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Breaking: No Action Taken on a Proposal to Repeal Denton, Texas Fracking Ban

June 4, 2015

Breaking: No Action Taken on a Proposal to Repeal Denton, Texas Fracking Ban

Julie Dermansky

Denton’s city council decided not to vote on a repeal of the city’s fracking ban, after almost six hours of discussion on the topic at a public meeting last night.

The vote to repeal the ban was called for shortly after Texas Governor Greg Abbott singed HB40 into law, making Denton’s fracking ban illegal.

Oklahoma’s governor Mary Fallin signed a similar law on May 31, making bans on the fracking industry illegal there too.

The entire city council and Denton’s mayor Chris Watts expressed displeasure with HB40.

The mayor disclosed that the city’s legal counsel advised that repealing the fracking ban is necessary in order to defeat HB40.  They were told there are better ways to challenge the law than by defending the fracking ban, and that, if the ban isn’t repealed, both the Texas General Land Office and the Texas Oil and Gas Association, which have sued to block the ban, could ask for a judgment under HB 40 that could result in setting a legal precedent.

“It isn’t just about Denton, anymore,” Councilman Roden told DeSmog before the meeting. ”HB40’s reach goes way behind fracking, it threatens all local ordinances industry doesn’t like. Now every city with oil and gas activity has to grapple with basic questions like, ‘How can we defend a setback greater than 100 feet?’”


Councilman Kevin Roden before the Denton City Council meeting. © 2015 Julie Dermansky

Setbacks are the distance that industry must keep its operations from homes, schools and businesses. The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, has not enacted setback distance requirements, so many municipalities have established their own.

 

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