New Texas Law Bans Cities From Banning

New Texas Law Bans Cities From Banning Fracking. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed into law a prohibition on cities and towns imposing local ordinances preventing fracking and other potentially environmentally harmful oil and natural gas activities.

The much-watched measure sailed through the GOP-controlled Legislature after voters in Denton, a university town near Dallas, banned hydraulic fracturing locally in November.

The new law limits not only the Denton ban but other actions communities could take limiting energy industry activities. It was backed by oil and gas concerns. New Texas Law Bans Cities From Banning Fracking

Abbott said Monday he was protecting private property rights from the “heavy hand of local regulation.”

He saw no contradiction in new state regulations superseding local voters’ will, saying he believes “individuals have a much better idea how to run their own lives than do a bunch of government officials.” Without an act of Congress, the President could not issue an outright ban on fracking across the US. There are, however, a number of regulatory and executive actions an administration could take to prevent or shrink the use of fracking technology, particularly on federal land.

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