Another study, entitled “Review of EPA Hydraulic Fracturing Study Plan“, is questioning the validity of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) data on hydraulic fracturing (“fracing”) and drinking water. The impact of fracing on drinking water has been a hot political topic for a while now, and more and more scientific…
The pace of oil and gas pipeline construction in Texas has increased enormously. As a Texas pipeline attorney, I regularly get calls from folks who ask me why they should go to the expense of having an attorney review their pipeline easement before they sign it. Here are the reasons…
Before the election, the House of Representatives passed sweeping energy legislation, including HR 4480, in an attempt to facilitate the development of the oil and gas industry. The bill passed by 248 to 163 and its sponsor, Representative Cory Gardner of Colorado, urged the Senate to take up this bill…
There is now even more evidence that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is using politics, and not science, in opposing hydraulic fracturing and the oil and gas industry. A recent survey and report entitled “Characterizing Pivotal Sources of Methane Emissions from Unconventional Natural Gas Production“, done by the American Petroleum…
In great news for the Texas oil and gas industry, as well as the Texas economy, drilling at the Eagle Ford Shale, a band of rock in south Texas containing a mixture of light, sweet crude oil, natural gas, and high quality condensates, may outpace last year’s boom. UK based…
As many Texas oil and gas lease owners know, fracing creates new channels in rock that can increase extraction rates for the recovery of fossil fuels. However, some claim that the process contaminates groundwater or risks air quality. The traditional process works by pumping fracturing fluid into the well-bore at…
With all the news about the false controversy involving hydraulic fracturing, the Railroad Commission of Texas is pre-emptively addressing concerns about another important issue for the Texas oil and gas industry–natural gas flares. Commissioner David Porter announced that the Eagle Ford Task Force will study the issue of whether Texas’s…
In April 2012, President Obama signed an executive order creating a six person committee to coordinate efforts among three government agencies to research the risks and benefits of unconventional oil and gas production. The committee is composed of two members each from the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency,…
Abundant oil and gas in Texas and the rest of the U.S. has already proven to have significant economic benefits, and not just to mineral owners in Texas and the U.S. It will continue to benefit the country as technology in this sector continues to improve. Our energy independence has…
The film Gasland purported to show how communities are adversely affected by hydraulic fracturing (also known as “fracing”). This film was full of inaccuracies and half-truths, and was apparently intended to incite opposition to fracing by masquerading as a “scientific” documentary. Environmentalists and politicians with a specific anti-energy agenda use…