City

Nearly 59% of voters in Barnett Shale town Denton, TX, chose to ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking), making it the first Texas city to do so. An oil and gas trade association immediately sought an injunction. The stage is set for lawsuits from mineral owners and energy companies.

Given political and legal developments in recent months that strengthen the state’s position in regulating oil and natural gas activities, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) agreed Tuesday to dismiss its nearly two-year-old lawsuit against a city ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) passed by Longmont, CO, voters.

Another Colorado district court judge ruled Wednesday that state regulation of the oil and natural gas industry trumps local jurisdictions, the third ruling to turn back a series of local attempts to ban drilling activity in general and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in particular.

The city council of Barnett Shale town Denton, TX, will have a “frackas” on its hands Tuesday evening when numerous citizens are expected to show up for a hearing at which the council will consider a petition to ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within the city limits.

BridgeTex Pipeline Co. LLC, a partnership of Magellan Midstream Partners LP and Occidental Petroleum Corp., said Wednesday it has launched a supplemental open season for additional transportation commitments on the pipeline, which would carry crude oil from the Permian Basin to the Houston Gulf Coast area.

Reversing actions it took just weeks earlier, the city council in Carson, CA, a Los Angeles suburb in the oil-producing area surrounding the Long Beach-LA Harbor, voted Thursday to end a ban on oil and natural gas drilling. Council members decided not to extend the 45-day drilling ban measure, which expires later this month.

The future of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the Barnett Shale town of Denton, TX, will likely be in voters’ hands this November. For one reluctant activist pushing to ban the well stimulation practice, the trip to the polls began years ago.

Amid corporate and governmental decisions and worried local citizen action groups, Long Beach, CA, is holding true to its long fossil fuel history and just keeps drilling.

The city council in Carson, CA, a Los Angeles suburb located in the oil-producing area surrounding the Long Beach-LA Harbor, on Wednesday night set a 45-day ban on oil/natural gas drilling as it considers plans by Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) to step up directional drilling from a 6.5-acre site in the city. The ban could be extended up to two years.