21st Century Wire says…
Fascism comes to Texas…
One definition of fascism is where big corporate and big government interests meet.
Big business has been lobbying the government of Texas to pass a law to remove any legal obstacles to the dangerous and destructive practice of fracking.
They may just get their wish…
Texas residents want to ban fracking in their town, but Governor Abbott hopes to railroad their local democracy (Image Source: CTV News)
Texas gov Abbott sued feds at will before squashing local efforts to ban fracking
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a new law that prohibits local ordinances banning fracking. Yet Abbott has bristled at similar top-down edicts from the federal government. As Texas attorney general, he sued the feds dozens of times in just such cases.
Abbott was the Texas attorney general from 2002 to 2015 before being elected as the state’s governor. During his time as the state’s top law enforcement official, Abbott made a speech at the 2012 Texas Hispanic Leadership Forum, where he told the audience:
“What I really do for fun is I go into the office, [and] I sue the Obama administration,” he said. This was a reference to his penchant for suing the federal government over clean water and air regulations from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
According to the Environmental Defense Fund, Abbott filed at least 31 lawsuits against the federal government between 2004 and April 2014. More than half of those suits were aimed at the EPA. All in all, the suits cost Texans nearly $4 million, EDF reported.
Among EPA issues challenged were:
– the agency’s Endangerment Finding, which found that greenhouse gases are a key element of climate change and harm “the public welfare of current and future generations”…
READ MORE FRACKING NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Fracking Files