Earlier this week, after voters in Denton, Tex., passed a measure intended to ban drilling in the city limits, the vote was immediately framed in the media as a rebuke to oil and gas development in urban and suburban environments. The Wall Street Journal described hydraulic fracturing as “disrupting residential neighborhoods.” Coverage from other outlets was equally harsh. “As the shale boom encroaches on urban areas, residents in communities near drilling operations are growing more resentful of the heavy truck traffic, noise and pollution associated with the work,” read a story from Bloomberg News.

In Denton, the emphasis had been primarily on two neighborhoods: Vintage and the Meadows of Hickory Creek, both of which are located near the intersection of Vintage Boulevard and S. Bonnie Brae Street. Frack Free Denton referenced developments in those neighborhoods as itstop reason to ban fracking in Denton. A story for the Dallas Business Journal earlier this year described events near Meadows as prompting the push for a ban:

“The crusade against fracking in Denton started when several Barnett Shale wells were drilled and fracked a few hundred feet away from homes in the Meadows of Hickory Creek neighborhood in January.”

Drilling opponents wasted no time declaring that passage of the ban validated concerns that began in those neighborhoods. “The nightmare that unfolded in the Meadows at Hickory Creek will not be repeated,” wrote University of North Texas philosophy professor Adam Briggle, vice president of Frack Free Denton, two days after the election.

Read the full article here: http://energyindepth.org/texas/untangling-denton-drilling-fracking-ban/