Residents suing the city of Arlington over a 2023 vote to expand natural gas drilling will be allowed to take part of their lawsuit back to trial.
Environmental advocacy group Liveable Arlington and two residents living near a southeast Arlington gas drilling site filed suit against the city in June 2023. City Council members had recently approved French energy giant TotalEnergies’ application to drill two new gas wells at 5720 S. Watson Road.
Last July, Tarrant County District Judge Tom Lowe dismissed the lawsuit, which accused city officials of violating Arlington’s gas drilling ordinance and failing to properly notify the public of changes to drilling plans. He found Arlington had governmental immunity from the lawsuit’s claims, meaning the city is protected from certain legal action.
Attorneys for Liveable Arlington and residents appealed the decision last year. On May 30, Justice Dabney Bassel with the Texas Second District Court of Appeals largely agreed with the trial court’s ruling. Lowe was correct to dismiss most claims and deny Liveable Arlington’s request for a temporary pause on drilling because the city is entitled to governmental immunity from those claims, Bassel wrote.
However, Bassel overturned Lowe’s decision to dismiss claims that the city violated the Texas Open Meetings Act, the law outlining how government agencies must conduct public meetings. Under the law, cities like Arlington automatically waive governmental immunity that protects them from legal action regarding violations.
Lowe wrongly dismissed the open meetings accusations when he ruled that Arlington has governmental immunity, Bassel wrote. He should have resolved the case based on the merits of each side’s arguments, Bassel ruled.
Attorney Jayla Wilkerson said the decision was not what she and her clients — Liveable Arlington and married couple Gibran Farah Esparza and Jade Cook — expected. They anticipated the appellate court would reverse on most or all of the city’s immunity claims, but only one was overturned, she said.
“We are happy that the litigation is revived in at least this way but are considering whether to pursue the appeal further in hopes of broader relief,” Wilkerson said by email.
A city spokesperson declined to comment on the ruling.
Wilkerson disagreed with Bassel’s other findings in the case. Bassel ruled that the city was within its rights to redraw a drill zone, or acceptable area for natural gas drilling, during a May 2023 council meeting. He also found the city followed open meetings law requirements by posting public notice of meetings and indicating that council would consider a proposed drilling zone during those meetings.
Wilkerson previously argued the city changed the drill zone to exclude an existing well on the site that was about 600 feet away from a private residence. Any drill zone within 600 feet of a protected use, such as a home, requires approval from at least seven council members.
Arlington officials did not include proper documentation of the new drill zone prior to the vote, and the zone did not include all existing wells as required by the city’s ordinance, Wilkerson argued.
Arlington’s gas drilling ordinance only allows for changes to drill zones when it is in the “interest of the public welfare” and follows the city’s existing ordinances, Wilkerson said in a statement.
“Altering a drilling zone such that it no longer meets the statutory definition of that term is not ensuring compliance with the statute, and allowing expanded drilling in close proximity to homes and other protected uses is not in the interest of the public welfare,” Wilkerson said. “It is instead in the interest of the energy company’s finances.”
Ranjana Bhandari, executive director of Liveable Arlington, said the group is exploring all of its options when it comes to the lawsuit.
The ruling comes as activists and residents protest council’s May 28 approval of TotalEnergies’ application to drill five new wells in southeast Arlington. Council members are expected to finalize their vote during their June 11 meeting, and Total anticipates drilling will begin in September.
Residents will continue to demand the city take action to reduce noise, nuisance, odors, illnesses, property damage and health risks from gas drilling operations, Bhandari said.
“We will continue to explore all means for community concerns to be considered when decisions that impact health and quality of life are made,” she said.
This story was produced in partnership with Kailey Broussard, KERA’s Arlington accountability reporter. You can email Kailey Broussard at [email protected] or follow them on Twitter @KaileyBroussard.
Haley Samsel is the environmental reporter for the Fort Worth Report. You can reach them at [email protected].
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Arlington Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
