Energy & Water

Bruce Evans is the new AEP Texas President.

He is currently vice president of Distribution Operations for AEP Texas.

Previously, he was:

• vice president – demand management for Nexant, Inc., in Houston
• president and chief executive officer of the former Central Power and Light Co. from 1996 to 1998.
• The first 21 years of his career were with West Texas Utilities, CPL, Central and South West and American Electric Power.
• Additionally, he has held a number of leadership positions with major energy consulting firms, as well as Cirro Energy and CPS Energy in San Antonio.

Laredo Times

This week Rhode Island began construction on its wind farm off Block Island.

Governing

• $300,000,000 to the Coastal Water Authority (Harris County) for an interbasin transfer project 
• $296,125,000 to the City of Houston (Harris County) for a water supply project 
• $953,405,000 to the North Harris County Regional Water Authority (Harris County) for a water supply project 
• $41,630,000 to the Central Harris County Regional Water Authority (Harris County) for a water supply project 
• $812,140,000 to the West Harris County Regional Water Authority (Harris County) for a water supply project 
• $555,845,000 to the North Fort Bend Water Authority (Fort Bend County) for a water supply project 
• $50,000,000 to the El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board (El Paso County) for a land acquisition project 
• $705,000 to the City of Marfa (Presidio County) for a water well project  
• $1,210,000 to the Greater Texoma Utility Authority on behalf of the City of Tom Bean (Grayson County) for a water supply project 
• $27,640,000 to the Lone Star Regional Water Authority (Williamson and Bell counties) for a water supply project 
• $17,100,000 to the Palo Pinto County Municipal Water District No. 1 (Erath, Hood, Palo Pinto, and Parker counties) for a reservoir project 
• $90,000,000 to the City of Bedford (Tarrant County) for water system and water meter improvements 
• $82,105,000 to the North Texas Municipal Water District (Collin, Hunt, Rockwall, Dallas, Kaufman, Ellis, Rains, Fannin, and Denton counties) for a reservoir project 
• $440,000,000 to the Tarrant Regional Water District (Jack, Wise, Parker, Tarrant, Johnson, Ellis, Navarro, Henderson, Kaufman, Freestone, Denton, Dallas, Collin, and Rockwall counties) for a water supply project 
• $44,680,000 to the Upper Trinity Regional Water District (Fannin, Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Denton, Grayson, and Wise counties) for a reservoir project 
• $55,000,000 to the Canyon Regional Water Authority (Guadalupe, Bexar, Caldwell, Comal, Hays, and Wilson counties) for a water supply project 
• $76,000,000 to the City of Fort Worth (Tarrant, Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise counties) for an advanced metering system 
• $8,000,000 to the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (DeWitt, Victoria, Calhoun, Refugio, Gonzales, Caldwell, Hays, Comal, Guadalupe, and Kendall counties) for a seawater desalination project 
• $12,500,000 to the Hays Caldwell Public Utility Agency (Hays, Caldwell, Comal, and Guadalupe counties) for a water supply project 
• $28,300,000 to the Brazosport Water Authority (Brazoria County) for a brackish groundwater project 
• $7,100,000 to the Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 1 (Hidalgo County) for an agricultural irrigation project

TWDB

Change is in the air for inter-regional planning rules. 

Proposed Rules are [here].

Comment Deadline is 8/4/2015

How high is too high for wholesale water and waste water pricing? According to 2 SOAH judges, Austin hit the two high mark and has been overcharging area water districts. 

The problem with the water rates? Austin defended its rates by pointing to non-water related projects like:

• municipal swimming pools & wildlife conservation
• “Just including a cost in the revenue requirement does not make that cost just, reasonable, and necessary to provide utility service,” the judges said.

Statesman

Direct Energy has a new online tool for customers to see how much electricity each appliance is pulling. Its a benefit of a smart meter.

But, as smart meters gather electricity information, that information turns into a treasure trove of information for data hackers. It’s a “data tsunami” as one energy CEO said.

Dallas Morning News | BizBeatBlog

“The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Fueling Freedom Project today announced the launch of the Interstate Power Compact, an agreement between participating states to prevent the federal overreach of the Clean Power Plan.”  

The Interstate Power Compact will:

• be a powerful tool
• protect “Texas and all states from the EPA’s unconstitutional and overreaching proposed federal carbon rule so-called the Clean Power Plan”
• “allow states to join together to prevent the EPA from taking over our currently affordable and reliable electricity production capacity”

TPPF Announcement

Mark Sanders is the new executive director at Texas Renewable Energy Industries Alliance. His previous roles were:

• executive director of the Building Energy Retrofit Institute in Austin
• program manager at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories in California.

Austin Business Journal

California Water Commission yesterday set new rules concerning low water lawns. The rules will:

• eliminate grass from new office and commercial buildings
• reduce turf at new homes from 1/3 of landscaped area to 1/4

But, if new construction uses recycled water from toilets and showers, then the restrictions do not apply.

ABC7 Los Angeles

Beyond Coal a group seeking to end the use of coal is funded with:

• 10s of millions of dollars from Bloomberg Philanthropies
• Hewlett Foundation
• MacArthur Foundation
• Grantham Foundation
• Sandler Family Foundation
• Yellow Chair Foundation (David Filo, the co-founder of Yahoo)

Inside Philanthropy

September 2nd will be oral arguments to decide whether cities can create their own local agencies to regulate air quality.

Cities can create agencies to do what TCEQ and the EPA do?

In 2007, Houston city council decided it can do a better job. So, it created its own agency to regulate air quality. Houston required owners of facilities “within the scope of state law to register with city health officers and pay fees.”

The local air quality control agency quickly went to court…

• The appellate district for Houston (the 1st, for those who like numbers) agreed with Houston.
• The appellate court said  yes, the City of Houston may create its own air regulating agency under its police powers.
• Plus, the state hasn’t said Houston can’t explicitly do this.

SE Texas Record

On the eve of the 1st round of bidding in Mexico’s de-regulated energy market, let’s look at 5 economic and political impacts of this move:

1. ” Biggest economic moment for Mexico since the 1993 signing of NAFTA”
2. “an integrated continental energy market capable of “unleashing mutual economic, employment, and geopolitical benefits—a NAFTA-type collaboration,” as Manhattan Institute adjunct fellow Mark Mills put it in a 2012 report.”
3. “Biggest risks lay with Mexico’s weak rule of law and uncertain property-rights.”
4. ” Energy Intelligence Group website this month, Jason Fargo reported that the oil majors are expected to be most interested in the deep-water blocks “due to their high potential for significant discoveries.” With access to “existing infrastructure” and closer to home and in “a far more stable, pleasant place to do business” than the Mideast, Mexico is attractive to these companies.”
5. It is “an opportunity for the young, pragmatic president [President Enrique Peña Nieto] eager to make a name for himself.”

WallStreet Journal

Texas Secretary of State Carlos H. Cascos and Governor Abbott are pursuing economic development and stengthening Texas “economic bond” with Mexico.

They’re looking to Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs José Antonio Meade Kuribrena. Meade is also pro-business, economy minded official.

Can’t talk about Texas-Mexico and economic development without talking about Mexico’s de-regulated energy market.

• “The talks [Gov. Abbott & Secretary Meade] come amidst a request for proposals from Mexico’s state-owned electric utility for construction of a $1.5 billion, 155-mile pipeline from Nueces County to Brownsville, where it would connect with a $3.1 billion, 500-mile underwater pipeline to the Port of Tuxpan in the state of Veracruz, Mexico.”  

Valley Morning Star

On June 4th, Information Intelligence brought you news of the Pecos Pipeline. One month and 10 days later the Texas Tribune catches up and tells us about the project. Pecos Pipeline will be:

• A Mexico destined pipeline
• Cutting through Texas’ pride, Big Bend Park
• With no direct Texas public benefit of the oil and gas contained in the pipe
• Its a project uniting cattlemen, private property rights advocates and environmentalists
• It’s like Texas version of the Nebraska and Dakota fights over Keystone XL

Texas Tribune

Information Intelligence on June 4, 2015:

The Big Bend Conservation Alliance is uniting a diverse, bipartisan group of landowners, ranchers, and environmentalists. Its a group with deep roots, that kept the nuclear storage out of Hudspeth County in the 1990s. 

It is a growing group that does not like what Trans Pecos Pipeline means for Texas landowners, ranchers, environmentalists, and star gazers.

Hot issue- what impact will the pipeline have on the darkness required for the observatory? 

Marfa Public Radio   DesmogBlog

Clean Power Finance opened a new 500,000 square feet office at 2900 North Loop West. 

Clean Power Finance seeks to hire at least 100 new employees from the Houston area in the first quarter of 2016.

Houston Business Journal

Ft. Worth is home to a new $500 Million Facebook data center, powered by renewable energy.  Including an investment of 200 megawatts of new wind energy on a 17,000 acre site, 90 miles from the data center.

The facility broke ground this week and will be up and running by 2016 with 40 full time employees.

TechCrunch   Governor Abbott

Stillwater, Oklahoma has enacted new fracking zoning laws in response to citizen complaints and in opposition to oil and gas companies. The new requirements are:

• Setback to protected uses – 660 feet
• setback to unprotected uses – 400 feet
• reverse setback from an oil or gas well site – 400 feet
• noise standard – 69 decibels

Stillwater News Press

Congressman Henry Bonilla urges US comapnies to invest in Mexico’s Eagle For Shale and the Burgos Basin to stave off investment by China.

Natural Gas Intel Shale Daily

United States Geological Survey released a nationwide map for water use in fracking. 

USGS also reports that the water use skyrocketed after 2000, with the avergae gallons used “increased from about 177,000 gallons per oil and gas well to more than 4 million gallons per oil well and 5.1 million gallons per gas well.”

USGS Map   Public News Service

Water Revenue in California, like in Texas is big business. The water restrictions due to California’s drought are expected to cost governmental entities  $1 Billion in lost revenue.

Paying more for less makes for happy taxpayers? Probably not. Taxpayers in California, and in Austin, are not pleased with water districts raising their rates for less useage. 

Governing    US News and World Report

“Pedro Joaquín Coldwell, energy secretary, said Mexico planned to offer 670 exploration projects and 244 fields ready for development containing an estimated 107.5bn barrels of oil equivalent,”

Financial Times |Fast

Mexico’s de-regulation may be mired by contracting issues. The intitial 14 contracts contain provisions that allow the Mexican government to rescind the contracts for “administrative recission.”

Play by their terms or oops, no more contract. De-regulation with a catch?

Reuters

Three groups filed an official petition requesting that the Texas-nesting-only-golden-cheeked warbler be removed from the list of endangered and threatened species. The 3 Groups:

• Counsel for Texans for Positive Economic Policy (led by former Texas Comptroller Susan Combs)
•  the Texas Public Policy Foundation
•  Reason Foundation hand-delivered the petition to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) offices in Washington, DC.
   

The petition | LoneStar Success   TPPF

A proposal is floating around Sacramento to allow for excise taxes to be charged on high use water.

• The tax rate could be up to 3 times the normal water charge.
• Excise tax proceeds would be shared between the state & local governments for water conservation projects.

Sacramento Bee

California’s SB789

California SB 4 hit the middle, pleasing neither industry nor environmentalists. It will require:

• Requires  well permits
• Requires disclosure of what chemicals are used
• Requires water testing
• Requires studies of fracking’s impact
  Sacramento Bee
   

As even the crickets in the Capitol know, in a 5:4 decision the US Supreme Court overturned the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The EPA will go back to the drawing board on its rulemkaing.

It’s a Huge Win for free market advocates.

Governor Abbott: “The Supreme Court rightly held that the EPA violated the law when it imposed a multi-billion-dollar regulation on power plants without considering whether the cost was justified.While today’s decision is good news for Texas, the EPA continues to push an agenda with little regard for the price tag these regulations would impose on employers and ultimately, Texans.”

AG Paxton: ““This ruling is a significant victory in our efforts to rein in an out-of-control EPA, which is a top priority for my administration. The EPA’s continued failure to consider the massive costs of its draconian regulations has killed jobs, crippled our economy and increased energy prices for consumers. We will continue to vigorously fight the agency’s lawless regulations.”

SE Texas Record

By 2018, Texas could gain from Mexico’s energy deregulation:

• 217,000 jobs
• $45 billion in additional gross state product
• South Texas could add more than 40,000 jobs and $5.6 billion in economic activity.

CPA Fiscal Notes

Georgia’s booming solar energy sector put Georgia on top as a clean energy job creator.

Georgia created 2,870 new jobs during the first quarter of 2015. That’s 1200 more jobs than #3 Texas.

Augusta Chronicle

This week, Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller created the Office of Water to ensure that the state’s largest user of water, agriculture, has a seat at the table to discuss water issues.

Paris News  Department of Agriculture Press Release

Coming off a win on its Clean Air win against the EPA, Texas is suing the EPA for its water rules.  Here’s hat texans have said about the EPA water rules that will track & map more waterways on private property. Texas Tribune

Governor Abbott:

“new level of absurdity by attempting to define ditches and ponds as part of the ‘navigable waters’ under the Clean Water Act​”

TPPF:

““EPA’s final redefinition of the meaning of ‘the waters of the United States’ under the Clean Water Act is not about water or clean water, it is about land—federal regulatory control of privately owned land.”

NFIB   Farmers and Ranchers  Cattle Raisers call the new EPA rule  a land grab.

Business leaders from San Antonio will be in Mexico city to  connect business from Eagle Ford shale and emerging energy and logistics issues south of the border. 

San Antonio-based logistics expert Jorge Canavati is leading a delegation of 40 business leaders.

San Antonio Business Journal

Mexico’s government announced $10 billion in electricity and natural gas projects. Including:

•   two pipelines linked to the United States.
  • 800-kilometer underwater pipeline costing $3.1 billion will connect Texas to the port of Tuxpan
  • 250-kilometer, $1.5 billion land pipeline will go from Brownsville, Texas, and link up with the underwater project.

Yahoo UK

Earthquakes use to be relegated to places like California and far away foreign lands. Not so much any more. Pourqoui?

The answer is up in the air.

• SMU scientists say quakes are linked to increase in fracking
• RRC sees no link between the two
• The 2016-2017 State Budget included $4.47 million for a new seismic monitoring program to pinpoint the location and source of the quakes.

FuelFix

Arguing that we had more of a water storage buffer in the 1970s, a Ft. Worth Star Telegram Opinion piece suggests that Texas should figure out how to increase water storage capacity.

The answer: HB 655 by Rep. Lyle Larson supporting Aquifer Recovery Storage to store excess water underground.

Ft Worth Star Telegram | Opinion by Researcher at BUREAU OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN.

Fast moving California legislation seeks to maka renewables accountable for 1/2 the state’s energy by 2030. 

As a result, the rooftop solar industry is on high alert to be the big policy issue for California.

Sacramento Bee

Howard Midstream Energy Partners announced the building of a pipeline from Webb County to Monterrey Mexico.

 The highlights:

• “Nonbinding interest indications for hub and transportation services on the Nueva Era system are now being accepted until July 17.”
• It will carry 600,000,000 cubic feet per day of gas
• The pipeline will run about 200 miles and will be 30 inches in diameter.

Oil & Gas Investor

British Columbia is holding a special summer session of their Legislature to adtop legislation for a new $36-billion LNG terminal and pipeline near Prince Rupert. 

They want to allow the B.C. government to enter into other agreements with  LNG proponents using cabinet orders, and without legislative approval.

Opponents sing the same tune as in the U.S.: Secret Deal with Foreign (U.S.) company. 

VanCouver Sun

The Tax Foundation says wind tax credit proponents are overstating the impact of the tax credits. 

How so?

• Wind relies on an assumption that, if the Production Tax Credit did not exist, the investment capital used to construct wind farms would simply disappear.
• If the wind tax credit did not exist, the federal government would gain tax revenues from other economic sectors to which investment would shift
• subsidies to any industry distort market prices, creating economic inefficiencies

Tax Foundation

The newly enacted California state budget contains provisions to ease environmental requirements for drought related groundwater & water recycling projects.

A state known for environmental regulations found a way to loosen environmental regulations.

Sacremento Bee

Denton has officially repealed its fracking ban ordinance approved by voters in November 2014.  Because nothing makes libertarian leaning tea party voters happier than having their vote changed by the state.

Courthouse News Service    FuelFix  Minneapolis Star Tribune   BBC News   

Denton Record Chronicle 

Previously:

TXOGA and GLO file motions for summary judgment to facilitate repeal of Denton City Council Fracking Ban ordinance.

TexasTribune

Litigation is the only means to determine which local regulations are permitted under 2015’s HB 40.

Denton is considering repealing it’s ban on fracking to implement regulations on fracking. Denton’s initial legal bills for the fracking ban are $220,000. KUT

Proposed rule changes will:

• expand the definition of interregional conflict to:
  • to include a situation where a recommended water management strategy is located in another region
  • And, that region has studied the impacts of the water management strategy on its economic, agricultural and natural resources. 
• will require the TWDB to review this information & decided whether there is a potential for a substantial adverse effect on the region.
• will require regional water planning groups to send a copy of their initially prepared plan (IPP) to other regions that contain a location or site of one of the recommended water management strategies ​​

• establishes a timeline for this review: conflicts will re resolved after Initially repared Planned are submitted to the Eexcutive Administrator in time for the resolution of the conflict to be incorporated into the revised and adopted regional water plans. 

  TWDB issue memo and proposal draft

TYexas Water Development Board authorized $20,275,000 for the following water projects on Tuesday.

• $3,080,000 in financial assistance to the Northwest Harris County Municipal District No. 22 (Harris County) for wastewater improvements
• $17,195,000 in financial assistance to the City of Amarillo (Potter & Randall counties) for a water supply project 

TWDB

This week, a man and his 92 year old mother were arrested for protesting* against fracking in Denton. Both were booked and charged with criminal trespass. 

Four police units repsonded to the protest. The protestors talked about protecting their private property rights and the use and enjoyment of their and other’s property. **

*Protesting involved sitting chained to a gate.

**Both sides harness private property rights as their rallying cry on this issue.

EagleFord Texas  Denton Record 

29% of Arizon’a energy use is accounted for by the energy neede to move water from the Colorado River to Tucson & Phoenix.  

15 t ons of coal per minute to move the water more than 330 miles. 

ProPublica  538

Water is a precious resource. Missoula Montana has recieved court approval to sieze a private water company by eminent domain. 

The private water company now has 30 days to provide Missoula with an appraisal of its valuation.  

The legal fees to get to this point: $3 million.

KAJ18

Washington Times

21 of the 37 largest aquifers worldwide (none of which are in the U.S.) are shrinking beyond sustainability. 

With maps: Washington Post

Since only 1.5 PSI change can trigger an earthquake, scientists want more data on what is happening underground.

This week scientists from SMU and UT Austin asked the Railroad Commission for more earthquake data including:

• Requiring disposal well operators to provide bottom hole measurements
• Requiring disclosure of saltwater disposal volume and pressure data on either a monthly or quarterly basis (its annual reporiting today)

Steve Everley with the industry-funded Energy In Depth responded to the 1.5PSI statement by saying “That’s less than half of what’s required to inflate an NFL football.”

San Antonio Business Journal

“Dublin [Ohio]-based Cardinal Energy Group Inc. (OTCQB: CEGX) is moving this week from Frantz Road to the tallest building in Abilene, Texas, CEO Timothy Crawford said in a statement.”   

Columbus Business First

UPDATE: The key terms for oil contracts will only be revealed on the day of tenders according to Mexico’s Finance Ministry. 

Reuters

​34 companies applied for the July 15th auction to drill in Mexico’s Gulf of Mexico territory. Successful companies include:

• Exxon
• Chevron
• Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp

Output estimates are:

• $62.5 billion in private investments by 2018,
• Increase Mexico’s annual oil output by 500,000 barrels/day

Bloomberg    Houston Business Journal

In an opinion penned by a conservative Bush administration appointee, an appeals court in DC denied states challenge to the EPA CO2 rules. 

McClatchy

Texas businesses and others want a piece of the pie in Mexico’s deregulated energy market. But, how are Texas companies competitive in light of Mexico’s response to Texas spending $800M for border security?

• “The Mexican government says it regrets Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to sign into law an $800 million border security package…”
• “Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department said Wednesday the new law will “promote division between our societies, and runs contrary to the principles and values governing the U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship.” 

AP via Statesman

Litigation is the only means to determine which local regulations are permitted under 2015’s HB 40.

Denton is considering repealing it’s ban on fracking to implement regulations on fracking. Denton’s initial legal bills for the fracking ban are $220,000. KUT

A California Court will decide whether charging residents for water, pumped from groundwater is an unconstitutional tax. 

Great Oaks Water Co. vs.  Santa Clara Valley Water District 

Courthouse News

6 people were arrested in Denton, including “two members of satirical Cabaret troupe The Frackettes .”  

From the protestors lips: ““We won’t allow bakeries in certain neighborhoods, but we’ll allow fracking in all of them,” he said. “The legislature never even touched these issues… They exacerbated the problem that led to the fracking ban. It’s irrationality on a grand scale.”

Both sides claim to be acting for the best interest of private property rights. 

PermianShale.com

A Texan will face 20 years in prison and has been ordered to pay pay $28,127.77 in restitution to Atmos Energy for the damage he caused to the pipeline. 

“Chi detonated a homemade bomb in an attempt to damage a natural gas pipeline that ran through a residential neighborhood on the night of June 17, 2012, and into the early hours of June 18.”

Eagle Ford Shale News

Abilene “completed the installation of GE’s LEAPmbr advanced wastewater treatment system as part of major upgrades to the Hamby Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). Despite heavy rainfall that has eased conditions in recent weeks, civic leaders are continuing their efforts to prepare for water scarcity issues in the future.”

Abilene’s, The Hamby Wastewater and Reuse Project, ” is the first part of a multi-phase drought response initiative aimed at addressing the city’s alarmingly low reservoir levels.” 

Environmental Protection Online

Texas Water Development Board loves water data. They track drought data, groundwater levels and now resevoir data. For this week, reservoirs are 83.5% full.

Water Data for Texas: Texas Water Development Board

The Big Bend Conservation Alliance is uniting a diverse, bipartisan group of landowners, ranchers, and environmentalists. Its a group with deep roots, that kept the nuclear storage out of Hudspeth County in the 1990s. 

A growing group does not like what Trans Pecos Pipeline means for Texas landowners, raanchers, environmentalists, and star gazers.

Hot issue- what impact will the pipeline have on the darkness required for the observatory? 

Marfa Public Radio   DesmogBlog

After a five year investigation, “the  Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said it had found no evidence that the hydraulic fracturing process responsible for unlocking vast stores of oil and gas nationwide has caused “widespread systemic impacts on drinking water.”’

EPA left wiggle room for the potential vulnerabilities and noted recognized instances where fracking  activities have impacted surface and ground water. 

FuelFix  TexasTribune WallStreet Journal

 At the Eagle Ford Consortium’s conference in San Antonio last week, Jeff Soward with Corpus Christi-based Arana Water said “that recycling in some instances is cheaper than the cost of trucking oil-field water to be pumped down a disposal well.”

Fuel Fix

“If Texas and other major oil- and natural gas-producing areas were removed from U.S. production counts, the Lone Star state would rank No. 2 in the world for natural gas production and No. 7 globally for oil, according to the American Petroleum Institute.” 

Midland Reporter Telegram

A former Iowa lawmaker is vowing to make eminent domain reform a crucial campaign issue by vowing to unseat state representatives and senators that do not support eminent domain reform.

The reform measure in Iowa would greatly reduce the use of eminent domain by private entities. 

Labor Unions support the pipeline project that is projected to bring 8,000 of construction jobs. 

Des Moines Register

A proposed transmission line will likely be denied in coming days by the Missouri Public Service Commissioners. Commissioner’s opposition includes:

• It will raise energy prices
• No benefit for Missourians, including no economic benefit

“The line would cross 724 tracts of land in the state, and if the PSC grants it public utility status, it could use eminent domain to acquire easements it can’t buy. Hundreds of rural landowners have taken to social media, committee meetings in the Legislature and PSC hearings to voice their opposition to the project.”  St. Louis Post Dispatch

Chairman Otto: Page 9 of the side-by-side for HB 2 shows that there is $4.7million for earthquake funding. 

Protestors are picketing a fracking site that has resumed operations. Protestors also plan to file suit on the constitutionality of HB 40. 

Denton Record Chronicle

“Growers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta will be given the option of reducing water use by 25% in exchange for an assurance that the state won’t come down harder on them in the near future.” 

Farmers in California have some of the strongest water rights.

Governing

Governor Abbott:

“new level of absurdity by attempting to define ditches and ponds as part of the ‘navigable waters’ under the Clean Water Act​”

TPPF:

““EPA’s final redefinition of the meaning of ‘the waters of the United States’ under the Clean Water Act is not about water or clean water, it is about land—federal regulatory control of privately owned land.”

NFIB   Farmers and Ranchers  Cattle Raisers call the new EPA rule  a land grab.

Numbers don’t lie. Unless you fudge the numbers then numbers lie. In this case, Drilling Info says the numbers show oil leasing volume has remained constant even while rig counts has declined.

Drilling Info relied on this Texas specific information:

Eagleford:
• 86.5% Increase in Primary Term (37 mo. to 69 mo.)
• 16% Decrease in Royalty Interest (25% to 21%)
Permian:
• 17.9% Increase in Primary Term (39 mo. to 46 mo.)
• 13.1% Decrease in Royalty Interest (23% to 20%)

Shale Plays Media

Scientists at Texas A&M are participating in an  “interdisciplinary intersection of energy research and wildlife protection in a federally funded project to design and manufacture ultrasonic, whistle-like pulse generators to help bats and other wildlife steer clear of wind turbines.” 

A fancy way of saying: Whistling wind will wield protective powers over endangered bats. 

600,000 and 900,000 bats meet fate’s door at wind turbines each year.

TexasA&M Science

​34 companies applied for the July 15th auction to drill in Mexico’s Gulf of Mexico territory. Successful companies include:

• Exxon
• Chevron
• Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp

Output estimates are:

• $62.5 billion in private investments by 2018,
• Increase Mexico’s annual oil output by 500,000 barrels/day

Bloomberg    Houston Business Journal

Citing the vote in Denton, Texas as spooking Oklahima legislators, the Oklahoma Legislature passed a bill to curb local ordinances on drilling. It awaits the Governor’s signature.

In an interview with the city attorney for Stillwater, it is revealed that local ordinances date back to the 70s in Oklahoma and do not address fracking.

NPR | State Impact Oklahoma

Breaking Energy is covering the newly unvieled Tesla battery. The highlights, which will impact electric providers, transmission lines, and generators:

• “At the utility level, Tesla’s Powerpack battery could open up avenues for utilities to grow wind and solar energy in their power generation matrices. The Powerpack system comprises 100-kWh battery blocks grouped to scale from 500 kWh to 10 MWh – capable of two-hour or four-hour net discharge power using grid-tied bidirectional inverters.”
• “For homes, the smaller Powerwall battery will have significant impacts on consumers and utilities by operating from behind the meter. Tesla’s Powerwall offerings include a 7-kWh model ($3,000) and a 10-kWh model ($3,500), both of which would make electricity from residential rooftop solar panels available at any time and eliminate the need to sell excess solar energy back into the grid.”

Texas had been challenging some of the EPA water regulations because the proposals included mapping small water ways on private land. And, what do Texans love more their land or the federal government? Tough one.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said this week that these changes were made after revieing public omment:

• EPA maintained and expanded exclusions for farming, ranching and forestry.
•  Leaves out ditches unless they function as tributaries, flowing downstream into other bodies of water.
• No new permitting requirements for agriculture interests.

The House has passed a bill repealing the EPA new water rules. The Senate has yet to act. The Hill 

At an energy conference this month hosted by University of Texas at San Antonio Institute for Economic Development and the U.S. Department of Commerce and similar forums this month and this summer, the following trends have emerged as opportunities for US firms:

• Opportunities for unconventional or shale oil-and-gas production in Mexico
• Develop infrastructure for Mexico’s large reserves and deposits in the North & Northeast portion of the country
• Electricity Generation
• Electricity Distribution
• Telecommunications

Energy.Inchttp://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/blog/eagle-ford-shale-insight/2015/05/utsa-economist-us-firms-can-help-shape-mexico-s.html

In 2013, Property Assessed Clean Energy Program passed the Legislature. It allows local governments to offer eocnomic incentives for clean energy.

The Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council board voted to administer PACE to allow property owners financing flexibility for  renewable energy systems.

A $100 million transmission line for the Valley is in the works. Good timing as energy deregulation of energy open the Mexican market. 

McAllen Monitor

“We will certainly continue to enforce our current regulations to protect the health and safety of our residents, but we do not know how the operators or courts will react,” she said.

City officials will not litigate the new measure as it stands. UPI

Mayor of Denton in the Denton Record:

• HB 40 goes far beyond Denton’s fracturing ban and offers no solution to the multifaceted challenges of urban drilling. 
• It took a city like Denton and its residents to shine the spotlight on the inherent and unique problems associated with urban drilling 

The Texas Water Devleopment Baord has been busy this May.

First, it finalized SWIFT application approval:

• Approved the first-ever project prioritization list for the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT).
• Determined there is the financial capacity to invite all 39 eligible applications. The projects are requesting $1.07 billion in financial assistance the first year and will total more than $4 billion in financial assistance over the next decade. SWIFT Press Release

Second, it awarded  $2,025,000 from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to the City of Honey Grove. TWDB Press Release

• Approved the first-ever project prioritization list for the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT).
• Determined there is the financial capacity to invite all 39 eligible applications. The projects are requesting $1.07 billion in financial assistance the first year and will total more than $4 billion in financial assistance over the next decade.

SWIFT Announcement from TWDB

This week Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced $50 million in funding in 12 states for conservation and reuse projects. 

The states:  Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington.

The eligible projects: studies and projects to stretch water supplies by creating pipelines, eliminating leaky open canals and upgrading existing reclamation and water treatment plants.

Bryan Eagle

Fitch has given a AAA rating to $96 million in general obligation bonds from the Texas Water Development Board. 

Businesswire

WellsFargo is seeking to give $100 Million by 2020 for water technology and drought have been an emerging focus amid its mix of conservation and clean tech grants.  InsidePhilanthropy

HB3298, which is in the Senate, wants the state to consider looking into a statewide water grid. The author, Lyle larson says the goals are:

• Study ways to transfer water throughout the state
• Store water underground to avoid evaporation.
• TWDB should study how to use the network to set up a water-trading system similar to that used in Australia.

El Paso Times

On Thursday, the U.S. Drought Monitor  said Texas is no longer in the exceptoinal drought cateogry. This is the first time since mid- 2012.

Permian Shale News

House Republicans voted this week to block EPA rules clarifying which “streams, tributaries and wetlands should be protected from pollution and development under the Clean Water Act.”

Opposition includes:

• Agriculture, which opposes defining small creeks and waterways 

US News & World Report

• Refuse to file a State Implementation Plan
• Limit a State Implementation Plan eto entities defined by Section 111(d)
• A resolution to tell the Feds Texas disagrees. 
• Do nothing.

TPPF

Hospitals use a lot of water. U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that hospitals use rouhgly 145,000 gallons per year per bed. 

A hospital system in California notes that there is an energy-water nexus. If the hospital switches to solar or another renewable power source, it can offset the need hospitals have for clean water.

Modern Health Care

Conoco Phillips says that water-management improvements led to cost of supply reductions by about $8 a barrel in some areas. How are they doing it?

• using brackish water or effluent instead of fresh water,
• using pipelines and various treatment systems to more efficiently move & clean water
• reusing the vast quantities of water that flow through their operations.​

Wall Street Journal: Frackers Look for Ways to Reduce Their Water Use

• Studies show brackish water has been found in 26 of the 30 aquifers in Texas
• Estimated total is 2.7 billion acre feet
  • which would cover Texas in 15 feet of water

Fort Stockton Pioneer

• 2 dozen accidents related to oil train shipments since 2013
• Rate of growth has increased from 29,605 cars in 2010 to 493,126 in 2014.
• Growth is becoming flat in 2015
• Last Friday the Federal Transportation Comission issued new rules about the transportation of oil by train
• The new rules will require:
  • Stronger tank cars
  • New braking systems
  • Speed restrictions and
  • Improved classification of the flammability of liquids carried aboard the trains.

Governing 

The Court of Apepals in this casew found waer restrictions imposed on orchards to be a taking of property.  A taking of property comes hand in hand with adequate constitution.

The case goes back to the trial court to make a determination on proper compensation to the land owners. Edwards Aquifer Authority  v. Bragg 

The salty conversations and puns are set to begin in Senate Agriculture, Water & Rual Affairs. A bill to fast track desalination as a water source in Texas is moving forward. 

Australia and Isreal have been on the desalination train for decades.  Australia having experienced a millenial drought entered desalination market in 2006 (Bloomberg). Israel produces 20% of its water needs through the world’s largest desalination facility (MIT Technology Review).

HB 2031 Austin Business Journal  Rep. Lucio III Pres Release

In an effort to stop the building of a water pipeline from East Texas to DFW, a wealthy ranch owner, whose property the water pipeline would cross, is funding water board candidates and has taken to the courts on issues.   

This foreshadows the future as Texas moves water resources to population centers.

Ft Worth Star Telegram

This week Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said the US will be in the big leagues as an LNG exporter. The US will reach the same scale as exports as Qatar, the world’s largest LNG exporter. 

US News and World Report

The U.S. Energy Information Agency, based on a new report, named the Eagleville field in the Eagle Ford Shale, the number one oil field in the nation. In 2013 it churned out 238 million barrels  — enough to meet national oil demands for nearly 13 days. Fuel Fix

Irrational logic. Practical consequences as the City of Austin raises water rates while water usage decreases. Water rates increased 13% this year.

Daily Texan

Influence of Texas in Mexico:

• Texas Shale will supply the natural gas for the electric generation that powers Mexico’s industry. 
• The US exports 29% of its oil and gas exports to Mexico
• A March economic report shows that free trade on oil from the US will lead to:
  • 124,000 new jobs
  • Boost GDP by $26 Billion from 2016 to 2030

Institutional Investor

UT Energy Poll Results:

• 58% say yes cities should be able to ban fracking like Denton did
• 25% say no

“Texas Oil and Gas Association released a poll touting a finding that 75 percent of Texans agree that the state should be in charge of regulating the oil and gas industry”

Grow almonds in California. That’s more than all the indoor residential water use in California. 

San Jose Mercury News  Governing 

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has narrowed the defintion of public purpose in its ruling in Reading Area Water Authority v. Schuylkill River Greenway Association, 100 A.3d 572 (Pa. 2014).

After the 2005 Kelo ruling, PA enacted private property reforms, like many other states. Since those 2006 laws, the courts have been busy interpretting the laws. Because laws are never perfect.

So what happened in Reading to deny eminent domain?

• A local government exercised eminent domain to obtain an easement
• The easement would allow a private developer to install sewer and waste water.
• The developer & the local govermment intended to partner  to build a public walking/recreational trail
• The green space was to be on land adjacent to a 58-acre tract of land where the private developer proposed to construct a 219-unit residential development
• The residential development needed sewer and wasewater, because condos without toilets and running water don’t sell

Legal Intelligencer

Governor Jeyy Brown proposed raising the $500 fine for water wasters to up to $10,000. The proposal will also:

• Empower local governments to collect fines
• Republicans seek to include:
  • Expedited reservoir building
  • Expedited approval of recycled water facilities 
  • Streamline water storage projects

LA Times   Sacramento Bee