Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Tell your Texas senator to block SB 875


State senator Troy Fraser, chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and renowned champion of corporate interests, recently introduced his latest bad idea,  SB 875.
In a nutshell: SB 875 allows Texas state permit holders to trample on your property rights
A permit -- for gas drilling, or anything else -- is supposed to make the permit-holder behave responsibly.
SB 875 turns that on its head – it makes a permit a “get out of jail free” card.
No matter what the gas driller (or other permit holder) does -- if they’re holding a government permit, they can’t be held accountable under Texas nuisance law.
If SB 875 becomes law, that is.
Pollution from industry can trespass onto your property all day and night, pollute it, make your family sick, kill your livestock,  and industry only has to say “I was just following my permit or rule.”
Instructions:
  1. Go to the action page.
  2. Go to page bottom and enter your zip code so the system can find your Senator
  3. Read the sample letter that appears and edit it if possible. Customized letters have greater impact.
  4. Click "Send My Message" to fax your letter to our member of the Texas Natural Resources Committee.
  5. For more information, go to the action page.
  6. NOTE: only Texans who are represented by members of the committee can take action

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

NRH Rep Kelly Hancock filed a companion to this in the House HB 2265: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=82R&Bill=HB2268

So we know that the gas industry has someone to carry their water from right here in the Barnett Shale.

This bill would keep families from taking gas companies to court over damaging their property value.