The arrests of several activists in Denton, Texas this week shined a spotlight on a much larger resistance movement that seems determined not be intimidated by Big Oil or political corruption.
Three members of the Denton Drilling Awareness Group (DAG), also known as Frack Free Denton, were arrested for blocking an access road at the Vantage Energy drill site on Nail Road in west Denton. On Tuesday, three more activists were arrested at the site. They have every right to be upset…
Politicians Under the Influence of Big Oil
In November 2014, Denton became the first town in Texas to successfully ban fracking after passing with a 58 percent majority a referendum banning fracking within city limits. Seven months later, on May 19, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a bill (HB40) passed by the Texas legislature prohibiting municipalities from issuing bans on fracking.
While Abbott claims that the law is intended to protect private property and to boost job growth, it is clear that the influence of Big Oil has played a role. Immediately following the Denton ban, chair of the Texas Railroad Commission Christi Craddick stated: “It’s my job to give permits, not Denton’s. We’re going to continue permitting up there because that’s my job.”
Craddick has received substantial kickbacks from energy interests. Her 2012 campaign received $15,000 from Atmos Energy, $5,000 each from Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Devon Energy, Exxon, Occidental Petroleum, and Koch Industries; and $25,000 from the Texas Oil and Gas Association (TOGA).
Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford) also had a hand in pushing forth Texas’ ban on fracking bans. King sits on the executive board of The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and has received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations over the years from ALEC’s corporate members.
This troubling imposition of the state on the rights of cities to regulate whether or not their land can be fracked, has continued with fracking ban bans in Oklahoma and Ohio.
Fracking Dangers Loom Large in Texas
Sharon Wilson is a blogger living adjacent to the Cado-LBJ National Grasslands just outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, not far from Denton. She began chronicling the effects of fracking, and collected case studies providing evidence of the pollution caused by fracking and the health impacts it was having.
Wilson was subpoenaed after she posted a video of Steve Lipsky and his flaming water. Similar to what we’re seeing in Denton, the oil and gas industry deployed intimidation tactics in an attempt to get Wilson to stop speaking out against fracking. Watch the video below or read more about why Texas is ground zero for the fight over fracking bans:
“An Unjust Law”
Adam Briggle, professor at the University of North Texas and one of the first to be arrested in Denton, summed up his opposition in a prepared statement after his arrest:
“An act of civil disobedience requires you to distinguish just laws from unjust laws. I have read much about this and discussed Antigone, Thoreau, and Martin Luther King, Jr. with my students. But I have never acted until now, because never before has that distinction been so clear in my mind. A just law would give those exposed to the harms of fracking a meaningful voice. An unjust law would subordinate those voices to the dictates of the powerful and wealthy. HB 40 is an unjust law.”
While Denton city officials work to decide whether or not to repeal the fracking ban in light of HB40, Denton residents continue to fight on. Visit Frack Free Denton‘s website to see how you can lend your support. To see more of fracking’s impact, see our Texas media gallery.