Texas-sized Dose of Hypocrisy Served Up To Local Governments Statewide in an Effort to Overturn Denton's Fracking Ban

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On March 24, the Texas House of Representativesโ€™ Energy Resourcesย Committee passed a bill that would rescind the fracking ban in Denton and other efforts byย localย Texas municipalities to protect themselves from the oil and gas industry.ย Once language in the bill is finalized, which could happen today, the legislationย will make its way to the full Texasย Senate forย aย vote.ย 

โ€œThe oil and gas industry are getting what they always wanted โ€“ to get these pesky cities out of the way. Theyโ€™re utilizing the lack of diligence and gullibility of state government โ€“ who areย bought and paid for by industry, by using the Denton fracking ban to get what they want,โ€ Denton Councilman Kevin Roden toldย DeSmogBlog.ย 

โ€œIt is a political clichรฉ to take advantage of a good crisis. And the fracking ban gave them a good crisis.โ€ Rodenย said.

Instead of fighting the ban in the courts, industry made aย preemptive move to eliminate local ordinances altogether by pushing representatives to pass laws against ordinances in theirย way.ย 


Vantage Fort Worth Energy site in Arlington, Texas. ยฉ2015 Julieย Dermansky

On March 23, hundreds turned up to speak out against State Rep. Drew Darbyโ€˜s (R – San Angelo) proposed House Billย 40 at a hearing in Austin that lasted more than eight hours. A vote was not taken onย HB40 then. However, the next day, the Texas Senate Natural Resources & Economic Development Committeeย voted unanimously to approve SB 1165,ย a similar bill that would assert the stateโ€™s preemptive right to regulate oil and gasย development.ย 

Senate Bill 1165ย is pretty much the same as HB40, according to Kathy McMullen, head of the Denton Drilling Awareness Group. โ€œIt is a common tactic to submit two bills that areย nearly identical in hopes one of them goes through, and that is what happened,โ€ McMullen told DeSmogBlog.ย โ€œThe day following the marathon hearing, citizens and local politiciansย had to go home, but industry stayed and got what it wanted,โ€ McMullenย said.ย 


Cathy McMullen, founder of the Denton Drilling Awareness Group, at aย meeting in Denton, Texas. ยฉ 2014 Julieย Dermansky

If passed and ultimately signed, the bill would make it Texas state policy toย โ€œfully and effectively exploit oil and gas resources,โ€ andย limit local restrictions to whateverย industry considers โ€œcommercially reasonable.โ€ Local governments will no longer be able to โ€œenforce an ordinance or otherย measure, or an amendment or revision of an existing ordinance or other measure thatย bans, limits, or otherwise regulatesย an oil and gas operation within its boundaries or extraterritorialย jurisdiction.โ€

โ€œThis bill would shift the standard to the operator’s interests by requiring validity to be determined by a test of what is commercially reasonable. So, the question shifts from, โ€˜Is thisย reasonable in terms of protecting the community?โ€™ to โ€˜Is this reasonable in terms of allowing operators to fully exploit minerals?โ€™โ€ Adam Briggle, co-founder of the Denton Drillingย Awareness Group, toldย DeSmogBlog.ย 

โ€œFor over a decade, more than 300 cities have come up with their own ordinances to do things how they see fit, a right the Texas constitution gives them,โ€ McMullen said.ย โ€œNow they are all on the choppingย block, since the bill gives industry and the state the power to decide what is commerciallyย reasonable.โ€

The bill would be retroactive, making it impossible to enforce all the ordinances created in the last decade in more than 300 cities, accordingย to theย Texas Municipalย League.

If the Senate passes the bill, โ€œten years of work I have done has gone down the drain,โ€ย Sharon Wilson, Earthworksโ€™ Gulf Regional Organizer and an outspoken anti-fracking activist, toldย DeSmogBlog.ย She began helping local groups create ordinances that help keep their cities livable after she moved away from an area with heavy drillingย herself.ย 


Sharon Wilson, Earthworkโ€™s Gulf Regional Organizer, operating a FLIR cameraย in Denton, Texas. ยฉ 2014 Julieย Dermansky

On the same night the bill was debated,ย new ordinances in Mansfield, Texas, were approved.ย Members of the Mansfield Gas Well Drillingย Awareness Group, a local grassroots organization, did not get the 1,500-foot setback for keeping drilling rigs away from homes that they wanted, but they didย get stricter rules to protect air quality and safety inย general.

Lance Irwin, a founding member of theย Mansfield Group, said this new bill would undoย all the work they just did to get the little bit of an improvement they got.ย โ€œIf the state is going to come in and undo everything the municipalities have been fighting for, this is going to be a war,โ€ he toldย DeSmogBlog.


Lance Irwin at the location on Debbie Lane in Mansfield that Edge Resources plans to further develop. ยฉ2015 Julieย Dermansky

Mansfieldโ€™s city council left its setbackย ordinance at 600 feet, the same distance set in Fort Worth and Arlington, two cities in theย Barnett Shaleย where fracking took hold at the start of the boom. However, there are exceptions to a 600-foot set back rule in certain cases, including situations where the well existed before the ordinance wasย enacted.

Dallas, Flower Mound, Southlake, and Denton have more sizable setback ordinances greater than 600 feet, none of which will stand if the billย passes.ย 

The ordinances in Fort Worth and Arlington were praised by committee members at the hearing.ย Fort Worth โ€œhas done this right. They have done this consistently,โ€ Rep Darby, said. โ€œA lot of people say we should adoptย [Fort Worthโ€™s] ordinance, and say that is the best practices. You are to be congratulated forย that.โ€ย 

The Committee asked Fort Worth representatives to help them rewrite the bill to mirror that city’sย ordinances.ย 

โ€œArlington’s ordinance does not protect public health,โ€ย Ranjana Bhandari, one of the co-founders of Livable Arlington, a grassroots group with a missionย to protect the community from the fracking industry, toldย DeSmogBlog.

โ€œNew peer-reviewed research shows the serious health effects of living close to drilling and fracking. Our ordinance needs to be strengthened in light of this new information. Weย need much bigger setbacks, better continuous monitoring of emissions for starters, and tough penalties for violators. We also now have a few years of lived experience andย anecdotal information from residents who live close to fracking, and we need to pay attention to it. Our ordinance cannot become the state’s model for regulation of oil and gas. It has failed us,โ€ Bhandariย said.

Kyev Tatum, a pastor and civil rights activist from Fort Worth, doesnโ€™t think his city is a model to go by either.

โ€œFort Worth emissions are horrible,โ€ he told DeSmogBlog. โ€œYou cannot allow 3,000 natural gas wells to be drilled inside an inner city area and not expect it to have an environmental, economical, and physical impact.ย Fracking is causing more sickness. We have the highest asthma rate and the highest infant mortality rate in the state,โ€ Tatumย said.

Tatum took part in the march celebrating theย 50-year anniversary of the civil rights movement inย Selma.ย 

โ€œThis is the same mess, different address. Different time, same tactics. We took a giant step forward in the 1960s, but now, 50 years later, we have taken a giant step back,โ€ Tatumย said.


Pastor Kyev Tatum, an anti fracking and civil rights activist next to a fracking site in Fort Worth, Texas. ยฉ 2015 Julieย Dermanky

The hypocrisy of what is happening in Austin struck many, including Denton Councilman Kevin Roden.ย 

โ€œThe whole tone is very anti-city. They are against the plastic bag ordinance, the tree ordinance, anti-smoking, texting while driving ordinances, too. Nationally, it is a conservative principle to fight for local control, yet this Republican-led coalition is doing the opposite,โ€ Rodenย said.ย 

โ€œIf you can’t convince Texas citizens this whole energy revolution on the back of fracking is a great thing, that is a problem for the whole county,โ€ Roden pointed out.ย โ€œIt is unclear how it will play out,โ€ he added. โ€œAmendments could be brought to the floor or a middle ground could be found, but I donโ€™t feel too optimistic, based on the rhetoric Iย heard from the committees up to thisย point.โ€


Denton Councilman Kevin Roden at a Cafe in Denton, Texas.ย ยฉ 2014 Julieย Dermankyย 

Denton’s attorneys will be making suggestions, along with the mayor, as well as attorneys representing cities acrossย Texas.ย 

Pastorย Tatumย hopes those in Denton donโ€™t feel defeated. โ€œNow is the time to discourage the governor and the senators from signing the bill, not to give up. And if it doesnโ€™t work, it will be time to challenge the law,โ€ heย said.

The Denton Drilling Awareness Group plans to do justย that.

โ€œWe have to call our representative and senators, and tell then not to vote for the bills,โ€ McMullen said. โ€œIf this bill works in Texas, other states will try this against their constituents who want stronger gas ordinances, like Colorado andย Wyoming.โ€

Mailie Bush, a Denton resident and mother of two and a member of the Denton Drilling Awareness Group, was offended that Austin thinks it knows more than the local municipalitiesย do.

โ€œThey are trying toย take away control from us to make our own decisions. They donโ€™t know what it is like to live this close to oil and gas development. Maybe if they spent some time here they wouldย see why we needed to pass the ban,โ€ she toldย DeSmogBlog.ย 

โ€œIt is discouraging to see everything you worked for to protect your family is going down the tubes. However it also motivates; this cannot stand. It energizes meย and makes me ask, what can I do now-what do I have to do to get them to listen to me,โ€ Bushย said.


The Bush family stand behind a sign supporting a fracking ban on their lawn in Denton, Texas.ย ยฉ 2014 Julieย Dermansky

Wilson, who began her testimony against the bill in Austin by stating that she wished she had worn her waders to the hearing, not believing what she was listening to,ย said:

โ€œI donโ€™t know what exactly our next steps are going to be, but I know we are going to have a whole lot more people taking those steps with us. And most of them are going toย beย Republicans.โ€

Roden expressed similarย sentiments:

โ€œI donโ€™t think Austin knows how much it has made the problem worse. There is going to be a huge political backlash. The more extreme they get the more awakened the average citizen will get and see this isย crazy.โ€ย 

Image credit:ย Fracking site near homes in Denton, Texas. ยฉ 2014 Julieย Dermansky

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Julie Dermansky is a multimedia reporter and artist based in New Orleans. She is an affiliate scholar at Rutgers Universityโ€™s Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. Visit her website at www.jsdart.com.

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