The anti-energy group Environment Texas (ET) recently unveiled a letter to Governor Greg Abbott, Senator Troy Fraser and Representative Drew Darby, which makes a series of misleading and erroneous claims about two bills under consideration in Austin - HB 40 and SB 1165 - and the facts surrounding hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Texas has always been fiercely protective of its prerogatives as a state. From challenging federal regulatory overreach in court to maintaining our own electric grid, we are willing to go to great lengths to ensure we can chart our own political destiny.

March 23, 2015

BY ROBERT CADWALLADER

MANSFIELD-- After a final public hearing, the Mansfield City Council Monday night unanimously approved tighter restrictions on gas well drilling but did not widen the city’s 600-foot minimum separation between gas and oil wells and the public.

March 20, 2015

By Dee Davey

Mansfield is a great place to live. Money Magazine is one of the latest to rank Mansfield as one of the best places to live in America. Our strong economy attracts thousands of new residents, many of whom have started new businesses here.

But listening to some local activists, things in Mansfield are not so great. They claim natural gas drilling has reduced property values and ruined our quality of life.

I’ve been in Mansfield for 39 years and for long-time residents like me, we’ve watched Mansfield grow from a small quiet town and to continue on as a great hometown for the new neighbors who have moved here.

March 20, 2015

By Kim McCaslin Schlieker

Citizens for Mansfield is a group of local residents, landowners, business owners and mineral owners who believe that excessive and unnecessary gas drilling regulations would hurt Mansfield and threaten our private property rights. Citizens for Mansfield is a different group with a different perspective than the Mansfield Gas Well Awareness group.

March 19, 2015

By James Quintero

Nanny-state rules and regulations are beginning to sprout up in towns and communities across the Lone Star State.

Local attempts to micromanage people’s daily lives run the gamut from prohibiting the use of single-use plastic bags to infringing on private property owners’ ability to trim trees on their land to controlling how and where people can use ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft.

Interestingly, most of these local restrictions are being defended on the grounds of “local control.” But where this line of reasoning gets it wrong is that it presumes local control ought to be the goal of policy making.

Local control is a means to an end. To the extent that it can achieve or secure people’s natural rights to life, liberty and property, then it is to be commended. It is improper, however, to suggest that local control should be used as a kind of shield with which to infringe upon people’s liberties.

March 17, 2015

By Nathan Wesely, president, West GulfMaritime Association, Houston

Regarding "Oil prices may hurt LNG exports" (Page D1, Thursday), declining oil prices mean Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exports are even more critical to maintaining America's energy renaissance. Global demand for U.S. natural gas remains strong and these projects will provide long-term certainty for investment and jobs across the energy and port industries.

March 12, 2015

By State Rep. Matt Rinaldi

Just before his inauguration, Gov. Greg Abbott warned: "Texas is being Californianized, and you may not even be noticing it. It’s being done at the city level with bag bans, fracking bans, tree-cutting bans. We’re forming a patchwork quilt of bans and rules and regulations that is eroding the Texas model."

Responding to Abbott’s call, I filed House Bill 1939 to repeal bag bans and surcharges like those enacted by Dallas and Austin, which erode consumer choice and the rights of business owners. Other bills filed in the Legislature this session seek to undo city ordinances that allow red-light cameras, restrict landlords’ ability to choose tenants or infringe on religious freedom.