We held a successful first organizational meeting on August 25th and came up with some action items around gas drilling issues and upcoming events.

We plan on having two forums on gas drilling, one in Denton and one in Flower Mound.  The tentative dates are September 21st (Denton) and October 6th (Flower Mound) at 7:00 pm.  We will let you know about details when available.

Our next meeting will be September 7th at 7:00 pm at the Denton County Democratic Headquarters, 1421 North Elm Street.

There will be an organizational meeting of the Environment and Energy Committee on Wednesday, August 25th at 7:00 pm at the Denton County Democratic Party headquarters in Denton. (1421 North Elm)

Many ideas on upcoming events will be discussed as well as other environmental issues for inclusion in activities.

Contact headquarters  at 940-566-1165.

Many concerned citizens and members of local gas drilling activist groups gathered near the Courthouse on the Square in Denton to voice their concerns about gas drilling activities in their communities.  Many  took this opportunity to tell their personal stories about the environment, local organizing, and requests for better regulation and oversight.

Congressional Democratic candidate Neil Durrance also attended to voice his opinion that the gas drilling issue is not Democratic or Republican, liberal or conservative,  but a “people” issue and received wide applause.

The Environment and Energy Committee got some people to sign up for notifications of future events.  An upcoming organizational meeting is planned.

Congressman Burgess’  Town Halls in Flower Mound and Denton were well attended and included several Democrats and concerned citizens for responsible drilling and environmental issues.  As reported in the Denton Record-Chronicle, the debate over drilling at Denton’s Town Hall got particularly heated, as Burgess stated that he will not support the Frac Act.

During his introductory remarks in Flower Mound, Burgess acknowledged that he is tracking gas drilling monitoring results by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ ) and related community concerns.  He continues, however, to reject strengthened EPA laws or oversight and he maintains that the Federal Government should not impose federal standards on states on environmental or other issues, such as immigration issues.  We believe it is time for Burgess to reverse his position, as reported in the Plano Star Courier.

Several of our members asked him questions about strengthening Federal laws, the Frac Act, the “Halliburton Loophole”, distance requirements, and other major concerns with drilling in their communities.  As the oversight of environmental quality is handled by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and by the Texas Railroad Commission, it was brought to the attention of Burgess and his many supporters present in the room that neither agency is adequately fulfilling this role.  It was also stated that because Texas has a long history in the oil and gas industry, both agencies are highly influenced by this  industry.  Since hydraulic fracturing was exempted from the standards set in the Safe Drinking Water Act, the EPA does not have the authority to enforce standards for this activity.  At this time, we believe the Federal legislation is not strong enough when it comes to the gas industry to protect the health and safety of North Texas citizens.

We brought up the following issues:

1. Congressman Burgess started off the evening by talking about his concerns on gas drilling and the recent problems with the TCEQ monitoring results in Fort Worth. He mentioned his anger about the apparent inaccuracies of the monitoring and releasing of information. His overall approach is for local and state governments to have control, not the EPA.  Several people asked questions about gas drilling, some in response to our Committee emails.
2. It was stated that we are glad to hear him bring up the gas drilling topic, but that we believe the Federal Government needs to have a stronger role. Local municipalities can only do so much and are often afraid of being sued by gas companies for their mineral rights.
3. Also, there needs to be stronger enabling legislation at the Federal Government for monitoring and best practices requirements. Again, the TCEQ can only do what they are allowed to do for monitoring and enforcing EPA laws, and the EPA needs to have a bigger role.  The Halliburton Loophole passed in 2005 does not allow the EPA to regulate hydraulic fracturing.
4. We asked about the status of the FRAC Act (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act). He said that the EPA is not doing anything about its passage and is conducting studies.  We suggested that because our district is located in the Barnett Shale, our district should take a leadership role because Shale drilling is a national issue.  He again stated that monitoring and legislation should be the State’s role, not Federal.
5. It was stated that we want to see more resources going into renewable energy, such as solar and wind, so that gas drilling jobs can be replaced with cleaner energy jobs. He reminded us about his recent Energy Efficiency Fair, however, he maintained that there are problems with renewable energy. He said there has been opposition  to energy transmission lines for wind energy.  It was stated that we must consider the costs and benefits of any option and we should transition to clean energy and the associated jobs right here in Texas.

Join the Environment & Energy Committee as we challenge Congressman Michael Burgess on his refusal to vote for safeguards to clean air, clean water and the overall protection of the environment at his upcoming Town Hall meetings at:

Flower Mound Town Hall
Tuesday, August 3
7:00 p.m.
Flower Mound High School Auditorium
3411 Peters Colony Road
Flower Mound, TX 75022

Denton Town Hall
Thursday, August 5
5:00 p.m.
Denton High School Auditorium
1007 Fulton Street
Denton, TX 76201

The EEC will meet near the entrance of the building 30 minutes before the Town Hall Meeting to discuss strategy and formulate questions to ask Dr. Burgess.

For more information please contact headquarters at  (940) 566-1165.

Welcome to the new Environment and Energy Committee of the Denton County Democratic Party.  Please check back for future posts and announcements of upcoming events in  Denton County, Texas.