Nothing ever happens...

Till it happens to you.

Guess WHAT?  It's happening.  All around you. Pay attention.

Read the letter to the Editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

It was only a matter of time until the ugly side of natural gas finally reared its head in my neighborhood. Just when I was getting used to the natural gas wells dotting the landscape, now the lords of natural gas want to put a compressor station several hundred feet from my front door along a bucolic stretch of Randol Mill Road in east Fort Worth.

You might not think much about the barnlike structure if you saw it. But the fact that this compressor station requires a zoning exception should tell you a lot. Not only is there the potential for a lot of noise, but these installations also emit benzene and formaldehyde, two compounds sure to dampen interest in buying a house in my neighborhood.

It's my understanding that ZC-11-098 is still under review. But if this is approved, it leads to one conclusion: The powers that be have decided a little collateral damage for the greater good is perfectly acceptable. That's all fine and good -- until you're the collateral damage.

-- Keith Sternberg, Fort Worth