{"id":3434,"date":"2015-04-03T20:12:21","date_gmt":"2015-04-03T20:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=3434"},"modified":"2015-04-03T20:12:21","modified_gmt":"2015-04-03T20:12:21","slug":"lawmakers-consider-messing-with-texans-local-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=3434","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers Consider \u201cMessing\u201d with Texans\u2019 Local Control"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>by Eric Galatas\/TNS<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>AUSTIN, Texas &#8211; Oil and gas is a big part of Texas history, economy and culture, but so is the idea of protecting the home front and local control.<\/p>\n<p>A bill before the Texas House Energy Committee today would make the state the only government body that can regulate oil and gas.<br \/>\nSharon Wilson, an organizer with the Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability Project, says if the law is passed, local governments wouldn\u2019t be able to enact or enforce rules that get in the way of oil and gas operations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd that means in your neighborhood, and as many of us in Texas have experienced, in your back yard,\u201d she points out.<br \/>\nThe bill comes on the heels of a citywide ban on fracking approved by voters in Denton.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3435\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3435\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3435\" src=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/gr-45239-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"The House Energy Committee will hear a bill today that would make the state the sole regulator for all oil and gas activities. Photo: John Campbell\/Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/gr-45239-1-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/gr-45239-1-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/gr-45239-1-1-405x304.jpg 405w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/gr-45239-1-1-120x90.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-3435\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The House Energy Committee will hear a bill today that would make the state the sole regulator for all oil and gas activities. Photo: John Campbell\/Wikimedia Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>State Rep. Drew Darby (R-San Angelo), the bill\u2019s sponsor and chair of the House Energy Committee, said in a recent Texas Tribune interview the state needs to fully exert its rights to regulate the industry.<\/p>\n<p>Dozens of cities in Texas, large and small, have passed local ordinances that draw boundaries for oil and gas activity. If the bill becomes law, rules that require protective buffer zones between industrial facilities and homes, churches or schools could be undone.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson says local governments are far better equipped to balance commercial development and residential quality of life in their own communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is just one of many bills to chip away at local control that cities have, and it is really supporting corporate interests against the ordinary person,\u201d she stresses.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers have introduced 11 bills so far this session that would bar or discourage city and county governments from implementing any rules that limit drilling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Eric Galatas\/TNS AUSTIN, Texas &#8211; Oil and gas is a big part of Texas history, economy and culture, but so is the idea of protecting the home front and local control. A bill before the Texas House Energy Committee today would make the state the only government body that can regulate oil and gas. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3434"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3436,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3434\/revisions\/3436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}