Last year KUT produced a podcast, “The Disconnect,” chronicling the February 2021 Texas freeze and blackout. KUT has now produced Part 2: “The Disconnect: Power, Politics and the Texas Blackout,” explaining what has happened since–what has been fixed, the cost in electric bills, and the aftermath–hosted by KUT reporter Mose…
Sometimes lawyers really do have the best responses. The following is just one example. Rebuilding New Orleans after Katrina often caused residents to be challenged to prove home titles back hundreds of years. That is because of community history stretching back over two centuries during which houses were passed along through generations…
Dr. Scott Tinker will host a 12-episode TV series on energy and climate, on Austin’s PBS station, KLRU, beginning September 4 at 6 pm and streaming on PBS.org. More information can be found here. From the press release: Energy and climate are intertwined, two of the most important topics in…
The King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management at Texas A&M University – Kingsville has published a webinar and a white paper on how ranchers should consider whether to enter into agreements to change their ranch practices to increase CO2 in their soil, generating carbon credits. Links to the webinar and…
In 1860, at the age of 60, Joseph Glidden invented barbed wire. He patented it the next year and sold the patent in 1876 to a company named Washburn and Moen, retaining a royalty that made him one of the richest men in the US. John Warne Gates was born…
Last week the Supreme Court of North Dakota handed down its opinion in Northwest Landowners Association v. State of North Dakota, 2022 ND 150. The court struck down portions of a statute passed by the North Dakota Legislature, Senate Bill 2344, dealing with ownership rights to “pore space.” North Dakota…
The Inflation Reduction Act, passed by the Senate yesterday and on its way to passage in the House, contains carrots and sticks for reducing methane emissions in the oil and gas sector. From Inside Climate News: One of the least discussed, but potentially most significant, climate aspects of the proposed…
I ran across an article recently in the Journal of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society about James V Allred, who succeeded the infamous Miriam “Ma” Ferguson as Governor of Texas in 1935. The Article, “Texas Troubles: Governor Allred and His Rangers Defy Jim Crow,” by Jody Edward Ginn, Ph.D.…
Texas A&M has published an excellent guide and summary of the law of fences, “Five Strands: a Landowner’s Guide to Fence Law in Texas.” Robert Frost had something to say about walls and fences in his poem “Mending a Wall.” An excerpt: There where it is we do not need…
A recent Texas Supreme Court decision on pipeline eminent domain, Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline: The Hlavinka family own some 13,000 acres in Brazoria County, Texas, situated near the Texas Gulf Coast directly between refinery and industrial centers. The family originally acquired this land because there are multiple existing pipelines crossing…