I recently heard an interview with George Mitchell, the independent operator who found the key for combining hydraulic fracturing technology and horizontal drilling to unlock vast reserves of gas in the Barnett Shale, the first shale play. And it only took him 17 years to figure it out. Now 93…
Texas’ Sunset Advisory Commission has issued its recommendations for changes at the Texas Railroad Commission. The report can be found here. The RRC was up for regular Sunset review in 2010, and the Sunset Commission issued a report recommending several changes then, including abolishing the three-member elected Commission and replacing…
Recent news of interest: Keystone Pipeline in East Texas – Fuelfix has published a series of articles on construction of the Keystone Pipeline in East Texas, providing some great photos, including this one: Not a small operation. And this one, of protesters who camped in trees, causing the company to re-route…
Three interesting stories: Guar, a bean grown mostly in India, has become a hot commodity because of its use as an additive in frac fluid. See this CNBC Report. Indian farmers are getting rich, American farmers are looking into growing the bean, and Halliburton’s income is down “due to increased…
The debate about effects of Barnett Shale drilling and production on air quality in the Dallas-Fort Worth area continues. The debate started when Al Armendariz, then a professor at Southern Methodist University, published a study in 2009 concluding that increased drilling activity in the DFW area would greatly increase polllution and…
The Texas Railroad Commission has been issuing new rules and proposed rules affecting oil and gas exploration activities that landowners should know about. New Penalty Guidelines The RRC proposed new rules earlier this year establishing guidelines for penalties for violations of RRC rules. This month, the RRC adopted those proposed…
A new documentary by Scott Tinker and Harry Lynch is now being rolled out at select screenings. http://www.switchenergyproject.com/aboutfilm.php#about Dr. Tinker was Director of the Bureau of Economic Geology, a joint organization of the University of Texas and the State of Texas, and a professor at UT’s Jackson School of Geology, as well…
Last year, researchers at Duke University published a controversial study of groundwater in Pennsylvania showing that water wells in close proximity to Marcellus Shale gas wells had higher concentrations of natural gas in the water than more-distant water wells in the same aquifer. (See my prior post here.) The same…
Here are some interesting articles I have found: On Texas’ drought, from the PBS News Hour: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-environmental-news/environmental-problems-and-policies/coping-climate-change-texas-drought/ On Texas’ drought, from Texas Tribune: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-environmental-news/environmental-problems-and-policies/ “The Arithmentic of Shale Gas,” from Forbes’ Christopher Helman: http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2012/06/22/the-arithmetic-of-shale-gas/ In this article, Helman reviews a paper published by a group of Yale economis…
The Pacific Institute has issued a study of issues related to hydraulic fracturing and water resources: Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Resources: Separating the Frack from the Fiction. The Pacific Institute is a non-profit research and policy organization based in Oakland, California. The study is largely a summary of interviews of environmental…