News items of interest:
The University of Pennsylvania’s Center of Excllence in Environmental Toxicology has organized a group of researchers from UPa, Columbia, Johns Hopkins and the University of North Carolina to study whether the drilling in the Marcellus Shale play is hazardous to human health.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/21/taking-a-harder-look-at-fracking-and-health/
Here’s another amazing NASA photo, showing light from drilling activity in the Bakken Shale Play:
You can see more photos here, At NPR’s Robert Krulwich blog.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is scheduled to decide whether the Lesser Prairie Chicken should be listed as an endangered species. Its Texas habitat is in the Panhandle and West Texas.
The bird’s habitat extends into Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas and Oklahoma:
The listing could have an adverse impact on oil and gas exploration and wind energy projects in the habitat area. David P. Smith, an environmental lawyer with my firm and expert on oil and gas exploration in endangered habitats, was quoted in the Texas Tribune as saying that the Obama administration faces the challenge of deciding between two green priorities — endangered species and wind power.
In a prior post, I wrote about a new development at the Texas Railroad Commission: granting permits for “allocation wells” – horizontal wells drilled across lease lines without pooling the leases. Since I wrote that post, our firm was retained to represent the parties protesting EOG Resources’ application for a permit for an allocation well. A hearing on the application was held at the RRC on December 3. In addition to EOG and the protestants, Devon Energy appeared at the hearing supporting EOG, and the Texas General Land Office appeared opposing allocation wells on State-owned minerals. All parties have now submitted closing statements and responses, which can be viewed below:
The Corpus Christi Caller Times recently published an excellent piece on Gregg Robertson, the geologist responsible for discovering the value of the Eagle Ford formation. Read it here. Gregg is not only an excellent geologist, but also a fine human being. He deserves the award for newsmaker of the year, and much-delayed recognition for his role in starting the biggest oil play in South Texas in many years. Congratulations to Gregg.
The Texas Groundwater Protection Committee has a new website that provides a wealth of information and links for those interested in groundwater resources and regulation in Texas. The Committee was created by the Texas Legislature in 1989 to provide coordination among nine state agencies that deal with groundwater: the Texas Water Development Board, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Texas Railroad Commission, the Department of State Health Services, the Texas Department of Agriculture, the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, the Bureau of Economic Geology, and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The TGPC’s website provides helpful links to maps of Texas aquifers, groundwater management areas and groundwater conservation districts, regulations covering drilling of water wells, groundwater conservation and contamination, injection and disposal wells, and classroom resources. Bookmark this site.
The Energy Information Administration continues to produce fascinating graphs. Two recent ones are below.
Natural gas hammered coal last year. Low natural gas prices still made electricity cheap. West Texas Intermediate Crude declined, while Brent crude increased.
Electricity generated from natural gas equaled that generated from coal for the first time in April 2012:
State Representative Van Taylor, R-Plano, and Senator Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, have introduced a bill to allow for forced pooling in Texas. The House bill, HB 100, may be viewed here.
The bill would allow an operator to force-pool mineral, royalty and leasehold interests into a unit if the operator obtains agreement from 70% of the leasehold owners and 70% of the royalty owners in the area to be unitized. Unleased mineral owners could be pooled, and would be treated as owning a 1/6 royalty interest and a 5/6 working interest. The unit operating agreement can provide for a “sit-out” penalty of no more than 300% for a working interest owner who elects not to pay its share of the well costs. The bill does not allow force-pooling of mineral or royalty interests owned by the State.
Here is just one interesting provision in the bill:
Here are two good websites that provide interesting and balanced views about energy production and consumption: The Rational Middle, and Think Progress. The Rational Middle is a series of films by the people that produced the movie Haynesville – A Nation’s Hunt for an Energy Future. Its goal is to encourage rational thinking about our energy future and establishing achievable goals toward sustainable energy. The films about unconventional resources and the risks of hydraulic fracturing are worth looking at.
Think Progress’s climate page introduces thought-provoking statistics about our nation’s energy sources and uses. For example:
56.2% of the nation’s energy is wasted each year – from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory:
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 years of age, Mr. Mitchell was interviewed by American Public Media’s Marketplace radio program. You can view the interview here.
Mr. Mitchell has some unorthodox views for a wildcatter. First, his foundation, the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, has given millions of dollars to support development of clean energy resources. And he supports a carbon tax on hydrocarbons.
Mr. Mitchell also supports tough regulation of independent operators. “I’ve had too much experience running independents,” Mitchell says. “They’re wild people. You just can’t control them. And if it doesn’t do it right, penalize the oil and gas people. Get tough with them.” Earlier this year, Mr. Mitchell told Forbes magazine that he is in favor of federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing by the U.S. Department of Energy.
