When I were woken up by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake from Pawnee, Oklahoma on last Saturday morning, I just thought I was in a dream. Is Texas near a seismic zone? Again, I heard my cousin, a petroleum engineer, talk about the hydraulic fracturing which causes the frequent earthquakes recently. hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is widely used by the oil and gas companies in Texas and Oklahoma to produce oil and natural gas. Although hydraulic fracturing technology successfully reduce the price of energy, the scientific evidences show that it relates to frequent earthquake and water pollutions. According to a report from Newsweek Global, the Oklahoma Geological Survey states that Oklahoma only has one and a half earthquakes
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In an article, “Oil and Gas Lobby Cashes In, Kills Local Control”, the pro-local control interest groups criticize that the state legislative institution seriously violated the freedom and rights of local government, and ruthlessly ignored the local residents’ health and properties of safety (White). They also remind the public that the oil and gas companies’ money have already permeate though the Texas political system (White). “According to a recent report by Texans for Public Justice, the energy and natural resources industries were the number 1 financial contributors to non-judicial Texas politicians in 2014. 31 Texas senators received $1.7 million – an average of $56,000 each. 144 Texas representatives received $3.8 million – an average of $25,000 each” (White). However, Matt Rinaldi, a State Representative, declare against the misuse of the local control. In his article, he pointed that “local control is an important governing principle, but liberty is a more important governing principle. When the two are in conflict, liberty trumps local control” (liberty…). He argues that local government more easily be affected by single interest group than the state government, and give the examples such as Gitlow v. New York, McDonald v. Chicago, and George Wallace in 1963 to show that misuse of local control could harm citizen’s …show more content…
It is true that for the economic growth, you have to give up somethings such as traffic, sky high housing market, and the pollutions. However, put local residents’ life and properties in the risk should not be an option. Although the HB40 prohibit the city government to regulate oil and gas companies’ activities since the damage of earthquake is small, the public still have a chance to correct it by legislate a new regulation on the state level. For example, if hydraulic fracturing cause more terribly destructive earthquake in Texas, a considerable amount of Texas residents will focus on the issue and keep a huge pressure to the senators and the house representatives. The state legislative institution will pass the hydraulic fracturing ban in the future. Different with hydraulic fracturing case, the bag ban gives an example of misuse local control. Many cities in Texas ban the plastic bags in the name of environment reserving. However, the studies show that “plastic bags are 100% reusable and recyclable”, and a paper bags need more than 30% energy and 4% water to produce (The Truth…). In addition, another alternative, cotton bag, need to use more than 131 times to reach a point of equal friendly environment ability with
In an article, “Oil and Gas Lobby Cashes In, Kills Local Control”, the pro-local control interest groups criticize that the state legislative institution seriously violated the freedom and rights of local government, and ruthlessly ignored the local residents’ health and properties of safety (White). They also remind the public that the oil and gas companies’ money have already permeate though the Texas political system (White). “According to a recent report by Texans for Public Justice, the energy and natural resources industries were the number 1 financial contributors to non-judicial Texas politicians in 2014. 31 Texas senators received $1.7 million – an average of $56,000 each. 144 Texas representatives received $3.8 million – an average of $25,000 each” (White). However, Matt Rinaldi, a State Representative, declare against the misuse of the local control. In his article, he pointed that “local control is an important governing principle, but liberty is a more important governing principle. When the two are in conflict, liberty trumps local control” (liberty…). He argues that local government more easily be affected by single interest group than the state government, and give the examples such as Gitlow v. New York, McDonald v. Chicago, and George Wallace in 1963 to show that misuse of local control could harm citizen’s …show more content…
It is true that for the economic growth, you have to give up somethings such as traffic, sky high housing market, and the pollutions. However, put local residents’ life and properties in the risk should not be an option. Although the HB40 prohibit the city government to regulate oil and gas companies’ activities since the damage of earthquake is small, the public still have a chance to correct it by legislate a new regulation on the state level. For example, if hydraulic fracturing cause more terribly destructive earthquake in Texas, a considerable amount of Texas residents will focus on the issue and keep a huge pressure to the senators and the house representatives. The state legislative institution will pass the hydraulic fracturing ban in the future. Different with hydraulic fracturing case, the bag ban gives an example of misuse local control. Many cities in Texas ban the plastic bags in the name of environment reserving. However, the studies show that “plastic bags are 100% reusable and recyclable”, and a paper bags need more than 30% energy and 4% water to produce (The Truth…). In addition, another alternative, cotton bag, need to use more than 131 times to reach a point of equal friendly environment ability with