March 23, 2015 12:48 PM

Cities and the oil and gas industry gear up ahead of showdown over drilling bills today

TML and TXOGA jockey for position ahead of House hearing on urban drilling bills. Complete coverage this afternoon via Texas Energy Report

Cities around the state and the oil and gas industry are working to get the word out this Monday afternoon about their respective positions in one of the centerpiece fights of this legislative session.

The bills that spell out what authority cities will or won’t have when it comes to urban drilling – HB 40 and HB 593 – are being heard back-to-back in the House Energy Resources Committee just after 2pm.

For its part, the Texas Oil & Gas Association released a new video showing aerial images of a neighborhood in Denton – ground zero for the debate after voters decided to ban fracking there – where the city permitted residential construction very close to existing wells. The group said those permits stand “in stark contrast to the city’s own requirement for unreasonably large distances between wells and homes.”

By Scott Braddock