Oil industry dismisses its lawsuit against Texas town over fracking ban
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The Texas Oil & Gas Association and the city of Denton, Texas, have resolved a lawsuit over the city’s ban on hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking.” According to a press release from Baker Botts, which represented the association, the parties both moved to dismiss the claims as moot.
Denton had passed a moratorium on oil drilling in May of 2014 and a ban on fracking in November of that year. The association sued the city the day after voters approved the fracking ban. Also suing was the state of Texas’s General Land Office, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
But the lawsuit was amended in May, after the Texas state legislature passed HB 40, which prevents Texas local governments from banning fracking and limits their ability to otherwise regulate the oil and gas industry. The law requires that any local laws be “commercially reasonable.” The Star-Telegram says HB 40 was also known as “the Denton fracking bill” and was supported by the oil and gas industry.
In mid-June, not long after the bill’s passage, the city of Denton voted to repeal the fracking ban. Its drilling moratorium expired in August. Thus, the parties were able to agree that the issues were moot.
Denton residents had resisted the repeal. According to the Star-Telegram, eight protesters, including a 92-year-old woman, were arrested at a drilling site in June. The Denton Record-Chronicle reported in August that two dozen citizens showed up to a city council meeting where zoning of oil and gas projects was being discussed.
But Denton City Attorney Anita Burgess told the council the ban was unenforceable. Environmental attorney Jim Bradbury suggested to the Star-Telegram that keeping the ban alive was like “giv[ing] TXOGA a stick to beat you with.”
As the ABA Journal has reported, local governments in oil and gas areas are increasingly using their authority to ban or limit fracking.
