Watching Government: Texas bills clarify fracing roles

April 27, 2015
Lawmakers in Texas are weighing in on one oil and gas issue there this spring as their federal counterparts consider-and sometimes duck-ways to authorize more LNG and crude oil exports and other broader national questions.

Lawmakers in Texas are weighing in on one oil and gas issue there this spring as their federal counterparts consider-and sometimes duck-ways to authorize more LNG and crude oil exports and other broader national questions.

The Texas House of Representatives approved a bill by 122 to 18 votes on Apr. 17 that clarifies that the Texas Railroad Commission and Texas Commission on Environmental Authority have final authority to regulate the industry's activities there.

"The House sent a clear message to environmental extremist groups that the industry is an important part of the state's economy, and actions that severely restrict oil and gas operations are taken seriously," Texas Alliance of Energy Producers Pres. D. Alex Mills told OGJ by e-mail.

The House measure, CSHB 40, and its Senate counterpart, SB 1165, preserve cities' authority to reasonably regulate surface activity related to oil and gas activities, but affirm that regulation of production operations like hydraulic fracturing is under the state's exclusive jurisdiction, the Texas Oil & Gas Association said.

The measures came after activists convinced some city councils to try and shut down fracing and horizontal drilling in their communities. A handful of voter initiatives wound up on local ballots last fall, and were approved in a few cases.

"With leadership from State Rep. Drew Darby (R-San Angelo), chairman of the House Energy Resources Committee, the Texas House sent a strong signal that CSHB 40 represents a fair solution that balances local control and property rights and affirms that the state should regulate oil and gas operations as it has for decades," TXOGA Pres. Todd Staples said in a statement.

"We join many city and other local leaders, from Marshall to Midland and from San Antonio to Lubbock, who support CSHB 40 and welcome the clarity this legislation provides," Staples said. In addition to those local leaders, 75% of Texans agree that the state-not city councils-should regulate oil and gas as it has for decades, he said.

'Vote against democracy'

Sharon Wilson, a Texas organizer for the Earthworks environmental organization, was not pleased. "Legislators who voted for this bill just voted against democracy," she said on Apr. 17. "Texas has a proud history of citizens determining their own fate. It's called local control, and the Texas House just voted to end it.

"If this becomes law, Texans will be forced to live with whatever the oil and gas industry considers 'commercially reasonable,'" she said. "It imposes state authority where cities should have the right to decide-and Texas regulators' track record of ignoring community impacts is as long as it is shameful."