Council puts drilling issue on hold

North Odessa residents will have to play the waiting game as the Odessa City Council deferred consideration of rezoning three proposed drill sites in Mission Dorado.

Three areas totaling around six acres near Dorado Drive in Mission Dorado are being considered by the city council to be rezoned from office and future development spaces to drill reservations.

Originally slated to appear on the Jan. 24 agenda, the item was moved for consideration to Tuesday before being taken off the agenda until negotiations with property and mineral owners are done.

Council members said discussions are being planned but have yet to take place between the council and mineral and property owners of the proposed sites, as well as the drilling company.

“Right now, we’ve put everything on hold. We’re still trying to find a solution,” District 5 Councilwoman Sandra Carrasco said. “The health and safety of our community is the most important thing.”

The three areas are northeast of the intersection of Dorado Drive and Mission Boulevard and northeast and northwest of the intersection of Dorado Drive and San Antonio Street.

According to Planning and Zoning Commission minutes for the Jan. 5 meeting, DJK, Inc. and RSP Permian are requesting to rezone the three properties to future development-drill reservation and office-drill reservation in order to drill on the land.

Planning and Zoning Director Marwan Khoury said the Planning and Zoning Commission approved the rezoning request because the three sites were at least 150 feet away from surrounding businesses and residences, which is the City of Odessa’s minimum distance requirement for drilling sites.

In spite of meeting the city’s requirements, two of the drill sites have drawn protest from nearby business owners and residents, who said that drilling would be too close to their properties.

District 2 Councilman James Goates said business owners on Dorado Drive and two residents in the Mission Green Apartments called to protest the proposed rezoning.

Dr. Jeremy Denman, who owns a dental practice on Dorado Drive, is one of six property owners within the 200-foot distance of the proposed drill sites who is against the drilling.

Denman said he was concerned about pollutants, such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas, near a healthcare facility, as well as the noise and traffic created by oil drilling.

The concerns recall a 2008 drilling issue in Comanche Trail Park, where residents in the area were against drilling in the park due to noise, the smell of hydrogen sulfide and stifled development in the area.

Goates and District 4 Councilman Dean Combs served the council in 2008 and voted to approve two oil wells near the park’s walking trail, one around 500 feet away and the other around 1,200 feet away. District 1 Councilman Bill Cleaver was also serving on the council at the time but voted against the drill sites, citing distance as one concern.

Cleaver was unavailable for comment, but Goates and Combs said the two situations in Comanche Trail and Mission Dorado are different.

“In some respects it is (the same) and in others it’s not,” Combs said. “(But) the Comanche Trail (drills) are further away from commercial and residential areas.”

District 3 Councilwoman Barbara Graff, who was an Ector County commissioner in 2008, said she approved of the drill sites after being assured that the drilling would not harm the ecology of the park.

Graff said, however, that what most concerns her about the possible rezoning of the areas near Dorado Drive was the technology now used to drill for oil.

“The thing that worries me is, with drilling today, they’re doing a lot of fracking,” Graff said.

Receiving a lot of controversy recently, hydraulic fracking involves water, sand and chemicals being pumped into oil wells to break rock formations with cracks forming through which oil and gas can escape.

Graff said that she was still researching the Mission Dorado issue and has not decided on her vote yet.

Council members must deliberate before making a final decision on rezoning the three areas, because once rezoned to drill reservations, drilling is more difficult to prevent and contest in court, Khoury said.

If the council were to deny the rezoning requests, City Manager Richard Morton said the city would not have a problem going against a drilling company or mineral owner in court.

“We’ve worked exceedingly well to zone drill sites,” Morton said. “Because of Odessa’s favorable history, (drilling companies) would have very little chance of succeeding in showing the city is being unfair.”

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