Posted on 05/12/2015 12:59:34 PM PDT by thackney
Another bill that could quash city frack bans passed the Texas House of Representatives and is heading to the Senate. House Bill 2595 would prohibit cities from validating petitions that would restrict the right of any person to use or access private property for economic gain.
That means if voters in a city attempted to petition to, for example, ban hydraulic fracking, as they did in Denton in North Texas, it would be tossed out because it violates the rights of mineral owners. The bill targets any petition that limits oil and gas operations. It does not apply to alcohol-related petitions.
The bill filed by, State Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, passed the House on May 8 without debate.
In a committee report, Keffer said, “Referendum procedures can create a tyranny of the majority and undermine minority interests while also allowing outside interests to influence policies without respect for Texas election laws.”
This adds more fuel to the fire of local control versus state control of oil and gas regulations, a hot topic that’s been burning since Denton voted in November to ban fracking within the city limits. The bill only would apply to petitions filed after Sept. 1. If that bill had been on the books a year ago, Denton's frack ban petition likely would never have made it on the ballot.
House Bill 40 is perhaps the most controversial of all because it gives the final say on most oil and gas regulation to the Texas Railroad Commission. It reinforces the fact that the TRC preempts city authority. It also specifies that the regulations cities do enforce must be “commercially reasonable.”
It was the students, professors and hippies here who passed that, not the average citizen.
Yep, rural land owners overwhelmed by a push to get the 51,000 college students to vote at the college instead of their home address.
God Bless Texas.
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