Birthplace of Fracking Bans Fracking

Just as El Paso votes straight-party Democrat, the city and county of Denton, Texas votes straight-party Republican. Greg Abbott got 60% of the vote there yesterday and Dan Patrick got nearly that. Dr. Michael Burgess who has been the U.S. Representative since 2002 from the 26th District of Texas which serves Denton won by a whopping 83%. His campaign web page is replete with photos of him and other tea party darlings such as Ted Cruz who is to the right (verily extreme right) of soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Obviously Denton is no hotbed of Wendy Davis liberalism. So, how did they vote on the proposition to ban fracking in the city limits? One might expect that they would be all for fracking and against banning it. After all, their picks for office holders suggest laissez-faire, the environment-be-damned right wingers. Yet, the birthplace of fracking, voted to ban fracking! It was a landslide of 59 to 41%.

Why the margin of opposition to fracking? Because fracking is being done almost literally in their backyards. Frack Free Denton lists four areas of harm caused by fracking: air, water, health and safety and the economy. 

So here is something to mull over: where on earth is not your backyard? Ban fracking when it is up against your fence but don't do so when it is up against your neighbor's or on top of the aquifer used by farmers and municipalities? Don't ban it when it is over the horizon turning billions of gallons of water into something undrinkable? Don't ban it when unseen ecosystems which silently provide and maintain human life and health are damaged forever? Don't ban it when others now suffer serious diseases?

But don't worry. The Texas General Land Office (the GLO now under Jerry Patterson but soon to be under George P. Bush) and the Texas Oil and Gas Association have already filed lawsuits to crush democracy in Denton, Texas.

What was it that Patrick Henry said?