Texas oil town votes to ban fracking
Denton, Texas, a growing, middle-class college town in the heart of fracking country, voted Tuesday to ban fracking. The vote was 59 to 41 percent. Denton is the first city in Texas to ban fracking, and the conflict there has drawn attention from fracking supporters and opponents all over the country.
Here’s the story on how the Denton fracking ban came about.
On Wednesday morning the Texas Oil and Gas Association filed a lawsuit against the ban, and more suits are expected. Thomas Phillips, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, represents the association. He argues fracking regulation is the state’s jurisdiction. “No city can just take it upon itself to say not in my backyard,” he says. Other legal scholars say state law is not that clear on the matter, and that the Denton case represents new legal territory for the Lone Star State.
Local fracking bans have been upheld in New York state but in Colorado, at least so far, they’re encountering trouble in the courts.
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