No court orders arrived, and with no roadblocks to stop it, the city of Denton’s fracking ban officially went into effect Tuesday morning.
Voters made the decision last month to ban the hydraulic fracturing method of gas drilling by a margin of 59 percent to 41 percent, making Denton the first city in Texas to do so.
Fracking is a method of drilling in which pressurized water is used to fracture rock and release the gas inside.
The Denton area has long been a hot-bed for fracking as it sits atop the gas-rich Barnett Shale, but residents became fed up and called for the ban citing tensions with the gas industry over wells being drilled within 250 feet of homes.
City representative Lindsey Baker said production at existing wells in the city will continue under the law as it only actually bans the fracking method.
Members of the Denton Drilling Awareness Group believe that will make the law defensible in court as mineral rights owners could still technically access their property through other methods.
However opponents of the ban said without the fracking option those rights are basically cut-off.
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Within hours of the ban passing two lawsuits were filed from the state General Land Office and the Texas Oil and Gas Association calling the measure unconstitutional and saying it violates state laws that regulate gas drilling.
The suits asked the courts to step in and stop enforcement of the ban, but as of Tuesday no action was taken and the cases were still pending.
Denton Mayor Chris Watts and the City of Denton also responded, asking for the cases to be heard in Denton and refuting the claim that the ban was unconstitutional.
Watts said the city will fight to uphold the ban.
