Denton imposes moratorium on gas drilling ahead of petition seeking ban

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Jake Dean

This natural gas well is in production just a few hundred feet from homes in the Meadows of Hickory Creek neighborhood in South Denton. The close proximity of the drilling and fracking activity prompted residents to circulate a petition to ban fracking.

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Nicholas Sakelaris

Staff Writer- Dallas Business Journal

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The Denton City Council voted in a surprise move Tuesday night to stop all gas drilling inside the city's limits, imposing a moratorium until Sept. 9.

The move comes just hours before the group Denton Drilling Awareness Group was to submit a petition Wednesday with 1,871 signatures asking the city to ban hydraulic fracturing. That was three times the number of signatures needed, the group said.

According to the moratorium passed Tuesday night, there can be no new gas well permits issued or physical drilling at new or existing sites inside Denton, CBS 11 reported.

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The ban impacts all drilling companies working inside the city limits, according to the report. It gives City Council time to study other fracking ordinances across the area.

It also comes just hours before a "stand still" agreement with Eagleride Energy was going to expire. That agreement was put in place five months ago after residents in the Vintage neighborhood complained to the city grandfathered wells operating closer to their homes than current city ordinance allowed.

Should a permanent citywide fracking ban be imposed, it would be a first for a city in Texas, where the technique combined with horizontal drilling has unlocked previously unreachable shales full of oil and natural gas.

“These signatures represent Denton citizens of every political stripe coming together to protect their homes and families from the fracking industry,” Cathy McMullen, president of the Denton Drilling Awareness Group said about the petition. “I worked with the city for years to improve fracking oversight to no avail. It’s clear this industry will do whatever it can get away with and the city is paralyzed by the fear of the political consequences of reigning it in. A fracking ban is our last and only option.”

Nicholas covers the energy, manufacturing, aviation and transportation beats for the Dallas Business Journal. Subscribe the Energy Inc. newsletter