Margaret Keliher, Royce West's Son Want To Be on Dallas's Gas Drilling Task Force

By Robert Wilonsky Fri., May 27 2011 at 8:32 AM

Categories: City Hall, The Environment

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Margaret Keliher

Late last night the city posted the list of folks who'd like to be on the city's gas drilling task force. That's in advance of a 10 a.m. meeting scheduled for Thursday, at which time Linda Koop -- chair of the ad hoc gas drilling task force nominating committee, whew -- and her hodgepodge will review the applications. That sounds fun. Let's do that.

I've just picked off a few of the easier targets; we'll go through the rest a little later, no doubt with the help of Friends of Unfair Park pro and con gas-drilling within the city limits. But one name, of course, jumped right out:

Margaret Keliher: the former Dallas County judge who, when she was in office, was among the most vocal members of the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee, another ad hoc group made up of of elected officials, environmentalists and business leaders. As then-Unfair Park-er and unabashed Keliher fan Matt Pulle wrote in August 2007, the Republican "garnered praise from Democrats and environmentalists alike for her zeal for clean air; she became an expert on the rather arcane subject of cement kiln technology, going so far as to study a particular cutting edge plant in Italy." She's currently the executive director of Texas Business for Clean Air.

Also on the list is Royce West II: a paralegal in his father's Dallas law office who appeared in Pulle's profile on the state Senator in '07. Wrote Matt, Junior got crossways with environmentalists four years back when it was revealed he was lobbying on behalf of TXU. He's also a sports agent of some kind.

A few other familiar names:

Betty Culbreath: member of the DFW International Airport Board and blogger beloved for random punctuation.

Ed Ireland: member of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council. Recently wrote: "For a natural gas field in North Texas that barely existed 10 years ago, the Barnett Shale demonstrates a compelling case for drilling."

John McCall Jr.: the attorney and former president of the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League who tried, unsuccessfully, to stop the Dallas Independent School District from razing the old Oak Cliff Christian Church.

Chico Grimes: recent transplant from Baton Rouge recently seen on WFAA complaining about train noise in South Dallas.

Edward Okpa: businessman, self-made success story and three-time failed Dallas mayoral candidate who most recently received 2.12 percent of the 69,557 votes cast. Prone to leaving mayoral debates early without explanation.

Vernon Franko: behatted candidate for Angela Hunt's District 14 council seat, received 140 votes. Great signs, though.

Part II forthcoming.

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Shut up Tad, you're a douche.
"Dam fool, don't you know my computer checks grammar,spelling and every thing else" Lots of incorrectly spelled words will pass the spell check. Like 'dam'. "I just said, I do it for fun to irritate you all" Sorry, but I don't believe that. That would mean you're so concerned with a small number of haters that you spend the time it takes to go out of your way on each and every blog post to misspell a bunch of correctly spelled words and undo proper grammar and punctuation. Really? You intentionally make the blog difficult to read for the vast majority of constituents you mean to communicate with, just to play a little joke on a few people you're not really trying to reach anyway? Doesn't make sense. "You could not think in a million years I made it to where I am in life with out knowing English". Happens all over the world every day. An awful lot of people don't know English any better than you do, and most of the rest will overlook it if they think you're doing a good job. By the way, "without" is one word.
Dam fool, don't you know my computer checks grammar,spelling and every thing else.I just said, I do it for fun to irritate you all.You could not think in a million years I made it to where I am in life with out knowing English.I have forgotten more than you will ever know, and done more for Dallas,Dallas County then you ever will.Embarrassed on DO blog,give me a break.Stop reading my stuff if it pains you so much.I am 70 years old don't owe anyone anything.
If my English language skills weren't any better than hers, I'd be too embarrassed by the things I wrote to let anyone see them.
" Jerry is a slyer dog than most give him credit for" The key word here is "dog"...
ell stop reading them.I happen to know about drilling it does take a comma to do the right thing.I use them at will for fun because you guys love to base my worth them. If you follow my history every Board or committee I served on I did the right thing and better after I finished. Keliher might have the best grammar but she does not live in the right City. Highland Park is her home city. As a DFW board member I have gone through the gas drilling process as Dallas County Health Director also in charge of environmental health. Dam good Assistant who spoil me to death on writing, I dictated she wrote after 20 years there went the commas. My environmental knowledge,plan commission information plus DFW studies,testing,wells pumping and fracking experience,I can not think of a better person,and I do not take money under the table.
FYI - As a representative of the Dallas Chamber, Howard Gilberg was one out of only members of the North Texas Steering Committee voting against requiring cheap air pollution controls on gas field facilities last Wednesday (Collin Co. Judge Keith Self was the other). His law firm, Guida, Slavich & Flores, represents industrial polluters of all types. Laura Fiffick was the Director of the City's Office of Environmental Quality before and during Laura Miller's tenure as Mayor. Now a consultant in sustainable development. Ed Meyer is a local Neighborhood Association President in the area of the wells at the center of the current controversy. Frederick Lopez is the Environmental Health staffer for the American Lung Association in Dallas. Ramon Alvarez is a research scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund out of Austin. David Sterling is a nationally-recognized toxicologist who now works for UNT's Health Science Center in Ft. Worth.
Old Oak Cliff "Conservation" League Robert. John would be great.
I guess Royce "Sticky Fingers" West has his fingers in so many pies now, he has to resort to using his son for extra appendages.
Cowboys stadium conspiracy theorists need to look at how property taxes were assessed in the seven years before the stadium location was announced. It would make a great investigative report and then maybe people would stop blaming the wrong people for a deal that was made under the table a long time before it was announced. Jerry is a slyer dog than most give him credit for. IJS.
Given what Arlington had to kick in in exchange for a promised economic impact that has never materialized for any sports stadium ever I like to think Dallas was saved from Cowboys Stadium.
I wish Keliher would run as a Democrat, she is missed. As for Miss Culbreath's comma-happy blog posts, I'm completely worn out by the time I finish reading one of those.
Both..that is what makes me so ultra qualified.
Some sign up Keliher and then someone else wave some bright shiny thing to distract the others long enough for the commission to start.
One place on the task force is one place on the task force, regardless of who that person works for. That's how.
Incidentally, I'm glad that you are willing to concede that gas drilling may, under at least certain circumstances, be able to be done safely. Based on your previous postings, I had the impression that you were pretty well against just about all drilling. If everyone takes a sensible approach, maybe the task force won't degenerate into a fruitless shouting match after all.
Ed Ireland works for the shale gas industry. How can any one Dallas citizen "balance" that out. Superman can fly. Maybe that.
Like I said, you would balance him out.
Margaret Kelliher should be on it --- Royce Jr., not so much.
Edgar, Ed Ireland absolutely believes that drilling for natural gas in a densely populated urban area is the right thing to do if it enriches himself and his friends, regardless of the consequences on neighbors or the environment. He is a paid industry lobbyist. I, on the other hand, do NOT absolutely oppose natural gas drilling. I merely oppose unsafe and unregulated gas drilling, especially in densely-populated urban areas. Also, I am not a paid lobbyist for ANY group. I am merely a concerned citizen who wants the city to do all it can to insure safe, commercial and industrial processes that could adversely affect our water, air and soil, human health and real estate property values. Unike Ed Ireland, I am not automatically disposed one way or the other. I remain open to the possibility that gas drilling MAY be able to be done safely - I just want to see that proper regulations and safeguards are in place to control what commercial operators do. I am not willing to allow industry to police themselves because they have proven themselves willing to always turn a blind eye to their own failures, and then lie about it when caught.
McCord has very few pesos in his bank account and does what he does because of his passion for Texas water supplies which are shrinking by the day, He also has 0 influence on day to day 'bidness in Texas.' Ed Ireland, on the other hand, you know how the story goes. To paraphrase Darrd2010.. Ed Ireland's got big 'ol ballz.
"Major Strasser's been shot! Round up the usual suspects!"
No -- it was the Cowboys, who gave Dallas County an untenable deadline because they never had any intention of moving to Fair Park. Don't make me rehash this. Please.
McCord's website: http://fracdallas.org/
Wasn't Keliher the idiot who cost us Cowboys stadium?
Perhaps, but Marc W. McCord would more than balance that out.
Ed Ireland: Hubris at it's highest mark ever. Ed Ireland's Barnett Shale Energy Education Council web site link was on the Dallas City Hall web site until I talked with Asst. Jill Jordan about that 'perception problem'. She was stunned. It was removed the next day. Make your own assumptions about his application.
Gas or pot?
Can I throw my name in the gas pot? I never seem to have a lack of it.
Looks like perennial Fort Worth Mayor/City Council candidate and anti-drilling activist Louis McBee is trying to sneak on to the committee. http://www.louismcbee.org/