This article highlights the need for monitoring and enforcement:
— By Steve Lynn — The Daily Times
"FARMINGTON — Claudia Miller is frustrated that an oil and gas company accused of illegally drilling at night next to her home will go unpunished.
Work on the XTO Energy Inc. gas well kept her up at night, vibrated her home and filled it with bright light and diesel fumes during "two weeks of torture," she said.
The company drilled 24 hours each day for 10 days, she said, and a city official wrote a letter to the company scolding it for allegedly breaking the law.
"A slap on the hand?" she asked city councilors at a meeting last week. "That's not good enough."
People who live next to the wells say they are upset XTO Energy won't face any kind of sanctions after residents and the city contend the company unlawfully drilled at night next to homes at Escalante Trail and Foothills Drive.
City officials acknowledged at a City Council meeting Tuesday that the company broke city law, which allows drilling within 500 feet of a home only during the day. Officials apologized to residents.
A representative of XTO did not return phone messages requesting comment.
The incident has raised questions as to how the city will enforce future Chapter 19 violations, the part of city law that regulates oil and gas drilling.
"We do continue to wrestle somewhat as a staff as to who's responsible to enforce what provisions," said City Attorney Jay Burnham, who did not know the company violated the law until the drilling finished.
"That means that my city Assistant City Manager Bob Campbell said city staffers will develop new procedures to respond to Chapter 19 violations. The city could, for example, hire a person to regularly patrol and enforce laws at oil and gas sites." More>>>>
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