Read this passage: in 2014, the city of denton, texas, passed a local initiative that prohibited "fracking" — the practice of breaking up rocks underground to release natural gas — out of concern over its environmental effects. in response, the texas state legislature passed a bill in 2015 declaring that only the state government could regulate the oil and gas industry in any major way. why was the state legislature's action allowed by the u. s. constitution?

The correct answer is because accessing oil and gas is a state interest.

The state’s legislature action was allowed by the Constitution of the United States because accessing oil and gas is a state interest.  

The city of Denton, Texas –north Dallas- passed a local initiative against fracking. In consequence, the legislature of the state of Texas passed a bill stating that it was the state government of Texas the only one which could regulate the oil and gas industry. The U.S. Constitution supported the state legislature of Texas in matters of deciding what to do in issues of gas and oil, as a state interest. The legislature has the faculty to decide on major issues like those mentioned.