Recently both the U S House of Representatives and the Senate passed by unanimous vote new federal pipeline legislation. The legislation would both reauthorize and strengthen existing pipelines safety programs through 2015, improve enforcement of existing laws, address National Transportation Safety Board recommendations, and fill in any gaps in the…
Hydraulic fracturing has often been criticized for its possible effect on groundwater, but the early results of a study by the Energy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin indicates that the concern is largely unfounded. Early results of the study, entitled “Separating Fact from Fiction in Shale Gas…
Last fall, the Texas Railroad Commission held a hearing to consider a new rule for disclosure of hydraulic fracturing chemicals. At the hearing, Chemistry Professor Andrew Barron from Rice University claimed that the rule would serve to demystify the chemicals used and help assure the public that the chemicals were…
Contrary to the Obama administration’s expectations, it sounds as though states are doing a fine job regulating the oil and gas industry, according to members of a shale gas subcommittee in the U.S. Senate. In the Shale Gas Subcommittee 90-day Report subcommittee members reported to the Senate Committee on Energy…
Any good Texas oil and gas attorney must be fully versed in the Texas Statute of Frauds. The Statute of Frauds is an old concept, requiring that certain contracts have to be in writing and signed to be valid. The Statute of Frauds dates back to at least seventeenth century…
The oil and gas industry is under attack not only in Texas, but nationally. Several months ago, a new study by Louisiana State University Professor Joseph Manson, An Economic Analysis of Dual Capacity and Section 199 Proposals for the U.S. Oil and Gas Industry, was released. Professor Manson’s study found…
Readers may recall that last year the Supreme Court of Texas issued an opinion with profound implications for the rights of Texas landowners when they are faced with a request for a pipeline or utility easement. In Texas Rice Land Partners Ltd. and Mike Latta v. Denbury Green Pipeline-Texas LLC,…
Environmentalists like to argue that oil and gas are harmful to the planet, that their sources are drying up, and that “clean” green energy is the way of the future. However, more studies are finding that green energy is far from harmless to the environment. In fact, it may actually…
The conventional wisdom is that when oil prices are high, gasoline prices follow. Yet is that really true? Just recently, oil prices were up more than 9%, yet gas prices at the pump actually dropped 15 cents, to 3.30 a gallon. Why is this? Well, it turns out the conventional…
In what is hopefully a sign of a healthy Texas oil and gas industry, as well as good news for Texas mineral owners, Apache Corporation (the subject of a recent post) has not only renewed its lease of 365,000 square feet at its Post Oak Central office building, but has…