The Dallas City Plan Commission has reaffirmed intentions to require a 1500 foot buffer zone, or setback, between gas wells and so-called protected uses, like homes.
Drilling opponent Gary Stuard was at Thursday's City Hall hearing on the new drilling ordinance Plan Commissioners are crafting. He thanked them for increasing the setback.
"Citizens come first before business," Stuard told Commissioners. "Citizens should never be sacrificed on the altar of profit.”
But gas industry consultant Dallas Cothrum says 1500 feet would be a 250 acre buffer zone, a circle about as big as SMU and the Arboretum combined.
“So 250 acres without a protected use. It’s a ban," Cothrum said as he showed the Commission several slides with wide circles around proposed drilling sites. "Why come up with a number that doesn’t work.?”
The Plan Commission will hold two more public hearings before finalizing the new gas drilling ordinance and sending it to the City Council for a vote.
