Although Aubrey has lots of friends and fans in Nichols Hills, he can't blame residents for objecting to his plans. With typical secrecy, he asked for a blank check on his development plans and was told "no." Yes, a huge chunk of the Nichols Hills municipal tax base is from retail sales tax collections at NHP, so clearing a big chunk of it for construction would severely impact city revenues, and he didn't have an answer for that either. As this was all being deliberated, gas prices were starting to plunge, Aubrey's CHK margin call came in October 2008, and the stock market fell apart the next month.