Posted on 04/20/2015 9:45:18 AM PDT by thackney
Legislation to set standards for cities that wish to regulate the oil and gas drilling within their city limits passed the Texas House Friday with more than two-thirds approval. House Bill 40 heads to the Texas Senate Monday, where, if it can sustain the momentum that’s carried it this far, could soon become law.
And that’s got some special interests groups in a tizzy.
“If some Austin lawmakers are successful, oil and gas drilling could be coming to a school, playground of daycare center near you,” wrote Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas in an opinion piece published in the McAllen Monitor.
But that’s not the case, bill author state Rep. Drew Darby, R- San Angelo, told Rigzone after the House vote Friday.
Rather, the problem is that certain municipalities have arbitrarily set standards that prohibit the oil and gas business, which Texas’ economy has long depended on. The Texas Constitution grants the state authority over above ground activity, such as drilling. Private property rights dictate what happens underground.
The bill simply clarifies the role between cities and the state “to resolve ambiguity regarding oil and gas activity without harming or taking property rights,” Darby said during the House debate. Otherwise, a mainstay of the Texas economy is “hamstrung.”
HB 40 won’t harm the Texans it’s designed to protect, he said. It sets up a four-prong test to determine if a city is within the parameters of the law for drilling activity. As such, under HB 40, a city ordinance would be pre-empted by the new state law unless it:
regulated only aboveground activity was deemed “commercially reasonable” didn’t effectively prohibit an oil and operation conducted by a reasonably prudent operator wasn’t otherwise pre-empted by other state or federal law The courts would likely clear up any questions on “reasonable” and “prudent”.
Currently, with a range between 150 feet to 1,500 feet, more than 300 Texas cities—about a third of all the state’s municipalities—have rules on their books that dictate how close an oil and gas company can drill to city limits. Any of those city guidelines passed within the last five years would be grandfathered into law, should it pass.
Certainly, the bill isn’t without its supporters and detractors. Nine hours of testimony during a committee on Energy Resources, which Darby serves as chairman, drew the likes of city officials and energy titans. Since then, the bill has been heavily negotiated between representatives of the Texas Municipal League and the Texas Oil & Gas Association; supporters during the House debate managed to fend off 10 amendments to keep the bill “clean” and moving forward.
A spokesman for Senate bill sponsor, state Rep. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bend, said members on the Senate side would have to evaluate the latest iteration of the bill before commenting on its strength.
Texas House Bill 40
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=84R&Bill=HB40
Relating to the exclusive jurisdiction of this state to regulate oil and gas operations in this state and the express preemption of local regulation of those operations.
The eco-NIMBY BANANAs are in their usual high Luddite dudgeon. “F” ‘em, Charlie.
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