Denton, Texas: Call to Action to Repeal HB40, Abolish the Railroad Commission and Take Back Local Control

from Blackland Prairie Rising Tide

For too long, the oil and gas industry has poisoned our communities and our political system. In order to survive, we must build a statewide movement to cripple the oil and gas industry’s political power. We can do this by abolishing their rubberstamp regulators and restoring local control.

Denton’s prohibition on hydraulic fracturing was supported by nearly 60 percent of voters last November; however, industry-sponsored state lawmakers responded with the passage of HB40, a law that effectively preempts all local control of oil and gas regulations statewide. Less than 48 hours after HB40 was signed into law, Colorado based Vantage Energy announced that it would bring fracking back to Denton at a site located directly across the street from a neighborhood and several businesses.

In the two weeks since fracking operations returned to Denton, dozens of residents blocked the gates and nine were led away in handcuffs. Residents also began Frack Free Fridays at the Vantage frack site, a weekly community gathering to share stories, music and express our shared outrage.

We in Denton have been asked to “rise to the occasion” and have been told that, “lots of Texans want to express their shared outrage over HB40, but they have no satisfying means to do so.” Whether refineries on the Gulf Coast, eminent domain for pipelines in East Texas and Big Bend, fracking on the Barnett and Eagle Ford Shales, or liquified natural gas export terminals in the Rio Grande Valley, all of us have concerns that are specific to our communities. The question becomes how we can organize along the same path, finding a common story to connect our local struggles into a cohesive challenge to the power of the industry.

That common story, even before HB40, was one in which the bought-and-paid-for Texas Railroad Commission let industry run amok in our communities. Our common goal is clear. We need to repeal HB40, abolish the Texas Railroad Commission, and create real local control.

Repealing HB40

Y’all likely know that HB40 is a terrible law. Over 300 cities in Texas have ordinances that are impacted by HB40. We predict that HB40 will be an epic failure of oil and gas policy, and will only further enrage cities across Texas whom will be subjected to judges’ and the Railroad Commission’s standards of “commercially reasonable.”

Our efforts in Denton and around the state will include building the educational foundation and political will to repeal HB40 as soon as possible. This will require a statewide coalition of residents and city leaders asserting their authority as home rule communities, bringing into focus the legitimate need for local control and local democracy. Denton will not win this fight alone and organizing your own community against HB40 is of critical importance.

A great first step would be to get your city council to pass a resolution calling for the repeal of HB40 and the restoration of local control. Have your city write an open letter to Denton expressing solidarity with our fight for local democracy. However you choose to organize, talk to your neighbors and city leaders, educate people about what HB40 does, and build the political will and urgency to repeal HB40.

Abolishing the Texas Railroad Commission

It’s no secret that the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) is a failed regulator – even the state’s own internal review, the Sunset Advisory Commission, said that the RRC required major structural changes to address industry’s undue influence on its operation. All of the Railroad Commissioners have deep ties to oil and gas and clearly see their job as facilitators of oil and gas extraction, not as protectors of communities. In fact, when employees of the RRC actually regulate the industry, they are fired for doing their job too well.

The Texas Railroad Commission is not a legitimate regulator. It should be abolished and replaced with a new regulatory structure which prioritizes local control of oil and gas projects, as well as promoting renewable energy projects. Every permit the RRC gives to a dangerous project is illegitimate without the consent of the people affected by that project. Just as we are enforcing our own ban here in Denton, we encourage folks around the state to challenge the RRC’s authority over their lives.

Taking back local control means taking on the Railroad Commission. The power which HB40 stripped from local communities – the power to regulate oil and gas activity – was effectively transferred to the Railroad Commission. Candidates for the RRC receive more campaign money from oil and gas than any comparable regulators nationwide.

It’s pretty clear what that money buys: the RRC rarely denies a permit or holds industry accountable for violations. Between 2003 and 2013, the RRC issued nearly 200,000 oil drilling permits while denying a mere 0.3 percent of requests. In 2012, enforcement action was carried out for just 2 percent of the 55,000 violations reported by Commission field staff.

Strategic Direct Action

Right now, Blackland Prairie Rising Tide is helping to facilitate enforcement of the fracking ban ordinance through civil disobedience and strategic direct action. Even if our elected officials will not enforce the ban, the people of Denton will.

When those in power fail to respond to the needs and democratic will of the people, our communities are forced to move to redefine power and where it lies. We are taking direct action to take power back from Austin and the extraction industry that has corrupted our political process. Direct action is the most effective means to confront the political power of the oil and gas industry in a state dominated by industry campaign contributions and lobbyists.

Rather than keeping strategic direct action tactics exclusively located in Denton, we hope you feel empowered to take action in your own community. Frack Free Fridays in Denton are open to anyone that would like to attend, but it is more effective to expand tactics to other communities rather than centering Denton alone.

An Inclusive Movement

In this statement we present HB40 and the Texas Railroad Commission as common targets for communities in Texas struggling to protect their health and safety. In no way is this meant to stifle ideas and strategic thinking from communities other than Denton. We do not presume to know how your community should deal with its own local struggles; in fact, we encourage statements from other groups who would like to share their visions and strategies for struggling together. Nor does our focus on the Texas Railroad Commission mean that folks outside Texas can’t stand in solidarity with us; the same corporations buying our politicians are active internationally.

As we organize across the state and coalesce into an effective movement capable of defeating HB40 and the RRC, we acknowledge that some people live with more severe impacts from the oil and gas industry than others. With that in mind, although HB40 and the RRC are threats to all Texas communities, centering the experiences of those communities who have been facing long-term, intergenerational impacts from industrial oil and gas activity is necessary and strategic.

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The fossil fuel economy is over. A new world is within our reach.

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