"The city has an excellent gas ordinance"

Said no one ever.

Okay, maybe a paid representative from the gas industry who doesn't live in the city, let alone the state.

Last night actual Fort Worth residents packed the Fort Worth City Council concerned about THEIR property, neighborhoods and quality of life.  Isn't that what the council is there to protect?  Come election season, some should be reminded of that instead of this - Bob Manthei of XTO Energy told the council, “We need language that protects our investments.”

Residents of Fort Worth should thank their lucky stars for women like Mary Kelleher and Libby Willis.

Mallard Cove residents triggered the ordinance review after it fought off an industry attempt to locate a compressor station on agriculturally zoned land in their neighborhood. The city’s ordinance currently allows compressors on agriculturally zoned property by right.

Mary Kelleher, a Mallard Cove-area resident who recently won an upset election to a seat on the Tarrant Regional Water District board, reminded the council residents have been “begging” the city for two years to act on the compressor issue.

“We’re tired of begging in three-minute increments,” she said.

Libby Willis, chairwoman of the gas drilling committee of the Fort Worth League of Neighborhood Associations, told the council that the league favors the 1,000-foot setbacks and opposes compressor stations by right in any district besides industrial.