"People recognize this is a mainstream issue," said Adam Briggle, 37, vice president of the group behind the ban, Frack Free Denton.
Briggle, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of North Texas, said the ban was a last resort. He and other organizers had worked for years to strengthen industry regulations, but the industry found ways to work around them, he said.
Texas produced about a third of the country's natural gas last year, the greatest share of any state, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Denton sits atop the Barnett Shale, one of the larges