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A natural gas drilling rig sits near a warehouse district, apartments and stores in southeast Arlington on Aug. 23, 2024. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)
” data-medium-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GasDrill_Aug23_CamiloDiaz0010-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GasDrill_Aug23_CamiloDiaz0010-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button”>Barnett Shale: A glance back, a look forward 

Between 2002 and 2009, an unprecedented boom in urban natural gas drilling changed the face of Tarrant County. Fifteen years later, Fort Worth is still profiting from — and wrestling with — its consequences. The Fort Worth Report is publishing a series on the Barnett Shale and its impact on the county, the state and the industry.

You’re reading part three, which focuses on the boom’s impact on Texas’ legislative landscape. Part one focused on the boom. Part two focused on the backlash. The final story will explore how the boom continues to shape Tarrant County today.After Denton residents took the unprecedented step of banning hydraulic fracturing in the North Texas city a decade ago, the powerful oil and gas industry and allies in the state Legislature wasted little time in striking back. House Bill 40 went into effect the next year, not only overturning Denton’s fracking ban but blocking all Texas cities and counties from asserting regulatory authority over oil and gas drilling.As it turned out, the retaliatory strike by the Texas Legislature was hardly a one-off. Players on both sides of the issue now look back on House Bill 40 as the starting point of a yearslong legislative assault, embraced by Gov. Greg Abbott, that has transferred a succession of local powers into the hands of state government.The most sweeping power realignment emerged from last year’s Texas Regulatory Consistency Act, designed to bar cities and counties from passing ordinances that challenge state authority in a broad range of policy categories, including business and commerce, finance, labor and agriculture. Architects of House Bill 2127 say the measure was needed to replace a patchwork of often conflicting local laws with a predictable regulatory framework developed and governed by the state.Dubbed by opponents as “The Death Star” because of its broad impact on local governments, House Bill 2127 was declared unconstitutional by Austin State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble days before it took effect on Sept. 1, 2023. The ruling is being appealed by Attorney General Ken Paxton and is likely to be ultimately decided by the Texas Supreme Court. In earlier years, the Republican-led Legislature also overrode local governments in preempting ordinances that included banning puppy mills, curtailing plastic bags and establishing local policies regarding sick leave and evictions. Abbott also signed a 2017 law transferring regulatory authority over ride-sharing companies to the state from local governments after companies like Uber and Lyft protested local requirements such as fingerprinting drivers.Bennett Sandlin, executive director of the Texas Municipal League, which encompasses more than 1,700 member cities, said the regulatory battle that sparked the passage of House Bill 40 in 2014 set the table for the parade of state vs. local disputes that followed.“It seemed like an individual issue that was important to a lot of stakeholders,” Sandlin said of House Bill 40.“I didn’t think it would become a trend like it has,” he added, saying the battle over the measure has apparently proved to be “the first really contentious topic on preemption.”Controversy over natural gas drilling and House Bill 40 “really accelerated what I’d call the attacks on local governing authority of cities,” added Snapper Carr, partner and general counsel for Austin’s Focused Advocacy lobbying firm that represents cities and municipal coalitions, including Fort Worth.“It 100% was the beginning of where cities and the relationship with the Legislature was viewed as ‘they (municipalities) are overzealous regulators who need to be reined in,’” Carr said.A natural gas drilling compressor station sits near a warehouse district in Arlington. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report) After Denton ban, industry backlash was ‘a given’Republican efforts to constrain Democratic-aligned urban governments have been seen as an underlying factor in the widening litany of state-local legislative battles that followed Denton’s fracking ban atop the energy-rich Barnett Shale 10 years ago.As many as 16,000 natural gas wells ultimately sprouted up across the shale, encompassing 18 North Texas counties and cities such as Fort Worth, Arlington, Denton and their suburbs. But in addition to the energy-derived riches the shale provided for a wide swath of the region, residents also increasingly complained of pollution, health and safety dangers, truck traffic and other negative consequences.Tarrant County lawmakers introduced dozens of bills to regulate various aspects of Barnett Shale drilling activity. Former state Rep. Lon Burnam, a Democrat who represented his Tarrant County district between 1997 and 2015, said he introduced “probably 25 to 30 bills” during three or four legislative sessions, “but most of it never passed.” The bills included proposals for greater controls over permitting, toughening requirements for pipeline safety and anti-pollution measures to control pipeline vapors. Other local lawmakers also pushed bills allowing drillers to use public rights-of-way for pipelines and grants enabling cities to make repairs on roads or property damaged by truck traffic or drilling activity.Two supporters of the Denton fracking ban stood outside in the rain in November 2014 to speak with voters about the proposition. (Christina Ulsh | KERA News)Years later, in 2014, House Bill 40 was deemed inevitable by the state’s oil and gas industry and supportive lawmakers after 59% of Denton voters approved the “Frack Free Denton” referendum advanced by a group of residents who had unsuccessfully advocated for a total ban.Musician Ed Soph, who had lived in Denton since 1987, helped lead the frack-free rebellion after he and others became enraged over continued urban drilling in the burgeoning North Texas city. By 2014, Denton was home to more than 120,000 people and at least 270 natural gas wells.“A bunch of us knew that the health effects of such a process was very dangerous,” Soph recently told the Fort Worth Report. Working with his wife, Carol, and residential allies, Soph helped assemble thousands of petition signatures to place an initiative on the Nov. 4, 2014, ballot.“We accomplished what we wanted to do, which was win the election,” Soph recalled, acknowledging an expected backlash from the state. “We figured that they would do something. I mean, that was pretty much a given.”Volunteers for Frack Free Denton canvassed polling stations to hand out flyers and push for a ban on fracking. (Doualy Xaykaothao | KERA News) The Texas Oil & Gas Association, the group that represents independent operators across the state, and the Texas General Land Office quickly filed separate lawsuits declaring that the Denton initiative was unconstitutional. At the same time, lawmakers began assembling House Bill 40 for the next legislative session in 2015 to firmly preempt municipal regulation of oil and gas.Republican Rep. Drew Darby of San Angelo, who chaired the House Committee on Energy Resources that led the push behind House Bill 40, recalled the legislative confrontation as “a huge fight” between the state and cities like Denton that he said were trying to assert authority over oil-and-gas drilling.“Mineral owners were not being allowed to develop their mineral rights … and were being deprived of a vital economic interest,” Darby said in reference to the Denton fracking ban. “That’s why we focused on finding a remedy. And I think we ultimately did.”Fort Worth went from opposed to neutral on controversial lawThe city of Fort Worth was a major player with then-City Council member Jungus Jordan, a former president of the Texas Municipal League, figuring heavily in compromise efforts as House Bill 40 worked its way through the Legislature. Carr was also a key spokesman for both Fort Worth and the TML during legislative discussions on the bill.The municipal league and local governments were initially strongly opposed to House Bill 40 but the TML and a number of cities, including Fort Worth, softened their reservations after a compromise version emerged.The revisions gave municipalities limited above-ground authority involving oil and gas operations in order to govern fire and emergency responses, traffic, lights, noise and “reasonable” setback distances between the drilling operations and private property. Otherwise, the law declared, “the Legislature intends that this act expressly preempt the regulation of oil and gas operations by municipalities and other political subdivisions” and that only the state has “the authority to regulate” oil and gas. But Carr said the municipal carve-out for limited above-ground authority was enough to change the influential TML’s position on the bill from opposed to neutral. Fort Worth also adopted a neutral position.Jungus Jordan, pictured during his tenure as a Tarrant Appraisal District board member in 2023, was heavily involved in Fort Worth’s efforts to shape House Bill 40 as a City Council member. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)“I’m not going to say we endorsed it happily,” Jordan told the Fort Worth Report. “It was something we could live with.” Jordan, 76, who served on City Council for 16 years from 2005 to 2021, said that shaping policy resulting from the Barnett Shale required a constant balancing act between the shale’s economic rewards and health and safety issues caused by the continued presence of drilling operations.“We allowed people to obtain their mineral rights, but at the same time ensure that it didn’t interfere with the quality of life,” he said by phone.Fort Worth, he said, was probably about “10 years into drilling” when the uproar over the Denton fracking ban erupted. Because of its history with drilling, Fort Worth was regarded as “a model” when lawmakers began shaping House Bill 40, Jordan said. Jordan and Carr jointly testified at a late-night committee hearing on the bill.“We made a very positive effect,” Jordan, a former mayor pro tempore of Fort Worth, said of the city’s involvement in the negotiations. “This was a case where there was cooperation between local and state. I think it was a success story.” Not everyone agrees. Libby Willis served multiple terms as president of the Fort Worth League of Neighborhood Associations during the boom years, when she bargained for leasing agreements more favorable to residents and pushed for regulations on gas drilling within city limits. House Bill 40 represented the loss of local control over drilling, she said, ultimately reducing residents’ ability to influence policies that affect their lives. “Our local elected officials are the ones closest to the ground. They are the ones that we have the best opportunity to impress upon them the key issues and what the local ordinances ought to be,” Willis said. “Especially in a state as large as this one, it’s hard to really make your voice heard by the state Legislature.” A natural gas drilling rig operates near AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Jan. 12, 2023. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)Debate over House Bill 40 rages in ArlingtonDarby, the San Angelo Republican, said House Bill 40 was effective in drawing a “bright line” by declaring that “oil and gas matters are regulated by the state” while cities would have some above-ground authority “as long as they weren’t designed to stop oil and gas drilling operations.”Noting that House Bill 40 has never been challenged in court, Darby added, “we evidently hit the arrow in the bullseye.”In Arlington, where public debate over new natural gas drilling is now more frequent than in Fort Worth, residents have called for city officials to challenge the limits of House Bill 40 by denying permits to gas companies. City Council members say their hands are tied, requiring them to approve new permit applications to avoid costly lawsuits. Ranjana Bhandari, executive director of environmental advocacy organization Liveable Arlington, said House Bill 40 has become a “convenient bogeyman” for city leaders who want to avoid true enforcement of Arlington’s gas drilling ordinance. State law does not prevent the city from monitoring air quality, purchasing specialized equipment to document emissions or citing companies if they exceed noise limits, Bhandari said. City leaders have shown little interest in doing so, or consulting with residents about any existing evidence of air quality issues, she said.Arlington City Council members listen to speakers during a Feb. 27, 2024, public hearing on TotalEnergies’ natural gas drilling permit application. Total owns 31 of 51 drill sites permitted in Arlington. (Haley Samsel | Fort Worth Report) Some council members have raised the prospect of lobbying the Legislature for changes to House Bill 40. Bhandari isn’t confident they will follow through. “I think leadership entails doing the hard work of changing laws. I mean, that’s what organizations on the ground like ours are doing, that’s what the citizens who come time and time again to plead and advocate are doing,” Bhandari said. “And we’ve never seen any effort from (council) to try to change anything.”Burnam, the Democrat who represented part of Fort Worth in the House for 18 years, remains an outspoken critic of House Bill 40 and frequently attends gas drilling hearings in Arlington. To Burnam, the law represented the launching pad of the state’s widening encroachment on municipal powers. Lawmakers have long sought to preempt authority in the liberal capital city of Austin, “but now it’s a generic picking on municipalities across the board,” he said. “I think House Bill 40 is symbolic of the general attacks on local controls,’’ said Burnam, 71. He described House Bill 40 “as the biggest and ugliest in the beginning,” but he added, “it keeps getting bigger and uglier every session.”Dave Montgomery is a freelance reporter for the Fort Worth Report.Haley Samsel is the content editor (and former environmental reporter) for the Fort Worth Report. You can reach them at haley.samsel@fortworthreport.org.At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.