New Texas Law Bans Cities From Banning Fracking, Drilling

NBC DFW ^ | 5/18

[nickcarraway]

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed into law a prohibition on cities and towns imposing local ordinances preventing fracking and other potentially environmentally harmful oil and natural gas activities.

The much-watched measure sailed through the GOP-controlled state Legislature after voters in Denton, a university town near Dallas, banned hydraulic fracturing locally in November.

Backed by oil and gas concerns, the new law limits not only the Denton ban but other actions communities could take limiting energy industry activities. Abbott said Monday he was protecting private property rights from the "heavy hand of local regulation."

He saw no contradiction in new state regulations superseding local voters' will saying, "I believe that individuals have a much better idea how to run their own lives than do a bunch of government officials."

[relictele]

Call It The Jumped Up Lefty Councillor Control Act.

[2ndDivisionVet]

In my mind, most of us actual citizens didn’t vote for the ban, it was the students, professors and hippies.

[lormand]

What about shopping bag bans too?

I live next to the Austin city limits but refuse to shop there because of the stupid bans.

[9422WMR]

The retards on fake book will be apoplectic over this. I can’t believe he vitriol posted about Governor Abbott on this issue.

[gdzla]

A ban on bans? What’s next; a ban banning bans?
I could go on but it’s best to stop here.
Discuss amongst yourselves.

[SgtHooper]

LOL!

[txrefugee]

It does have an effect on property rights if you want to have an energy company lease your land for drilling but you are cursed with having brainwashed university Greenies blocking it at the county level.

[CatDancer]

Banning bans? Whatever. Looks like Texas got another good governor, though.

[Team Cuda]

First, let me say that I loathe inconsistency above all. We should be consistent in our beliefs. If our belief is that the best control is local control (barring Constitutional issues such as the 2nd Amendment), we should hold to this, even if we disagree with the results. Anything else smacks of situational ethics.

If the actual citizens didn’t vote, why not? The answer isn’t to go to Big Brother State government, the answer is to got off your butts and vote.

[Milton Miteybad]

The issue here is whether a local ordinance banning mineral development purely for surface considerations can trump the well-established doctrine of the supremacy of the mineral estate over the surface estate. Without such a doctrine, of course, many mineral estates would be rendered valueless by recalcitrant surface owners, who understandably may not want the dust, noise and temporary inconvenience that may accompany drilling operations.

In places like Rhode Island, for example, where the average schmoe can't tell the difference between a drilling rig and a dill pickle, such legalities may seem rather abstruse. But in Texas, it's a big deal, believe me.

[Democrat_media]

Abbot seems to be one of the best if not the best. Abbot is pro American, pro free market capitalism and is the one who initiated the lawsuit against Obama and his unconstitutional dictatorial amnesty

[OkiMusashi]

Royalty ownership is an asset. Folks buy it, sell it, deed it, and bankers loan money on it all of the time. Denton’s “law” reeks of a “taking” without just compensation.

Okay, Denton. Try this!

BUY IT! Buy ALL of the royalty at fair market value. Then just never drill it up.

LOL .... you’ll pass Detroit in the Bankruptcy Race like she is standing still.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

One nanny state banning the other . . .

Nanny State PING!

[Smokin' Joe]

Banning a local law more restrictive than State law is not a new concept. It is seen as a means to defend the Second Amendment in many areas.

The idea that the folks in the State departments which oversee drilling and completions may be just a mite more qualified to make permitting decisions than the small towns and cities staff comes to mind, but it also keeps the regulations out there from becoming absolutely balkanized if every minor fiefdom makes its own rules. If the people in an area don't want drilling, don't lease the mineral rights.

[Ken H]

So they banned the banners who banned the fracking thing in the first place.

Oil's well that ends well.

[Team Cuda]

What about other cases where State legislatures are overriding local iniitiatives? Texas also passed a law preventing Fort Stockton from banning plastic bags. Other states are also passing pre-emption laws overriding local control. Agree or disagree, I believe the issue is local control. While you might like the results in these cases, what happens to the folks in Northern California when LA (whwere most of CAs population is) start passing laws pre-empting local control? Or Eastern Washington (vs Seattle), or inland Oregon (vs Portland)?

You either believe that local control is best or you don’t. Otherwise, we’re back to situational ethics.

[Salvation]

BTTT!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Milton Miteybad]

Local control is generally preferable, except when it would present clear conflict with legal doctrines that are well-settled matters of state law, such as the doctrine of the dominance of the mineral estate in Texas. The City of Denton statute needed to go, period. Creating a situation where mineral owners could not realize value from their holdings just because the City of Denton came out to meet their mineral lands through annexation isn't an appropriate use of local police powers. That measure had the potential to 1) prevent mineral owners from prospering from their holdings, and 2) prevent the City of Denton itself from expanding its tax base.

It was double the stupidity packed into one mind-numbingly lame-brained ordinance, passed by ignorami on the City Council who apparently couldn't see past happy hour at 3 pm. Most cities WANT to expand their tax base. Evidently the City of Denton is an exception to the rule that sentient beings act in their own enlightened self-interest.

If you're looking for someone who worships at the altar of "local control," I'm probably not your guy. While there is much to be said for it, it isn't necessarily the be-all and end-all of good governance, as the dearly departed Denton drilling ordinance amply attests.