On Nov. 4, Denton voters drew a line in the sand on fracking, voting overwhelmingly to ban the use of water, sand and chemical additives to stimulate wells within the city limits.

The ban carries a misdemeanor fine of up to $2,000 a day if violated.

The next day, the tide came in.

Two lawsuits, one by the Texas Land Commissioner and another by the Texas Oil & Gas Association (Txoga), were filed asking courts for injunctions against the ban.

Then, perhaps most formidable to supporters’ efforts, Christi Craddick, chairwoman of the Texas Railroad Commission, said she had no intention of honoring the vote’s outcome.

In a video on the Texas Tribune website, the Republican said local controls are important in many respects and that cities have every right to create setbacks for oil and gas drilling permits.

But Craddick said her job – not the city of Denton’s -- is to issue drilling permits.

“I’m the expert in oil and gas,” she said. “The city of Denton is not. We’re going to continue permitting up there because that’s my job.”

Supporters might also have cost themselves not just millions of dollars in tax revenues but also jobs, she said.

Every oil and gas job created in the state has a ripple effect that creates 10 to 18 more jobs, Craddick said. A Nov. 5 report by the Energy Information Administration said that Texas added 19,000 oil and gas production jobs in 2013, six times as many as any other state.

She also said that the cost of legal actions will weigh on Denton’s budget. The commission is in discussions about its own legal options.

By 7:51 a.m. Nov. 5, attorneys for Jerry Patterson, land commissioner, filed a petition in a Travis County, Texas, court seeking a permanent injunction against the “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable” ban.

“This ban on hydraulic fracturing is not constitutional and it won’t stand,” Patterson said. “If it were allowed to be enforced it would hurt the schoolchildren of Texas, who earn hundreds of millions of dollars a year on oil and gas production on Permanent School Fund lands.”

The General Land Office deposited a record $1.2 billion into the state’s $37.7 billion Permanent School Fund for fiscal year 2014. The earnings are in large part due to the revolution in hydraulic fracturing technologies, which caused private companies to compete for school fund lands that were of marginal value in years past.

“The law is clear. The Railroad Commission regulates oil and gas in Texas, not local municipalities,” Patterson said.

Txoga also asked a state district court on Nov. 5 for an injunction and a declaration that the ordinance is invalid and unenforceable. The ban usurps the state’s authority and criminalizes a standard industry practice, the suit says.

Frack Free Denton, a group that fought to get the ban passed, said they expected a lawsuit.

“Unfortunately, industry has met our expectations,” the group said on its website. “They have apparently learned nothing from [Nov. 4’s] landslide vote. They have taken no time to reflect on their own irresponsible actions that brought the people of Denton to this point.”

Denton has about 280 wells within the city limits, the city says.

In a larger sense, the industry missed a major opportunity when it began to ramp up drilling in the Barnett Shale, including Denton, Craddick said.

The industry could have explained fracking when oil and gas operators came to the Barnett Shale in 2006, she said.

Instead, several companies were forced to spend money to tell their story in the Denton fracking campaign. Campaign finance reports obtained by Hart Energy show Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN), EnerVest (NASDAQ: EVEP) and ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) subsidiary XTO Energy each gave $120,000 to Denton Taxpayers for a Strong Economy, a specific-purpose committee, to fight the ban.

Taxpayers for a Strong Economy said Nov. 7 that an analysis of voting showed that the city's drilling ban would have failed if not for massive bloc voting by University of North Texas and Texas Woman's University college students.

The ban was supported by 58.6% of voters.

While Craddick does not think any companies have done anything wrong in Denton, she said industry should understand the need to have a social license to operate in communities.

“They need to be partners in the community, and educate them and tell people what’s going on,” she said. “Be good citizens. Go above and beyond if you’re in the middle of a neighborhood if you have to.”

So far in 2014, 81 gas well permits have been approved in Denton County. Within the city limits, seven have been submitted. EnerVest Operating LLC won approval for two permits and had one application rejected. Eagleridge Operating LLC has two approved and two on hold.

Craddick said that ultimately, she thinks her actions, and even the courts’, might not end fracking bans.

“I think it’s going to end up being a legislative fix long term,” she said. “We’ve already had conversations with members.”

State Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Denton, might play a key part in any legislation to come. She is vice chair of the state’s Energy Resources Committee, co-owns Robinson Drilling Co. and has other ties to the oil and gas industry, according to the Texas Conservative Coalition and the Texas Tribune.