The entire population of a North Texas town is outraged by a recent decision by Texas Railroad Commissioners.

Despite overwhelming objections from town residents, commissioners voted to allow an injection well to be located in what many say is an unsafe location.

It's a story that goes beyond just the objections of an entire town.

News 8 has learned the commission's ruling appears to defy a recent appeals court ruling.

The controversy is playing out in the rolling hills and peaceful pastureland near the town of Era, in Cooke County, where residents treasure the serenity and their way of life.

It's also why most of them oppose a natural gas waste injection well which has been permitted to locate in their backyards.

A saltwater injection well is being planned next to their farms and homes where more than 100 tanker trucks a day will unload natural gas drilling waste, seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Donna Fleming and her husband Tim live next door to the site. She fears the noise and possible contamination of her drinking water wells.

Their neighbor Pam McIntosh worries not only about the noise behind her house but the increased truck traffic on the narrow highway out front.

Volunteer firefighter and first responder Seth Taylor agrees. He says the saltwater tanker trucks which will be pulling out on the highway pose an enormous risk.

"This is probably the most dangerous blind spot on this stretch of highway 51," said Taylor.

Three times in the past year, many of the town's 200 residents traveled to Austin, to try to convince Texas Railroad Commissioners to deny a permit to the injection well operators.

"We've got the school superintendent, the school board, the first responders, the volunteer fire department all speaking out about the problems with this injection well being located here," said Fleming. "I mean, that's basically every important official in this community."

The key question for Commissioners in deciding cases like this; is it in the public's interest to locate an injection well on any site, especially if almost every member of the community is against it? Last year, the Railroad Commission ruled against Wise County resident Jim Popp and his neighbors who were fighting a proposed injection well near their homes.

"What it says is and what we found out through the entire process, they don't care about the actual public interest, they only care about the interest of oil and gas," said Popp.

Popp and his neighbors decided to appeal the Commissioners' ruling. They won. In a decision issued last December, Texas Third Appeals Court Justices held that "the Commission abused its discretion in failing to consider other factors in determining whether the injection well permit would be in 'the public interest'."

Justice Diane Henson went on to say the Commission's "narrow interpretation of 'the public interest' could potentially allow the Commission to rubber stamp injection well permit applications despite legitimate public safety concerns."

Justice Henson, along with all five other justices concurred, sending a strong message to the three Texas Railroad Commissioners.

Were they listening?

This past May when it came time to rule on the proposed injection well in Era, commissioners Michael Williams, Victor Carrillo and Elizabeth Ames Jones voted unanimously to grant the permit and not impede progress being made in the quest for natural gas.

"That would be the Barnett Shale the great source of a lot of good things for that region of this state," said Jones, following the vote last May.

Commissioners declined to discuss their ruling with News 8 but according to their spokesperson and despite the appeals court decision, "The Commission has long maintained it lacks the jurisdiction to address traffic related issues when acting on injection well applications."

But two weeks after the Commission refused to consider the community concerns, something happened.

A pick-up truck crashed into a tanker truck pulling out of the injection well site at the very spot along Highway 51 where neighbors cited the safety hazard.

Neither driver was seriously injured but for residents it proved a point. "It's another accident waiting to happen," said Seth Taylor.

But Railroad commissioners hold fast to their belief potential traffic hazards are not their concern.

Upset residents say commissioners are making their priorities clear.

"What it says is they don't care. If it's good for oil and gas, as far as the Railroad Commission is concerned, that's all that matters, the public does not matter, " said Popp ."They're only concerned with what's good for oil and gas."

Railroad Commission attorneys are fighting the 3rd Court of Appeals' unanimous ruling.

They are appealing now to the Texas Supreme Court.

E-mail bshipp@wfaa.com.