A tweet comparing fracking to rape raised the ante.
Two bills making their way through the Texas Legislature call for state
regulations to supersede any local government action concerning hydraulic
fracturing, the process of extracting oil and natural gas by using a mixture of
water, sand and chemicals pumped into a well at high pressure.
Even though Texas is practically synonymous with oil and gas production, in
November the city of Denton passed an ordinance making it the first community to
approve a ban on fracking in city limits.
The ban passed with 59 percent voting in favor.
What’s been called the “Denton fracking bill” has dominated the discussion in
the Texas Statehouse in Austin. Last week, one of the leaders of the
anti-fracking movement in north Texas sent a Twitter message protesting a vote
in the Texas House.
Sharon Wilson posted, “Texas fracking rape scheduled today as legislators pass
HB 40, a bill that STRIPS control from cities allowing oil & gas to RAPE people
living there.”
Tweet from @TXsharon on March 30
“The people I’ve worked with who have experienced this in their backyards have
described it as a feeling of rape,” Wilson said in a telephone interview.
“They’re up against something that’s way more powerful than they are.”
“This is repugnant,” said Steve Everley, spokesman for Energy In Depth, a public
outreach campaign sponsored by the pro-industry Independent Petroleum
Association of America. “People can disagree civilly with respect to regulation
and energy development, and even be passionate in their views. But I think most
of us can come together and agree that this sort of rhetoric is unacceptable.”
The Washington Free Beacon, which first reported the tweet, pointed out that the
environmental group Earthworks retweeted Wilson’s message, only to later post
the retweet was sent out “advisedly.”
earthworks response to tweet
The Earthworks website lists Wilson as a member of the Earthworks staff as a
gulf regional organizer.
Wilson told Watchdog.org she had no regrets about the tweet that linked to her
blog. “I don’t think industry has any regrets,” she said. “I’m not seeing them
regret the impact that they cause to the people where they operate. They don’t
even admit the impacts.”
Opponents of the Denton ordinance say local restrictions create a haphazard
system across the state and insist that authority to regulate the oil and gas
industries rests with the Texas Railroad Commission.
“Critics of this legislation are intent on allowing cities to simply shut down
production through extreme setbacks between wells and homes, in the name of
‘health and safety,’” Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas
Association, said in a statement after testifying in support of House Bill 40
and Senate Bill 1165.
[to top of second column] |
Those against the legislation have accused Texas
lawmakers who support the bills as sell-outs to the oil and gas
industry, as well as small-government hypocrites.
“Many of the bills’ proponents and authors routinely rail against
federal preemption of states’ rights but here they are on the other
side of the mouths trying to take away local rights,” said Luke
Metzger, director of Environment Texas. “We think it’s absolutely
hypocritical.”
The sponsor of the bill in the Texas House is Rep.
Drew Darby, R-San Angelo.
“The constitution of the state should trump both the Legislature and
the local governments,” said Darby’s chief of staff, Jason Modglin.
“He (Darby) appreciates local control, being a local elected
official himself prior to joining the Legislature, but the
fundamental right to access and produce our minerals can’t be undone
by a local ordinance.”
The bills still have to make it through the committee process in
each chamber before proceeding to floor votes in the House and
Senate.
“Representative Darby is very confident” the legislation will pass,
Modglin said.
“It’s rocketing through the Legislature right now,” Metzger said.
“But I think the founders and writers of the Texas Constitution set
up the process in a way that makes it hard to pass any bill so I
have not given up hope yet.”
“I shudder to think that they might pass it,” Wilson said. “They’re
not listening at all to the people.”
Should the legislation succeed, Metzger said it could lead to
“dozens of lawsuits.”
“We think this is a heavy-handed approach that will have significant
consequences beyond Denton,” Metzger said.
But the bills’ supporters say that in the absence of a law, oil and
gas lease holders in places like Denton will probably sue, alleging
a violation of their private property rights.
“Cities don’t know where the bright line is,” Modglin said in a
telephone interview with Watchdog.org. “We’re in sort of an absence
of the court acting on the Denton ordinance. So the Legislature felt
it was their responsibility to … weigh in on how these disputes
should be resolved.”
The current 140-day legislative session ends June 2, giving
lawmakers nearly two months to send a fracking bill to Gov. Greg
Abbott, a Republican.
Although Abbott has not directly commented on the legislation,
earlier this year Abbott criticized what he said is “a patchwork
quilt of bans and rules and regulations that is eroding the Texas
model.”
[This
article courtesy of
Watchdog.org.]
Click here to respond to the editor about this article |
