more information on the
Kemp's gallery exhibits,
classes and events, call 767-
2787 or go online to
www.kempcenter.org.
•kick
Life becomes harder for us
when we live for others, but
it also becomes richer and
happier.
-Albert Schweitzer
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Wfyt JBtocona Jletug
Established June 6,1906
Editors & Publishers
Tracy & Linda Mesler
P.O. Box 539
115 Cooke St.
Nocona, Texas 76255-0539
(940) 825-3201 fax (940) 825-3202
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Mesler, Tracy R. & Mesler, Linda L. The Nocona News (Nocona, Tex.), Vol. 106, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 5, 2010, newspaper, August 5, 2010; Nocona, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth439555/m1/2/?q=Lamar+University: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Friends of the Nocona Public Library.