A North Texas city council on Wednesday refused to enact a ban on
hydraulic fracturing in the city after holding an eight-hour public
hearing.
The Denton City Council voted 5-2 against the proposal, sending it to the November ballot that now leaves its fate on voters.
The Denton City Council voted 5-2 against the proposal, sending it to the November ballot that now leaves its fate on voters.
Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is a method of oil and natural gas extraction that involves pumping a mixture of sand, water and chemicals deep into the underground rocks at high pressure in order to free the trapped resource. Environmentalists have been up in arms against the technique, saying that it pollutes underground water supplies as well as air quality.
July 15, 2014: Denton, Texas Council member George Campbell, left rear, talks with Mayor Chris Watts as council members Anita Burgess and Dalton Gregory right, listen to former Texas Railroad Commission executive director John Tintara, at lectern, speak at a public hearing at City Hall.
The environmental group Earthworks, which had mobilized 1,900 signatures from locals to force the council to vote on the ban on Wednesday, said that it had proposed a ban as a last resort after energy firms disobeyed city rules such as the one on flaring.
