In a suit with implications for Texas gasoline consumers, the American Petroleum Institute filed a petition for review in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last week against the Environmental Protection Agency over what it deems unachievable bio-fuels use requirements. These latest requirements are in the…
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…
For some years now, the conventional wisdom has held that wind power is the kinder, gentler energy source, the source that allows the energy producer to be at one with the environment. Instead, it turns out that wind power is a bigger threat to wildlife than any oil well. More…
Washington has been telling Texas small business, including Texas oil and gas companies, how they should be run for a long time. For a few moments, Texas businesses had a chance to tell Washington what to do, and the overriding message was: stop meddling.Over 30 small Texas business owners met…
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…
For mineral owners in the northern Texas Panhandle, there is an exciting new development: Apache Corporation is planning to conduct a seismic survey in the Pennsylvania Canyon Wash formation to see if it is suitable for horizontal drilling. At present, there are parts of the Panhandle that not been fully…
President Obama would have us believe that he considered everything when he came up with his latest plan to create jobs. Yet he ignored a plan that could create 1.4 million more jobs and $803 billion in revenue. According to a the Wood Mackenzie Study, funded by the American Petroleum…
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…