Despite the unexpected victory in New York over fracking, look for the battles over the environment-ravaging form of oil and gas extraction to be fought mostly on the local level. In November, eight counties across the country had fracking bans on the ballot, and four passed, again despite huge spending by fossil fuel interests. One was in Denton, Texas, often considered the birthplace of fracking, where the big extraction companies angered citizens by refusing to work with them on sensible regulations to protect residents’ homes and businesses. With lucrative oil and coal deposits locked in that shale, the industry has responded with lawsuits and intimidation, wanting fossil fuel-friendly state governments to be able to overrule local bans. Citizen groups are framing it as a home-rule issue: do citizens or corporate interests get to lay down the rules for the environment that citizens have to live with? ecowatch/2015/01/05/gop-agenda-attack-environment/
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 16:30:34 +0000
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