By Leia Jobe/reporter2@trcle.com
Since the Johnson County Commissioners Court enacted a new permit policy on cattle guard crossings in November, commissioners have received few requests from oil and gas companies to install cattle guard crossings across county roads, Precinct 1 Commissioner R.C. McFall said when asked Friday.
“They hadn’t asked to use any,” McFall said. “They try to utilize the existing culverts when they can.”
Culverts are a better option because the road is not obstructed, McFall said.
Many companies have agreed to pay for the installation of culverts in areas where they need to cross a road and no culverts exist.
Cattle guard crossings are generally the last choice for the companies, Precinct 4 Commissioner Don Beeson said. Beeson added that he received and approved his first request to install a cattle guard in his precinct Wednesday.
Commissioners voted in November to allow individual commissioners to allow or disallow cattle guard crossings in their precincts. All but Precinct 3 Commissioner Mark Carpenter said they will continue to allow the crossings in certain cases. Carpenter said he chose not to allow them because of safety concerns and the fact traffic flow in his precinct is heavier than in the other three.
Cattle guards cross roadways and protect hose used to transfer water from one location to another to frac gas wells.
“Fracing a well takes 2-4 million gallons of water,” Precinct 2 Commissioner John Matthews said. “And the water trucks hold about 5,000 gallons, so on a low end well, that’s 400 trucks driving up and down the road.”
For that reason, Matthews said he would rather approve a cattle guard, especially in situations where the roads are not set to handle such heavy truck traffic.
“We’ve only had two requests so far,” Matthews said. “We, and the gas companies, generally prefer they use culverts to run hose under the streets where it’s available.”
Restrictions placed on cattle guard crossings by the court include use in daylight hours only and positioning a flag person on both ends. This can be expensive for the gas company, Beeson said. Cattle guards approved may generally only be in place three days, Matthews said.
Most commissioners don’t like to use cattle guard crossings, except as a last resort, McFall said.
Before the enactment of the new policy, Beeson said, the court would receive six or eight requests a year for cattle guard crossings.
County Judge Roger Harmon said he has not received complaints about cattle guard crossings since the policy’s implementation.
All the gas companies continue to be very cooperative, Harmon said.
