Vantage granted variances for 5 new gas wells in 100 year floodplain.

Denton ZBA voted today to allow 5 new gas well permits to move forward. Vantage say the Moratorium creates “undue hardships and negative impacts for Vantage and for the mineral owners” Vantage is drilling 16 new gas wells 3000 ft apart in an area that is zoned NR2.
Vantage states “granting the variance is in complete harmony with the purposes of the Moratorium”.
Vantage states “Variance will not be harmful” and “variance has no impact on adjacent uses”.
Permits will be issued for drilling.
Vote FOR a ban on hydraulic fracturing in Denton. Early voting is 10/20/2014 to 10/31/2014 and election day is 11/4.
VOTE FOR BAN!

Why Denton’s fracking ban is not a Taking and not Illegal

Despite the really crazy rhetoric coming from industry, based on established Texas law and federal law, the Denton fracking ban is not illegal and is not a taking.

Earthworks commissioned a legal opinion from Jordan Yeager the attorney who successfully defended Pennsylvania’s cities’ right to regulate fracking. You can read that legal opinion below.

My comments at the public hearing summarized that opinion. Here is an excerpt:

In order to show that this ordinance is a taking under Texas law and federal law, the proponents of this industrial activity would have to show either:

  1. That the regulation eliminates all economically beneficial or productive use of the property,
  2. or that the regulation creates a taking under factors established by the U.S. Supreme Court that balance private economic interests with the community’s right to protect the public

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Citizens Make Their Point with Petition: 3x the required signatures

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Congratulations everyone! It’s official: Frack Free Denton turned in nearly 2,000 signatures of registered voters who want to ban fracking within the city limits of our town. Thank you so much to everyone who signed, circulated petitions, knocked doors, tabled, hosted events, donated, played music, spread the word, and supported the first leg of this journey!

The final count was 1,936 signatures which is three times the amount required by the city! As NPR reported today, “Nearly as many people signed a petition to outlaw fracking within the city limits of Denton as voted in the last municipal election.”-  Read More

This is truly a citizens’ initiative in every sense and the support it has garnered is a true testament to how ready we are as a city to be frack free. As Cathy McMullen, president of DAG said today as she turned in the petitions to city hall, “We have something industry can’t buy: a community that wants to protect each other”. We thank you so much for your part in this first phase.

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