In 2014, the city of denton, texas, passed a local initiative that prohibited "fracking" - the practice of breaking up rocks underground to release natural gas - out of concern over its environmental effects. in response, the texas state legislature passed a bill in 2015 declaring that only the state government could regulate the oil and gas industry in any major way. the 2015 law prohibited all municipalities in texas from regulating fracking. why might municipal home rule not affect cities' powers in this case?

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Wilson Patrick

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15 March, 16:06

In 2014, the city of denton, texas, passed a local initiative that prohibited "fracking" - the practice of breaking up rocks underground to release natural gas - out of concern over its environmental effects. in response, the texas state legislature passed a bill in 2015 declaring that only the state government could regulate the oil and gas industry in any major way. the 2015 law prohibited all municipalities in texas from regulating fracking. why might municipal home rule not affect cities' powers in this case?

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Nathalia Conway · Answer 1

The correct answer is Because accessing oil and gas is a state interest

Basically, the state legislature is the only one who can say what can and can't be done when it comes to such industry and if they decide that it's dangerous for the environment then they will support the initiative's ideas even though they oppose the legislative powers of the initiative's creators so they might just support them but out of their own decision.