"The City Council is committed to defending the ordinance and will exercise the legal remedies that are available to us should the ordinance be challenged," Watts said in a statement.

David Porter, a commissioner on the Texas Railroad Commission, the state's oil and gas regulator, said he was "disappointed that Denton voters fell prey to scare tactics," adding that such a ban could threaten the state's "energy renaissance."

Scores of cities in other states have considered similar bans over health and environmental concerns. But the proposal in Denton was a litmus test on whether any community in Texas — the nation's biggest oil and gas producer — could rebuff the industry and still thrive.

For more than a decade, Denton has drawn its lifeblood from the huge gas reserves beneath its streets. The gas fields have produced $1 billion in mineral wealth and pumped more than $30 million into city bank accounts.

The push to limit fracking began years ago but got a boost in June when Frack Free Denton submitted a petition to the City Council with enough signatures to force a vote. Because the council rejected it, the measure went to a public vote.

Fracking involves blasting a mix of water, sand and chemicals deep into underground rock formations to release trapped oil and gas.

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