Crooked is...as crooked does

Just when you think the laws concerning YOUR property can't get any more stupid, they do. WHY? Arrogance and greed.

Read about the latest gas drilling move in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. We're just glad this one wasn't written by Smith.

Arguing before the three-member Texas Railroad Commission on behalf of Chesapeake Energy on Monday, Johnson said, "The commission has had problems because people in the Tarrant County area don't understand oil and gas and unfairly criticize the commission."

So, whatever is wrong is our fault? Maybe some of us just look at natural gas drilling differently.

Chesapeake wants to "force pool" properties for drilling in the Glen Garden neighborhood of southeast Fort Worth, south of Cobb Park and west of the Glen Garden Golf and Country Club. It would require property owners to take part in urban natural gas drilling, whether they like it or not.

Regardless of what happens in this case, he told the commission, the well will be drilled. And, "our well will drain all the gas."

To do that, the company wants to pursue a second route to forced pooling, the Mineral Interest Pooling Act, or MIPA. Chesapeake would force unleased property owners to take, and pay for, ownership shares (what's called a working interest) in the well.