Barnett Shale

Trickle-down from bonuses benefits charities

Last week saw an end to the frenzy of mineral-rights leasing that enthralled Tarrant County during the past year but maybe not to charitable contributions tied to the Barnett Shale boom. On Oct. 16, more than 300 people attended 360Northwest Gives Back at Delaney Vineyards and Winery in Grapevine. And South Burleson’s Community of Gas Lease Holdouts on Oct. 23 donated $12,000. to the Harvest House in Burleson, a community distribution center for the needy

At the 360Northwest affair, a raffle and silent auction, boosted by a $10,000 grant from Chesapeake Energy, resulted in $25,000 in contributions that will be split between GRACE and FBC Euless Freestone Housing Revitalization Project. GRACE provides food, clothing and other assistance to residents facing financial challenges. FBC Euless Freestone is a collaboration of the city of Euless, First Baptist Church of Euless, Restoration Church and Life Connection Church that repairs and updates homes for needy residents. Dan Delph, lead organizer of the charity event, said the turnout "exceeded our greatest expectations." Chesapeake’s Leah King said it was the first time the company is aware of that a neighborhood leasing group came together to share part of lease bonuses with a not-for-profit organization. 360Northwest Coalition, representing more than 3,400 property owners and 1,500 acres in Euless and Grapevine, endorsed a mineral-rights lease from Chesapeake in July that paid a bonus of $23,500 an acre and a 25 percent royalty.

In Burleson, the all-volunteer Holdouts group, headed by Bill Mahanay and his wife, Pat, collected fees of $25 to $100 to cover expenses such as advertising, legal and accounting fees. And from the beginning, Mahanay stated that any funds left over would be given away to charity. The major portion of the remaining funds were given Thursday night to Harvest House at the City Council meeting at the Burleson City Hall. Smaller amounts will be distributed to the five churches who helped the group achieve their goal of a fair market price for leases in the area. The resulting lease bonus of $27,200 per mineral acre was more than 18 times the amount originally offered when the group began in the
fall 2007.

Chesapeake also pledged $500,000 to Benbrook on Saturday toward expansion of the Benbrook Community Center and YMCA. The company gave the first $100,000 of that commitment to the city at the second annual Heritage Fest, which celebrates the city’s incorporation in 1947.

Chesapeake’s Julie Wilson said the company’s contribution recognizes "the importance to expand the often-cramped quarters of the Community Center/YMCA, a popular workout facility and meeting place that is also used as a needed shelter in times of emergencies."

-- Jim Fuquay

360 Northwest Coalition inks $23,500 deal with Chesapeake

360 Northwest Coalition, representing more than 3,500 homeowners and over 1,500 acres just south and west of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, reports that on Tuesday it endorsed Chesapeake Energy's mineral rights lease offer, which pays a bonus of $23,500 an acre, 25 percent royalty and including other favorable terms. XTO Energy was also competing for the area, which is in Euless and Grapevine in the triangle formed by Texas 360, Texas 121 and Mid-Cities Boulevard. The Coalition was launched in February a couple of months after Cimmaron Field Services, representing Chesapeake, began soliciting leases paying a $3,000 bonus and 20 percent royalty. "The three-year ease was unanimously endorsed by the leaders of 21 subdivisions and neighborhood associations," the group reported on its website. It culminated five months of negotiations.

Among the terms reported by the Coalition are environmental protections that the group says are more restrictive than city ordinances, including provisions ranging from "road usage to groundwater protection, noise suppression, pollution constraints, fencing, lighting, contamination, hazardous materials and cleanup." Like many leases negotiated by neighborhood groups, the lease also includes a cost-free royalty and requires Chesapeake to cover any costs of obtaining subordination agreements from mortgage lenders. The lease is available to all property owners within Coalition boundaries who have not previously signed a mineral rights lease, it says. Bonus checks are promised within 30 business days (six weeks) of signing, and late fees will apply to checks that miss that deadline.

To see what we've previously reported on 360 Northwest Coalition, click here.

-- Jim Fuquay

360 NW Coalition getting closer to a deal

The 360 Northwest Coalition says on its Web site that it's getting close to a deal.

The group runs along the west side of State Highway 360 and Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, north of Mid-Cities Boulevard. Leaders of the group, which is in Grapevine and Euless, are negotiating with representatives of Chesapeake Energy and XTO Energy.

Regardless, Cimmaron Field Services, acting on behalf of Chesapeake, is still sending out offers to individual property owners in hopes of picking people off one by one. The latest offer is for a per-acre bonus of $18,500, a 25 percent royalty and an initial three-year term.

The neighborhood group said on its Web site that it's a "last-ditch effort" to get property owners to sign a lease that favors the drilling company rather than the homeowner. The offer is "a powerful validation that our organization and negotiations efforts are succeeding," according to its Web site.

The 360 Northwest Coalition has been talking with XTO and Chesapeake since May and is close to finalizing the legal terms of a lease. It will then work on negotiating the "economics of the lease," according to the Web site.

The group is telling members to hold off on signing anything until a lease is endorsed by the 360 Northwest Coalition.

Chesapeake/Cimmaron has agreed to immediately cease their direct-sale tactics whenever a property owner tells them they are a member of the 360 Northwest Coalition. ... Simply inform the solicitor that you are a registered member of the 360 Northwest Coalition and you are part of our group negotiations. Chesapeake/Cimmaron has agreed to honor that and will immediately end the call.

Here's what we've said about this group before.

--David Wethe

360 NW Coalition (Grapevine, Euless) gets bigger

There's a new group out there we've never talked about in the Grapevine and Euless area.

The 360 Northwest Coalition (group website) formed in earnest around mid to late February with eight subdivisions along the west side of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport near State Highway 360 and Glade Road.

But the group purposefully stayed below the radar for the past few months as it tried to get its leadership infrastructure in place.

Now, the group is announcing that it has added five more neighborhoods. They are:

• Glade Crossing
• Glade Landing
• Meadowbrook Park Addition
• Saybrooke
• Shadow Glen Addition

The 360 Northwest Coalition, which now consists of 3,000 residential and commercial properties on 750 acres, has its particular name because the group is essentially located at the northwest end of S.H. 360, where it merges with State Highway 121.

So far, the group only has offers from Cimmaron, working on behalf of Chesapeake Energy. The first offer, which came in December, was for a per-acre bonus of $3,000 and royalties of 20 percent, said Dan Delph, the lead organizer of 360 Northwest.

In March, Cimmaron upped its bonus offer to $6,500.

Delph, who retired last year as a software designer for Southlake-based Sabre, said his group is still focusing on registering members in the area and will deal with negotiating with the land company a little later. The group will wrap up registration efforts in two weeks and then will form an executive negotiating team that will deal with the lease offers then, Delph said.

Now that it has a "critical mass of neighborhood groups," 360 Northwest is now trying to bring in commercial properties and any other nearby individual homeowners who may not be part of a subdivision or homeowners association.

Here's a look at the original founding members of 360 Northwest Coalition:

• Arbormont Estates
• Chelsea Park Estates
• Cinnamon Ridge
• Glade Manor Addition
• Mel Village Addition
• Northgate Addition
• Quail Run Estates
• Sagepoint Addition

Here's a little about what we've said on these neighorhoods in the past.

--David Wethe