The Corporatocratic State of Texas

We all remember the days of the company town, where the single main company employer of a town controlled all aspects of the town and its residents, from their paycheck to their housing to their shopping and everything else. Now it seems that the 26 million residents of the nation's second most populous state are living in a company state. Texas governor Greg Abbott has just signed frighteningly anti-democratic legislation into law. Under the guise of preserving private property rights and simplifying and improving the regulatory process the governor and other legislators of Texas who passed the bill banning cities from banning fracking have swept aside the concerns for health and safety of thousands or perhaps millions of residents worried enough about the guile of this highly polluting industry to pass and support local ordinances regulating its operation in their communities. The new law states that any new local ordinances must pass a test of being "commercially reasonable," aka don't impede gas extraction or hurt profits. This new "commercially reasonable" standard replaces the previous long upheld standard of community reasonableness, in which health, safety, and welfare of citizens was the main consideration. If that doesn't show the apathy and arrogance of the oil industry, and who's really guarding the hen house, I don't know what does.

Apparently other big oil producing states are considering similar legislation. Watch what you say against the oil industry. I'm sure that legislation against disparaging it will be coming soon.


http://www.dentonrc.com/opinion/columns-headlines/20150519-adam-briggle-guest-column.ece

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/19/3660369/texas-prohibits-local-fracking-bans/

http://keranews.org/post/fracking-resume-denton-after-state-prohibits-city-fracturing-bans

In a disheartening but not unexpected update governor Mary Fallin of Oklahoma has just signed a similar bill into law in that state. It permits "reasonable" restrictions for noise and traffic issues but apparently health and safety concerns for toxic air and water pollution are unreasonable.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/06/01/3664586/oklahoma-ban-on-fracking-bans/