{"id":37690,"date":"2014-07-02T16:16:50","date_gmt":"2014-07-02T21:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=37690"},"modified":"2014-07-02T16:16:50","modified_gmt":"2014-07-02T21:16:50","slug":"big-bend-area-residents-call-for-local-fracking-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/07\/02\/big-bend-area-residents-call-for-local-fracking-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Bend Area Residents call for Local Fracking Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

From KRTS Marfa:\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/h4>\n
\"Residents<\/a>

<\/p>

Residents in the Big Bend region are concerned about drilling coming to the neighborhood.<\/p><\/div>\n

Some West Texas residents are starting to put pressure on local officials to keep hydraulic fracturing\u00a0out of the Big Bend region.<\/p>\n

Fracking is of course widespread in the Midland-Odessa region, but there are\u00a0active gas leases in counties further south toward the border, and some are worried the industry might be edging ever-closer to Big Bend National Park.<\/p>\n

Fracking opponents gathered alongside the Sierra Club at a recent city council meeting in Alpine, where they presented information on the extraction method\u2019s effect on health, water and safety,\u00a0and called on city officials to lead the way in keeping fracking\u00a0out of the region.Local resident Jan Woodward is among others hoping the council will take up\u00a0an ordinance specifically banning\u00a0fracking<\/a>\u00a0in Alpine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love for you all to be the forward-thinkers that take this information to other small towns and meetings,\u201d she told council members. \u201cWe don\u2019t want our whole lifestyle to change in Alpine, Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The push for a fracking ban in Alpine\u00a0mirrors\u00a0similar efforts across Colorado<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0one in North Texas,<\/a>\u00a0and it\u2019s part of a broader, still-murky legal question over whether or not local governments even have the right to place their own rules on energy development.<\/p>\n

As it stands, even if the ban moves forward, it would be mostly a symbolic gesture.\u00a0The\u00a0Railroad Commission of Texas<\/a>\u00a0regulates the oil and gas industry, so counties and cities can\u2019t stop landowners from leasing out their property.<\/p>\n

But the State of New York\u00a0just ruled<\/a>\u00a0communities in its\u00a0borders can set their own land use rules, potentially paving the way for more fracking challenges across the country.<\/p>\n

Still, Texans are known for their zealous support of private property rights, and some, like Alpine resident Howdy Fowler, say it\u2019s necessarily about whether or not fracking is safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not for or against fracking,\u201d Fowler says. \u201cWhat I know about fracking you could put in a thimble, but when people start telling you what you can and can\u2019t do with your own property, you\u2019re treading on thin ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lorne Matalon contributed reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From KRTS Marfa:\u00a0 Some West Texas residents are starting to put pressure on local officials to keep hydraulic fracturing\u00a0out of the Big Bend region. Fracking is of course widespread in the Midland-Odessa region, but there are\u00a0active gas leases in counties further south toward the border, and some are worried the industry might be edging ever-closer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[59],"tags":[375,15,22,21],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37690"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37690"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37695,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37690\/revisions\/37695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}