Council Member Angela Hunt Spells Out Demands for City's Gas Drilling Task Force

Patrick Michels, our gas-drillin' expert, is presently at the Hunt Oil Building for that Woodall Rodgers Deck Park press conference -- which, turns out, is worth $9 million (no wonder Mayor Tom's Mayor Tom till tomorrow). So, then, I'll share with you a memo council member Angela Hunt sent to her colleagues today in which she outlines her wish list for that gas-drilling task force Dave Neumann's been promising to put together -- with Hunt and Linda Koop's assistance -- in advance of those deferred-till-October votes on XTO Energy's requests to drill, baby, drill near Hensley Field and Joe Pool Lake.

The whole thing follows, but long story short, Hunt wants the task force to consist of 10 people -- from enviro experts to neighborhood residents to EPA and TCEQ reps. And she wants them in place within the month "so the Taskforce may begin meeting as soon as possible." Writes Hunt:

Cities throughout North Texas have been struggling to address gas drilling in an urban environment. As companies request gas drilling permits from the City of Dallas, it is critical that we move forward in creating a public taskforce to fully evaluate the environmental, health, and safety impact of gas drilling in our city and to propose changes to the city's gas drilling ordinance.

Jump for the memo.

Angela Hunt Gas Drilling Taskforce Memo