The draft Sunset Commission report on the Texas Railroad Commission makes recommendations for legislative changes to the bonding requirements for oil and gas wells. Landowners should be familiar with how the RRC’s bonding system works, and how it could affect operations on their property. Operators of oil and gas wells…
The third issue identified by the Sunset Commission in its draft report on review of Texas Railroad Commission operations was the RRC’s monitoring and enforcement of its regulations. As in previous Sunset reports on the RRC, the Sunset Commission criticized the Commission’s enforcement practices and policies. RRC field inspections and…
The Sunset Advisory Commission staff have issued their draft report on the Texas Railroad Commission. Sunset review of the RRC has been controversial. This is the third time the agency has gone through sunset review since 2010, although most agencies aren’t reviewed by the Sunset Commission more than once every…
Occasionally I find something interesting that has nothing to do with oil and gas law, and I file it under “something completely different.” John Browning, a Dallas attorney, law professor and historian, has written the story of a remarkable man, John N. Johnson, who was the first African-American lawyer in…
Stabilis Energy has a facility in George West, about an hour south of San Antonio in the Eagle Ford field, that can produce up to 120,000 gallons of liquified natural gas a day. It opened in March 2015. The US Department of Energy has now given Flint Hills Resources permission…
Haynes and Boone has published a list of the companies who have filed bankruptcy in the current downturn. View it here. 31 of the 63 companies listed are based in Texas. Yesterday Swift Energy, which filed for bankruptcy protection on the last day of 2015, announced that it has emerged…
Our firm’s third annual seminar for land and mineral owners is May 6th at the Stephen F Austin Intercontinental Hotel from 9am to 6pm. As a reader of my blog, if you use the coupon code BLOG, you will save $5 off the registration fee. Topics covered throughout the day…
Great story in the Texas Tribune about the boom and bust of the hotel business in the Eagle Ford shale.
I have generally tried to avoid using this platform to promote or brag on my law firm. But every rule should have its exceptions, and I want to brag about Graves Dougherty’s representation of the Friends of Lydia Ann Channel. Lydia Ann Channel is a feature on the Texas Gulf…
Marsden v. Titan Operating, decided by the Fort Worth Court of Appeals in August 2015, is another case in which a landowner sought nuisance damages from the drilling of wells close to their home. After a jury trial, the trial court awarded damages of $36,000 to the Marsdens. The court…