At long last, the Dallas City Council's set to tackle the subject: What to do about allowing natural-gas drilling on city property. According to a presentation prepared by city staff for Wednesday's briefing, the council can choose from one of the following options: form a task force, hire a consultant or just sit back and watch what everyone else does.
The presentation, which follows after the jump, includes a detailed proposal for an 11-member task force, which would include:
- Three subject-matter experts (professors, environmental attorneys)
- Thee industry/business reps (gas drilling consultants, oil & gas lawyers)
- Three citizens and/or environmental group reps
- One chairperson
- One Park Board representative
That's one person more than the task force Angela Hunt proposed two months ago, though it looks to leave a little more room for industry reps, and combines the spots for residents and environmental activists.
Hunt had support for her proposal from four council members -- Pauline Medrano, Vonciel Jones Hill, Tennell Atkins and Carolyn Davis -- and Linda Koop has suggested the council take a long look at the North Texas Council of Government's Gas Drilling Task Force.
But Dave Neumann had conspicuously mum on the issue. As Davis told Unfair Park back then, "We need a task force, and hopefully Mr. Neumann -- it's in his district. It would just be interesting to see what he'll say or what he'll do."
Well, days before the council hears their options -- and a week after he faced a gauntlet of questions from gas drilling activists at a campaign debate -- Neumann looks to have picked sides. Today he joined Hunt in signing a memo recommending the council go ahead and form its own task force, calling that choice "critical to the success of evaluating this issue." Read the whole thing after the jump.
Neumann and Hunt Gas Drilling Task Force MemoGasDrillingUpdate_042011