Both sides react to Denton frack ban as larger fight looms

Supporters of the Denton frack ban won the election battle Tuesday with 58 percent of the vote but the war over minerals and the rights of a city to regulate drilling is just beginning.

Both sides are gearing up for lawsuits and expect the Texas Legislature to get involved when it meets in 2015.

"To those in industry and government who are concerned by the success of this ban, rather than try to overturn it, address why we had to pass it," Cathy McMullen, a Denton resident who supported the ban, wrote in a blog. "Because the ban was our last resort. We tried for years to get government and industry to work with us. And they wouldn't. This was the only way left open to us. And so we took it."

Got Energy? Sign up for our Energy Inc. newsletter here

She encouraged the industry to listen when residents have concerns.

"Because if you don't, you may wind up reaping what you've sown."

The issue started when a natural gas operator drilled and fracked wells 200 feet from homes in south Denton. The homeowners, who don't own the mineral rights below them, were horrified and concerned for the health of their children. The city's regulations couldn't stop it because the wells were drilled on old, abandoned sites that were built before the homes.

Some in the oil and gas industry have criticized the operator, Eagle Ridge Energy, for making all oil and gas companies look bad. But some opponents of the ban blame the city for approving housing developments so close to wells, even if they were abandoned at the time.

Denton City Councilman Kevin Roden said voters in the city typically vote 70 percent conservative but that didn't stop them from standing up to the oil and gas industry.

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