Frack Ban Repealed......

Denton’s 7-month-old ban on hydraulic fracturing fell early Wednesday morning in what city leaders dubbed a “strategic repeal.” Several City Council members said repealing the ban could help neutralize a pair of lawsuits against the city that were on the move again. Council member Greg Johnson called the option the least of three bad choices. Only Council member Keely Briggs voted against the ordinance to repeal, which passed 6-1. The Texas General Land Office and the Texas Oil and Gas Association amended their lawsuits against Denton's ban late Monday. They both cited House Bill 40 as the basis not only overturn the citizens initiative overwhelmingly approved by Denton voters in November, but also to end the city’s moratorium on new drilling permits.

This is the first fracking ban ever put into effect in Texas. The State of Texas legislature responsed by passing HB-40, a bill which limited municipal self-rule and made the ban null. The Denton City Council repealed the ban to avoid lawsuits filed against the City by the oil/gas industry. The majority of those in favor of the ban wanted to fight the oil/gas industry after being told by even their own legal council that they would lose. Adam Briggle, who led the pro-ban group DAG, stated that if any action were to take place, the repeal was the most sensible.

I live in Denton County and the town of Denton is about 11 miles from my house.

North Texas University is in Denton and at this year's graduation, the speaker was Gov. Greg Abbott. Students tried to get the University to stop him from coming, then a huge number of them graduating, boycotted the gathering and there was a number of students in the upper rows with signs and making comments against Abbott, and they were moved out by NTU security.

The reasons they gave for not wanting Abbott there, was, his stand on not recognizing gay marriage, and being against abortion.

I watched a film of that graduation, and the professors sitting behind Abbott as he was speaking, looked glum and not a smile among them.

If I had a child of college age, he/she wouldn't be going there. It is a bastion of liberal causes.

Denton COUNTY, as a whole, is a conservative county who always votes for Republican leaders.

The city of Denton, however, has that big university mindset and the city leaders are the ones who voted that fracking ban in. I thought they were nuts to do that but liberals don't know facts about fracking, so they voted for that ban. I thought at the time, that would not stand, there would be lawsuits, which there were, and now the state has passed the law in this legislature session, that fracking cannot be banned in any public location.

A private owner of land is his/hers and if the owner doesn't want his/her land drilled, of course, drilling can't happen. I don't know of any private land holder who has refused a well or wells on his/her land. The owner can end up with a large amount of money if the well(s) is/are successful.

Also, Governor Greg Abbott, in his wheelchair, is a giant among men. He just signed open carry for Texas. Taxes were also lowered in this session and he signed that into law.

I actually live in the City of Denton. The “city leaders” did not vote in the ban, it was an initiative and was passed by 59% of those who voted. The City Council could have passed the ban on their own, but they had all said they would support whatever the people of Denton decided. That required a vote.

I was surprised to find that the Council could repeal something voted on by the people, but from what I understand, if the genesis of a vote is an initiative, the Council can repeal it. What to do about the ban has been a very continuous issue. Most of the ban supporters want to fight the lawsuits brought by the oil/gas industries until the end. Legal council for DAG, the anti-fracking group in Denton, was told by its legal council that a repeal was probably the best bet. City of Denton legal staff also felt the odds of winning the lawsuits were not on their side and recommended repeal.

The Denton City Council was between a hard place and a hard place with this one.

“I actually live in the City of Denton.”

Thanks for telling me exactly how Denton voted for this ban, that the city residents voted. That makes it a sticky issue for the council to be able to repeal a vote of the people. I thought it was passed as a city ordinance and that is something the council could repeal as they originated the ordinance.

Texans sometimes ask for a recall election of a legally elected county or state official. They don’t understand the only recourse in Texas is to remove an elected official at the next scheduled official election.

The only exception to this, is judges. The “State Commission on Judicial Conduct” can remove a judge after they investigate allegations against the judge made by citizens in the judge’s jurisdiction voting area, and give the judge an opportunity to answer the allegations and then they vote whether or not to remove the judge for a period of time or permanently.

Not too long ago, they removed a district judge permanently from a district where I once lived. She was a Democrat corrupt Judge and that was finally proved to that state commission.

The commission has “jurisdiction, or authority” over these judges:
municipal judges;
magistrates;
justices of the peace;
constitutional county judges;
county court at law judges;
statutory probate judges;
district judges;
appellate judges;
retired and former judges, sitting by assignment; and
associate judges and masters.

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