We’ve been expecting this bill, or something like it.
HB 1496 was authored by Rep. Van Taylor (R) Plano, Collin County. There is no drilling in Collin County but Taylor inherited between 1000 and 5000 shares of Exxon stock and his main contributor is Denbury Resources Inc. PAC: $9,500.
HB 1496 will keep local governments from regulating and zoning gas wells.
(5) An action by a political subdivision that imposes or enforces a limitation that has the effect of preventing or prohibiting the development of an oil or gas well that has been permitted by the Texas Railroad Commission under Chapter 91, Natural Resources Code.
A similar bill, HB 3105, was attempted during the 82nd session the 81st.
UPDATE: Van Taylor bought his District 66 seat.
The Fair Market Value of a seat in the Legislature is … at least $800,000.
That is the amount Van Taylor has spent so far in his bid to win the GOP nomination for the District 66 seat vacated by veteran Brian McCall.
It looks to be a record sum for a Texas Legislative seat, and leaves Taylor vulnerable to the charge of trying to buy a seat in the Texas Legislature.
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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When will you TEXANS WAKE UP and stop voting for liars that only represent the interest of the rich and powerful. Stop falling for the propaganda, lies and half truths. Your representatives taking away your rights is nothing new.
WAKE UP:
Lines Blur as Texas Gives Industries a Bonanza,Under Mr. Perry, Texas gives out more of the incentives than any other state, around $19 billion a year…
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/us/winners-and-losers-in-texas.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Poverty grows in Rick Perry’s Texas, Texas ranks 6th in terms of people living in poverty. http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/18/news/economy/poverty_perry_texas/index.htm
Texas Ranks Worst for Uninsured. What’s Next?
http://www.texastribune.org/2012/09/28/texas-ranks-worst-uninsured-whats-next/
Eminent Domain Casts its Long Shadow Over the Texas Legislature
http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/09/28/eminent-domain-casts-its-long-shadow-over-the-texas-legislature/
Stop voting for liars that only represent the interest of the rich and powerful. Stop falling for the propaganda, lies and half truths. Your representatives taking away your rights is nothing new.
Yes, David you are correct. Unfortunately people who usually vote Republican do not read Sharon’s site because they do not believe in climate change and buy the rhetoric about the NG industry creating jobs and providing energy independence.
We have to get the younger generation involved, active, and engaged in making the changes in our political climate in Texas.
I must admit I did not start voting until I was 40, I believed the propaganda, I expected our reps to do the right thing much like going to the doctor. But today the youth have social media to give them information other than the corporate line and they are paying attention.
The internet searches for ‘Fracking’ contines to increase. This is a good sign the truth will get out. http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=fracking&date=1%2F2009%2049m&cmpt=q
This state should just change its name to “Exxonland” or “Republic of Oil and Gas” or something like that and get rid of the pretense of democracy and public rights.
An interesting note is that the political arm of the oil and gas industry in TX, the Texas GOP, has in its official platform an attack on critical thinking abilities in its citizens:
“Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”
So Texas doesn’t want its people to be able to think critically about how they are being made more poor, uneducated, and poisoned every day while the extractive industries (and their political lackeys) make out like bandits? Just shut up and take it, I suppose, and be too stupid to even understand what is happening to you.
Race for the bottom, baby!
How about “Gasland” as a name?
Denbury’s offices are in Plano so it makes sense they were Mr. Taylor’s biggest contributor.
There is no drilling in Taylor’s district so the only interest he has in the subject is serving the industry that funded is district seat. #logicfail