Tis was started by people in a subdivision who were bothered by drilling next to the subdivision, and were not getting any royalties - didn’t own the rights. Picked up by a bunch of college professors and students (50,000 students at 2 universities). The city panel overseeing drilling activities in the city is headed by a sociology professor.
This foolishness is part of why we have moved out of Denton.
Assuming that Dan Patrick and the other Republicans do well in November, I don’t think that college professors will get very far pulling these stunts. This crap is not tolerated by Texans and we typically elect people that don’t put up with it either.