Plaintiffs Kenneth Lyle and Linda Morrison have appealed the dismissal of their suit against Midway Solar to the El Paso Court of Appeals, No. 08-19-00216-CV. Lyle and Morrison own the minerals under 315 acres in Pecos County. Midway Solar has constructed a solar farm on 215 of those acres. Typically,…
The Texas Tribune has published an article describing a remarkable settlement in San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper and S. Diane Wilson v. Formosa Plastics Corp, a suit claiming environmental damages for Formosa’s plastics pollution discharges into Lavaca Bay. The judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of…
Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy recently published an Issue Brief, “Reducing Oilfield Methane Emissions Can Create New US Gas Export Opportunities,” written by Gabriel Collins, Baker Botts Fellow in Energy & Environmental Regulatory Affairs at the Institute. Collins argues that instead of flaring gas, it should be liquefied…
The fight between Williams and Exco over whether Exco can continue to flare gas from its wells has moved to District Court in Travis County. Exco filed an application with the Texas Railroad Commission for permission to flare gas from more than 130 Eagle Ford oil wells on the Briscoe…
A friend recently told me about two great websites: www.oilystuffblog.com, and www.shaleprofile.com. The first is a fun read authored by Mike Shelman, “Oily Humor & Short Stories About a Very Long, Oily Life.” Here’s a post about “BOE,” or “barrels of oil equivalent.” Shale Profile is a subscription site, but…
Interesting graphics in article from Bloomberg, “After Decades of Fracking, We Finally Know How the Fluid Spreads Underground.”
Excellent investigative reporting by Texas Tribune on how the Texas Railroad Commission fails to enforce state and federal laws requiring restoration of coal mines. “Texas coal companies are leaving behind contaminated land. The state is letting them.” Mirrors my experience with trying to get the RRC to force E&P companies…
A U.S. District Court in Arkansas decided a case in 2016 that a client sent me, Whisenhunt Investments, LLC v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 2016 WL 7494266, No. 4:13cv00656 JM, Eastern District of Arkansas, Western Division, raising an interesting issue on post-production costs. Arkansas has forced pooling. The forced pooling statute…
A study released by TexNet concludes that “some earthquakes in west Texas are more likely due to hydraulic-fracturing than salt-water disposal.” TexNet is a seismic monitoring program run by the University of Texas and funded by the legislature as a result of unusual earthquake activity in several areas of Texas…
Two recent court of appeals cases address the enforceability of liquidated damages clauses: TEC Olmos, LLC v. ConocoPhillips Company, and Fairfield Industries v. EP Energy E&P Company. The Texas Supreme Court requested the parties in TEC Olmos to file briefs on the merits but recently denied review. In EP Energy,…