Tag Archives: oil and gas
Despite Attempts to Soften Penalties, Texas Legislature Passes Bill to Charge Pipeline Protesters with Felonies
The oil and gas industry-backed bill could blunt environmental groups’ fight against the Jupiter oil pipeline and Kinder Morgan’s Permian Highway gas pipeline.
Environmental activists, indigenous protesters, landowners and others who damage or “impair or interrupt” operations of oil and gas facilities will be charg...Read More
The $9 Billion School Finance Problem in Speaker Bonnen’s Backyard
While legislators focused on school finance and property taxes, a silent culprit continued to metastasize. If Chapter 313, a corporate welfare program, is left unaddressed, it could undermine any progress made this session, critics warn.
There’s a $9 billion (and growing) problem looming in the backyard of House Speaker Dennis Bonnen. That problem is formally known as Chapter 313. As Texas’ ...Read More
In Battle Between Big Oil and Big Corn, Ted Cruz Finally Called Out Trump
Cruz has studiously avoided confronting Trump. But when it came to helping oil refiners get a bigger share of the EPA's deregulatory spoils, the senator was more than willing to play hostage politics.
Ted Cruz has finally found the courage to call out the Trump administration. He’s demanding that the president and his bureaucrats stop providing cover for th...Read More
Carbon Sequestration Isn’t The Long-Term Solution. Is it a Short-Term One?
Experts have long debated the efficacy of capturing and storing carbon underground to reduce emissions. Now, in North Texas, oil and gas companies are getting in on the game.
– by Sammy Feldblum May 15, 2019 The Farnsworth Unit Oil Field is a small oil patch in North Texas’s Anadarko Basin, just south of where the skinny Okla...Read More
Report: Oil and Gas Producers May Be Pushing the Permian Basin Past Federal Air Quality Limits
Sulfur dioxide levels in the vast West Texas region may be hitting dangerous levels. Meanwhile, the state is hardly bothering to monitor the pollutant.
In the Permian Basin of West Texas, there’s something in the air. For the oil and gas industry, it must be the smell of money — lots of it. But for the peop...Read More
Port of Corpus Christi Pushes Ahead with Oil Terminal Project, Environment Be Damned
As the agency courts tankers that can carry 2.2 million barrels of crude each, activists worry that the plan could spoil the habitats of the aquatic species that thrive here.
In the middle of the Texas Gulf Coast, among a constellation of barrier islands where thousands of Texans come to fish, boat and play each year, lies one of the...Read More
Pipeline Protesters Could Face 10 Years in Prison Under Bill OK’d by Texas House
Two industry-backed bills in the Texas Legislature would charge environmental activists who allegedly engage in civil disobedience at oil and gas sites with a felony.
UPDATE: The Texas House tentatively passed an amended version of HB 3557 on Monday in a 99-45 vote. The author, Representative Chris Paddie, R-Marshall, downgra...Read More
Governor Abbott’s Sales Tax Ploy Diverts from the Real Problem: Huge Tax Breaks for Corporations
The Big Three’s proposed sales tax hike obscures the real culprit behind the state’s broken property tax system: corporate plunder.
Homeowners are getting smothered by skyrocketing property tax bills. Republicans would have you believe this is because big cities and school districts are led ...Read More
Exxon Appears to Mislead State to Secure Tax Break
In an application for a tax break from the Texas comptroller’s office, Exxon inaccurately claimed it hadn’t applied for any other permits for the facility.
In an effort to secure about $65 million in tax breaks, Exxon appears to have misled the state about how far along it was in deciding where to build a $1.9 bill...Read More