Texas Passes Ban on Fracking Bans (Yes, You Read that Right)
Texas Passes Ban on Fracking Bans (Yes, You Read that Right)
Cole Mellino|May 5, 2015 10:04 am|
The Texasstate legislature voted yesterdayto banfrackingbans. Ever since the peopleof Denton, Texas voted to ban fracking last November, state lawmakersin cahoots with the oil and gasindustryand theAmerican Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, have attempted to strip municipalities like Denton ofhome rule authorityto override the citys ban.
Approved by the Texas House and Senate, the bill banning fracking bans is expected to be signed by Governor Greg Abbott.Photo credit: Shutterstock
In response, citizens banded together to formFrack Free Dentonto fight for home rule. The group has put together a powerful film, which premieres on Friday,documenting their fight to ban fracking within city limitsin the heart of oil and gas country. The vote comes despiterecent findingsbya team of researchers from Southern Methodist University thatlinked the earthquakes in onearea of Texas, which didnot have earthquakesprior to the frackingboom..
Marketplace sKai Ryssdaland Scott TrangdiscussTexass ban and other states consideringsimilar bills. The bill would provide whats called state preemption and that is state law here would trump anything that local jurisdictions, cities and towns pass, says Trang.
A similar bill, in Oklahoma, passed one chamber. The sponsor of that bill said he wants to get ahead of what were seeing in other states,' reports Trang. Ryssdal asks if there is a group connecting all these state lawmakers. Trangs response? You guessed it: ALEC.
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Texas...yeee haww!
I wonder how long has Texas been a red state?
Citizen's United [[[fist raised]]] rocks! /s
The plot sickens...
How Oil and Gas Disposal Wells Can Cause Earthquakes
Do you mean? State constitutional changeslike:
I've never been too crazy about this fracking. If you look at the gas lines and other lines running across the USA, if we ever do have a really big earthquake, we're going to burn up.
When fracking is made illegal, then only illegal frackers will still be fracking.
That kind of reminds me of the plaque in my arteries. Some states are unrecognizable.
The whole fracking argument is a house of cards and the same tactic used by the tobacco companies. In a world of infinite molecules, they want proof that the ones you're talking about are actually theirs.
Aren't states rights, repeatedly invoked by Texas, just an extension of home rule? The hypocrisy fascinating...and disturbing.
Yeah, but the cigarette companies were right. Smoking doesn't cause cancer.
Does it?