The Texas Supreme Court agreed to decide Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline, about which I have written before. The Court’s summary of the issues: The primary issues in this case are whether (1) Texas law grants eminent domain authority to a pipeline owner shipping polymer grade propylene; (2) a pipeline shipping…
I wrote about this case before. Today the Texas Supreme Court agreed to hear the plaintiff’s appeal of a judgment of the El Paso Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court’s summary of issues in the case: At issue in this case is whether courts are barred from considering deed records…
Pending before the Texas Supreme Court is the petition for review of Ammonite Oil & Gas Corporation challenging the decision of the San Antonio Court of Appeals in Ammonite Oil and Gas Corp v. Railroad Comm’n of Texas, 2021 WL 4976324 (Oct. 27, 2021). The Court of Appeals upheld the…
With the recent cold snap, we’re all remembering what we were doing last February when the lights went out. Repercussions continue. As reported by Michell Ferman at Texas Tribune, Vistra corporation is in a dispute with Energy Transfer over its bill to Vistra for $21.6 million, for gas sold to…
A friend alerted me to a new organization formed to promote geothermal energy, The Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance (TxGEA). TxGEA is an interdisciplinary group of entities engaged in geothermal resource exploration, drilling, construction and production, for producing electricity from geothermal resources. Membership includes: Baker Hughes Blade Energy Partners Causeway GT…
Two recent decisions from two federal judges in the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, dismissed suits alleging class actions against Apache and Hilcorp for failure to pay royalties on gas used in gas processing plants. Both construed identical lease provisions. In Carl v. Hilcorp Energy, No. 4:21-CV-02133, Judge Keith…
From Visual Capitalist (click on image to enlarge):
In response to substantial criticism of its original proposed rule, the Texas Railroad Commission has issued a final rule, 16 TAC Sec. 3.65, relating to designation of critical natural gas infrastructure. Well owners can no longer exempt their wells’ designation as critical infrastructure simply by filing a form and paying…
From Visual Capitalist (click to enlarge): Note that the US has twice the CO2 emissions per capita of China.
Excellent article in the Texas Tribune about the failure of the Texas Legislature and regulators to require natural gas companies to winterize in the wake of February’s winter storm blackout. The Public Utility Commission did finally act to require utilities to use “best efforts” to winterize their plants, but the…