Energy & Water

Private property rights activists and anti-pipeline activists joined forces in Georgia to protest a Kinder Morgan pipeline. There’s video.  Savannah Now

Where does everyone stand in this fund raising?

• “Our Water, Our Future, supports incumbents Marty Leonard and Jim Lane and has raised the largest pot of most money so far. The PAC, with former Mayor Mike Moncrief as treasurer reported contributions of $447,633.”

  • Betsy Price Campaign, $4,500;

  • attorney Dee J. Kelly, $10,000;

  • businessman John B. Kleinheinz, $25,000;

  • Dallas auto dealership owner Carl Sewell, $25,000;

  • Dallas-based liquor distributor Barry Andrews, $10,000;

  • Texas Rangers co-owner and Dallas oil billionaire Ray Davis,

  • $10,000; Dallas oil billionaire Ray Hunt, $25,000;

  • Hunt heiress Lyda Hill, $5,000;

  • Dallas software entrepreneur Milledge Hart III, $5,000;

  • Dallas oil billionare Trevor Rees-Jones, $10,000.

  • Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton of Millsap also contributed $25,000.

  • The Fort Worth Bass family’s Good Government Fund and PSEL PAC each contributed $25,000 to Our Water, Our Future.

• Save North Texas Water political action committee, which was formed to unseat Lane and Leonard, supports the candidacies of Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner. Wealthy Dallas businessman Monty Bennett has been a major contributor to the PAC and candidates through MJB Operating L.P.

Tarrant Regional Water Development Board has raised the ire of private property rights activists and supporters of transperancy in government records, which has led to this incredible fundraising for a water board.

For a longer list of donors to each PAC: Ft. Worth Business Press

The Waltons. Not the TV Waltons, but the Wal-Mart Waltons. Also in the mix is the Pisces Foundation founded by Bob Fisher founded by a Gap clothing heir. 

Inside Philanthropy

Hola. Bienvenidos a Burgos Basin… Burgos Basin is:

• Home to a binational Burgos Basin energy consortium that is being blessed by U.S. and Mexican officials.
• PEMEX is investing $985 million in the Burgos Basin for  infrastructure and well development.
• Has rising oil output and may be one the largest shales in the world.

Rio Grande Guardian Bloomberg on Pemex Investment  Black & Veatch

The exact conclusion of the scientists: “high volumes of wastewater injection combined with saltwater (brine) extraction from natural gas wells is the most likely cause of earthquakes occurring near Azle, Texas, from late 2013 through spring 2014.” Scientists like details.

Multiple scientists from multiple organizations participated in this publication, including scientists from:

• SMU’s Department of Earth Sciences in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences
• the U.S. Geological Survey
• the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics and
• the University of Texas Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering. 

That’s a lot of very big brains that made very big news.

The Report’s Release     Ft. Worth Star Telegram     Dallas Morning News     Houston Chronicle  Wall Street Journal

Job growth in wind and solar energy has offset losses in the downturn in coal. A Dallas, TX company, Tri-Global Energy, a provider of wind energy in Texas, is front and center as it expands its wind and solar job growth.

Texas rules wind energy. California rules solar energy. The coal slump is felt most intensely in Appalachia. 

Fearing the end of tax breaks, renewable energy is expanding rapidly. 18.5 gigawatts of renewable energy is anticipated by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.  

McClatchy Washington Bureau 

A California Appeals Court this week declared a tiered water fee structure unconstitutional. San Juan Captistrano charged people who used less water a lower rate than people who used more water. 

The California Constitution prohibits government agencies from charging more for a service than it costs to provide it.

The ruling may impact 2/3 of California’s water providers and will impact Governor Brown’s water use restriction declaration. Governor Brown called the ruling “a straight jacket.”

LA Times  Sacramento Bee

Eau de what? Yes, there is a niche market to improve the smell around fracking sites. A Texas company is trademarking its orange scented fracking. Wall Street Journal 

In an April 15th oil update to the Rio Grande Guardian, Economist Ray Perryman concludes with:

• “prices will begin to trend upward later this year”
• “declining shale production also has a somewhat corrective price effect”
• “prices are below the sustainable long-term equilibrium level, and such situations rarely persist for extended periods of time”

Recent years of peak oil and gas exploration in the U.S. and Canada + the de-regulation of Mexico’s energy market = North America Energy Renaissance.   In sum, this creates greater energy security for all of North America. 

San Antonio Business Journal

Houston Business Journal 

A California Appellate Court is soon to rule on whether tiered water rate structures are constitutional.

A case from San Juan Capistrano residents is calling into question the drought measures put in place by Governor Brown by challenging tiered water rates. The residents rely on a California state law that prohibits water agencies from charging more for water than the cost of producing and delivering it. Couple that argument with a 1996 law that prohibits price gouging by local governments, and water rate structures are being challenged. 

This case may impact as many as 2/3 of the water rates in California into chaos. 

LA Times

Last week Congressman Lamar Smith held “Reining in the EPA: A Regulation Roundtable” one of the invitees was Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.

When conversation moved to a “secret” EPA map of U.S. waterways, Commissioner Miller indicated that the EPA released personal information about  farms and ranches. The information was released to “environmental extremist groups.”  It is reported that Homeland Security department called the release of the farm and ranch water maps is “a bioterrorist threat.” 

Hill Country Community Journal

SB 931 by Senator Fraser passed the Senate this week and will wind down wind incentives. Fraser says the wind industry is established and doesn’t require the incentives.

Texas wind energy production looks like this:

• Texas produces 14,000 megawatts of  wind energy
• The US as a whole produces 65,000 megawatts of wind power
• Texas has 7,500 megawatts of wind power under construction
• Wind energy construction contributes  $3.64 billion to the Texas economy
• Wind generation contributes $500,000 million annually

Dallas Morning News Opinion 

The Texas A&M Transportation Institute is hosting public meetings as it studies the challenges that have arisen in Texas due to the oil and gas boom. Workshops will occur in Midland, Arlington and San Antonio. 

For Details or to Attend, Check out TTI.

Senator Birdwell’s SB 523 passed the Senate on Thursday. His goals are two fold:

• Sunset review will lead to the maximum benefit being derived from our precious natural resource,water; and
• The need for consistent and uniform system of managing state water, greater transparency, and increased accountability.

Empower Texas has 2 complaints about SB 523:

• Pushing back the date of Sunset Review to 2023 for Sulpher River Basin Authority, which is responsible for the Marvin Nichols Reservoir
• Brazos River Authority original 2017 Sunset Date is pushed to 2023. 

It’s a tie. 40% of Americans support fracking and 40% oppose fracking. Younger Americans tend to oppose fracking in higher numbers.

EagleFordTexas.com

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission directed a Texas Pipeline Company to relocate a proposed Ohio pipeline to less populated areas. 

The impacted ocal governments referred to the initial route as “hastily drawn and ill-conceived with no respect to the human and environmental concerns,” Harsh words. 

AP via Marecellus.Com 

Earlier this year, California Governor Jerry Brown implemented new water use restrictions in response to the continuing drought conditions. The restrictions will impact inventories at manufacturers and retailers. 

The agency repsonsible for implmenting rules, the California Energy Commission, suggests there will be no penalties for commercial property owners that sell property with non compliant toilets and sinks. 

Sacramento Business Journal

A scientist for the Earthquake Science Center in Menlo Park, CA stated that if he live din Oklahoma, he would be very worried about the earthquakes which are caused by humans. During the last five years of quakes, the number of quakes continue to increase in Oklahoma. 

This New York Times article quotes a Republican Oklahoma State Representative as saying of a  dangerous quake, it  will be “a cloud will hang over the energy sector for a long time to come.”

According to the EPA, Texas oil and gas producers used 45 Billion gallons of water from 2011 to 2013. Leading the nation in the amount of water used and the amount of oil and gas produced.

Natural Gas Intel

Update to Farm Bureau Wins:

The state’s regulatory authority to manage water during times of drought was severly curtailed by the Corpus Christi Appeals Court last week. The Court of Appeals ruled that TCEQ overstepped its regulatory authority by carving out exceptions to its drought plan on the Lower Brazos River. 

Water attorneys look to this ruling as a basis to move toward a market based regulation of water in Texas. KETR

Previously on Information Intelligence:

This week the Court of Appeals in Corpus Christi held that TCEQ overstepped its authority by picking and choosing wins and losers when it honored a superior surface water right holder’s priority call on the water.

When TCEQ honored the priority call it did so and said, but this doesn’t apply to municipal water supplies nor to electric companies. The Farm Bureau sued because Water Code doesn’t allow a sub prioritization like this among junior watger rights holders.  

TCEQ v. Farm Bureau   Agrilife Agricultural Law Blog

The Wyoming legislature passed a bill to cloud seed 4 mountain ranges at a cost of $1.4 Million. The cloud seeding will increase the snow pack in the mountain ranges, which serves as a major source of water for Wyoming. 

Cloud seeding was studied for 10 years to ensure it could benefit Wyoming’s water supply.

AP

This week the Court of Appeals in Corpus Christi held that TCEQ overstepped its authority by picking and choosing wins and losers when it honored a superior surface water right holder’s priority call on the water.

When TCEQ honored the priority call it did so and said, but this doesn’t apply to municipal water supplies nor to electric companies. The Farm Bureau sued because Water Code doesn’t allow a sub prioritization like this among junior watger rights holders.  

TCEQ v. Farm Bureau   Agrilife Agricultural Law Blog

Mexico’s de-regulated market is moving rapidly. PEMEX is using US investment companies,  BlackRock and First Reserve, to begin construction on the second pipeline. 

Why the push to import more natural gas into Mexico? Mexico doesn’t produce enough to meet its needs. Mexico’s goal is to produce enough natural gas within 5-10 years.

San Antonio Business Journal

The 14th Court of Appeals sided with the Appraisal District to restore the value of a Valero refinery.

A jury had shaved off $190 Million from Valero’s appraised value, siding with Valero’s comparable value comparisions. 

The 14th Court of Appeals opinion states, “…the evidence is legally insufficient to support the jury’s equal and uniform valuation of Valero’s refinery,”

It’s a short term win for the appraisal district because the 14th Court of Appeals ordered a new trial. The issue of commerical appraisals will rage on at the Lege.  Southeast Record

Today General Paxton announced Attorney General Opinion KP-011 settling “Whether a public school district may expend funds for the management of county school lands to determine if a lessee of a mineral estate is fulfilling its duty to explore and develop the mineral estate?”

The answer: 

• No, a school district cannot pay for this. A County has to pay to fulfill its obligation as trustee over the school lands.
• Also, the county can’t get clever, sell the trustee lands, with potential miineral rights, to the school disrrict for $1. Trustees over school lands have fiduciary duties, a $1 sale doesn’t meet those duties. 

Because California needs larger regulatory code books, California Governor Jerry Brown has required mandatory water restrictions.  

California has experienced drought, but this year’s lack of snow pack in the Sierra’s has greatly diminished California’s hope for recovering from the drought.   For the first time since 1942 a Governor attented the measuring of Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Snow Pack. 

The Water Restrictions via L.A. Times:

•  Reduce water usage by 25%

• Require golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscaped spaces to reduce water consumption. 

• Replace 50 million square feet of lawn statewide with drought-tolerant landscaping as part of a partnership with local governments.

• Create a statewide rebate program to replace old appliances with more water- and energy-efficient ones.

• Require new homes to have water-efficient drip irrigation if developers want to use potable water for landscaping.

• -Ban the watering of ornamental grass on public street medians.

• Call on water agencies to implement new pricing models that discourage excessive water use.

• Require agricultural to report more water usage information to the state so that regulators can better find waste and improper activities.

• Create a mechanism to enforce requirements that water districts report usage numbers to the state.

WallStreet Journal Courthouse News Service

The New York state fracking ban has caused joblessness in rural western New York. Across the stateline in Pennsylvania, which permits fracking, jobs are plentiful. 

The townships of Windsor and Conklin are considering seccession as populations dwindle. 

LA Times Governing 

The big issues flagged by TPPF:

• “The Clean Power Plan is unconstitutionally coercive of the states”
• “The Plan targets Texas in an unprecedented way”
• “EPA has failed to demonstrate that the plan would have any health or environmental benefits”
• “Complying with EPA’s dictates will prove economically ruinous”

National Affairs  TPPF Statement

Refreshing our recollection: A federal Court of Appeals will hear a case about these rules in April. The EPA is scheduled to adopt the rules in the Summer of 2015.

SB 1165, Senator Fraser’s companion to Chairman Darby’s HB 40 ,has passed out of Senate Committee and is headed toward floor debate.

The bills are in repsonse to the legal drama playing over the City of Denton’s ban on fracking in November. The supporters are comprised mostly of industry representatives. The opposition is  largely grassroots and cities.  

The concern of the opposition focuses on the phrase of “commercial reasonableness.” Both bills use this standard as what will contstitute a permissible municipal ordinances if these bills should be enacted.

Ft. Worth Star Telegram  Dallas Morning News Austin Business Journal

The new federal rules apply only to fracking on federal lands. The new rules do NOT apply to fracking on private land.

Goals of new rules: protect drinking water & enhance transparency

What do the new rules require?

• Drilling wells must be encased in cement through vulnerable areas 
• Pressure tests, called mechanical integrity tests, will be required 
• Geological analysis of a well site will be required before fracking takes place
• The temporary use of open waste pits will be prohibited except in rare circumstances.

Scientific American

EPA Litigation Round Up:

• 2012 EPA rules curbing emmissions will be before the US Supreme Court this Wednesday. 
  • At issue:
    • whether the EPA acted properly by considering only public-health risks
    • and not considering industry compliance costs
    • when the agency decided whether to require coal and oil-fired plants to cut most emissions of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants.
• April brings US Court of Appeals hearing on the new coal power rules, which have yet to be finalized

WallStreet Journal

Late last week the Obama Administration released rules on fracking. Shortly thereafter, the Independent Petroleum Association of America sued to stop the implementation of the rules.

Houston Business Journal

Solar Energy Industries Association ranks Texas solar capacity 10th.

• Texas capacity is 330 megawatts, up from 129 megawatts in 2014.
• In 2015, Texas is expected to add 260 megawatts of solar capacity. 
• In 2014 solar was less than .3% of power generation in ERCOT

Texas leads the nation in wind capacity. 

• In 2014, wind was 10.6% of power generation in ERCOT

FuelFix

Kathleen Baireuther is the new leader of the Austin Technology Incubator’s energy division. 

Austin Business Journal

Utah is making its move to take over a water utility that serves the polygamous sect led by Warren Jeffs. How is Utah taking over the utlity?

• The people managing the utility are accused of embezzling $1.7million to fund personal expenses and Jeff’s following.
• Utah is asking a court to dissolve the utility and appoint new managers 
• The utility denies that $1.7 million was improperly allocated

Bryan Eagle

Refreshing recollection: Water utlities in California and Montana are being seized by eminent domain through local governments in hopes of lowering utility costs for residents.

Rep. Murr filed HB 2892 will give “property owners a seat at the table along with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the General Land Office and other state agencies when it comes to determining if a watercourse is considered “navigable.”‘

 Navigable waterway belongs to Texas. Non-navigable waterway is private property.

Rep. Murr quotes:

• “Growing up and living on a ranch, I know first-hand how important this issue is to a lot of ranchers, farmers and landowners,”
• “…a state agency can determine navigability without any input from the people who know the land the best — the landowners themselves.”
• “This bill will give notice to any potentially affected property owners and provide them a hearing in which they can participate before any finding is made that a portion of their property constitutes a ‘navigable stream.'”
• “Every landowner should receive notice when the state is considering making a designation that could affect his or her property, and have an opportunity to raise issue with that finding,” Murr noted.

Rep. Murr Press Release

Founded in 2012, the Eagle Ford Shale Legislative Caucus is led by Senator Zaffirini andf ormer Caldwell County commissioner, current State Representative John Cryier,  R-Lockhart.

Cryier represents Karnes County, the largest oil-producing county in the state.

Houston Business Journal

Senator Uresti’s SB 1788 would allow counties, producing oil and gas revenue, would be allowed to keep the royalty payments generated from the minerals under county property and dedicate that money to road funding.

This bill would override a 1960 Attorney General Opinion,  WW-870, by Attorney General Will Wilson.

Texas Lawyer

“You cannot have rational economic development at the state level if every home-rule city can adopt an ordinance through referendum or initiative that trumps the state law,” said Steven Minick of the business association.

Dallas Morning News

Governor Jerry Broan is proposing another $1 Billion for drought relief. IN 2014 California drought relief included:

• $687.4 to fund communities experiencing acute water shortages and food and housing assistance 
• $7.5 Billion bond package for water approved by the voters

LA Times Sacramento Bee

Falconhead golf course, located in suburban sprawl outside of Austin, allegedly owes its water district $778,000. Legal action ensued, as did a threat of siezing the golf course’s property, in the form of its irrigation system.

 Here’s what happened:

• The golf course and the Travis County Public Utility Agency (TCPUA) disagree as to how the golf course should use its irrigation system.
• TCPUA says the golf course owes it $778K
• TCPUA filed legal action asking for any proceeds from the sale of the golf course stay in Texas
  • A judge denied this request by TCPUA
• TCPUA wants to sieze the irrigation system and force the golf course to use its irrigation system under the terms it says apply to the course

Statesman

Georgetown has committed to using 100% solar and wind power.  The renewable energy plan includes:

• signing a deal with solar developer SunEdison for 150 megawatts of solar power beginning in 2016
• a signed wind energy deal with wind developer EDF

The cost for residents of Georgetown?

• 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity is $114/ month.
• $5 less than the average Texas customer pays

Dallas Morning News

In Arizona a solar panel company is suing a rate setting energy district for raising the energy rates for property with newly installed solar panels.    

Solar Panel Company claims:

• Antri trust claims that the rate setting energy district is eliminating potential competition

The Rate Setting Energy District claims:

• solar customers were paying  less for electricity on an annual basis
• But, solar wasn’t reducing peak demands  
• Non-solar customers were subsidizing the distributed solar customers.
• Therefore, rates were adjusted for solar customers

SolarCity Corporation v. Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District, CV15-0374-PHX-DLR.

National Law Review

California Assembly Bill 1448 defines clothing lines as a form of solar energy.  Sacramento Bee

Senator Lucio has filed SB 1389 to assist the Texas oil and gas industry as it manuevers across the border.

New oil and gas business is anticpated to surge after Mexico’s push toward de-regulation.

On February 27, 2015, 20 Texans, owning406 square miles of the Panhandle, sued the state for trying to force them to join a water conservation district.  What are the landowner’s arguments:

• The property interests the landowners purchased were unmanaged water rights
• The state’s actions are “socialism” at its finest

How did we get to the point of suing the state?

•  ” In January 2013, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) mailed notices to government bodies and public water districts that it would recommend putting the 406 square miles at issue into the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1.”
• “TCEQ acknowledged and made a judicial admission at the preliminary hearing that it had no jurisdiction over private groundwater rights of the Aligned Parties.”
• SOAH assumed jurisdiction and recommended that the land be incorporated into High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1. 
• TCEQ adopted SOAH Decision 12/12/14.
• 2/5/15 Rehearing Denied.
• 2/27/15 Landowners file suit in Travis County.

Courthouse News Service

HB 40 by Darby not only has a fancy bill number but addresses an interesting constitutional law question on the preemption of state law over local law.

In non-legal but SAT terms, State law is to local law like federal law is to state law. 

HB 40 will:

• Clarify that state law trumps local law on regulation of oil and gas EXCEPT:
• local laws may enact, amend or enforce inceidental surface activity IF:
• what the locals can  do is:
  • commercially reasonable
  • does not effectively prohibit oil and gas operation
  • and isn’t otherwise preempted
• what the locals can’t do, because they’d be bad kiddos:
  • ban, regulate or otherwise limit oil and gas operations

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper created the Oil & Gas Task Force to address initiatives that were on the November 2014 ballot in Colorado. If passed, the initiatives would have shut down oil and gas production in Colorado.

The goal of the Task Force is “how to most reasonably and effectively balance land use issues in a way that minimizes conflicts while protecting communities and allowing reasonable access to private mineral rights.”

The Task Force Offers the following recommendations:

• Recommend Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) rulemaking to address Local Government collaboration with Operators concerning locations for “Large Scale Oil and Gas Facilities” in “Urban Mitigation Areas,” as defined in COGCC rules.
• Require operator registration with certain Local Government Designees (“LGD”), and upon the request of a municipal LGD, submission of operational information for the purpose of incorporating potential oil and gas development into local comprehensive plans.
• The COGCC should work to ensure that the Local Government Designee (LGD) and Local Government Liaison (LGL) functions are fully utilized and that they are adequately and properly resourced.  
• The Legislature should authorize COGCC to hire 12 additional full time employees (FTEs) to increase the current number of staff responsible to inspect oil and gas wells, conduct environmental investigations and response actions, conduct intake of and track citizen complaints, process permit applications, and perform data analysis to support data and information requests from the legislature, media, public, industry, and other stakeholders.
• Staff and establish a health complaint and information line. 
• Support for a mobile air quality monitoring unit and associated staffing.
• Conduct a human health risk assessment.
• Establish a clearinghouse to communicate information regarding Colorado’s oil and gas industry. Facilitate the distribution of accurate, unbiased information to foster an improved understanding of oil and gas industry activities, practices and the federal, state and local regulatory regime, including information on opportunities for local government and general public participation in regulatory decision making processes. 
•  Convene a working group to investigate as fully as possible any and all steps that can and should be taken by government and industry to reduce the use of large trucks and trailers in oil and gas activities. 
• The General Assembly should approve SB15-100, the 2015 Rule Review Bill, endorsing all new air quality rules not otherwise legally invalid. 
• COGCC should implement and emphasize a compliance assistance program to help operators comply with complicated and ever-changing operating rules and policies, and to assure that inspectors are enforcing those rules and policies in a consistent manner. 

The Executive Order Creating the Task Force

Task Force Report

National Law Review article 

Representative Tony Dale has been elected chair of the House Energy Caucus for the 84th Legislature. 

Tony Dale Press Release

On Monday, the US Supreme Court ordered Nebraska to pay Kansas for using more than its 49% contractual share of water from the Republican River. 

Nebraksa attempted to argue that its use of more water was not knowingly, but the Supreme Court wasn’t buying it.  Courthouse News

Are we on a path to courts simply looking at whether water use exceeds the contracted amount? Maybe, which could bode well for Texas in its water fight with New Mexico. 

A water project that will pull 5 million gallons from unregulated groundwater near Wimerbley is quickly gaining attention.    AP in Laredo    Dallas Morning News   AP in Baytown   Community Impact Papers   Austin Business Journal  

Rep. Jason Isaac has filed legislation to address the issue. His bill would require a permit from the TX Water Development Board if you seek to draw water from an area, not within a groundwater conservation district, but within 5 miles of a border of a district.  HB1191

Some Republicans in Iowa are openly speaking out about their  opposition to Rick Perry due to his appointment to the board of Energy Transfer Partners.

Eminent domain and pipelines are front and center issues for Republicans in Iowa.  DesMoinesBlog

TPPF has issued a new report on fracking, here’s what they want you to know:

• There is no link between fracking & earth quakes.
  • Earth quakes are up globally, including in many areas where there is no fracking
• There is no link between fracking & groundwater contamination
  • US Department of Energy confirms there is no contamination link
• Emissions from fracking have decreased over the last 10 years
  • TCEQ in 2012 released data showing that noxious gas emissions from mobile sources is 15 times greater than fracking 
• Fracking bans cost cities 100s of Millions in lost tax revenue and gross product
  • A Ft. Worth Chamber of Commerce Perryman report shows Denton will lose:
    • $251.4 million in economic activity
    • 2,077 person-years of employment
    • $5.1 million in local tax revenue
    • $4.6 million in tax revenue for its schools 
• Local Control is not a governing principle
  • Cities are subject to the supremacy of the state, just as the state is subject to the supremacy of the federal government

Local control is not a governing principle? TPPF recognizes that cities do have some tools in tool belt, including:

• zoning authority
• Restrict when and where drilling activities can happen   

TPPF  

In 1932 Hermosa Beach banned oil drilling. The ban was lifted in the 1990s for a single project, which was later scrapped.

This week an election was held to overturn the oil drilling ban. Even though drilling would have provided millions in revenue for the city, voters approved continuing the ban on oil drilling. LA Times

The Department of Energy recommended the following data security priorities for the U.S. Energy Sector:

Houston Business Journal top 5 energy stories of the week include increasing momentum for  private investment in Mexico’s newly de-regulated energy market.
Houston Business Journal 

Iowa is polling on everything from potential Presidential candidates to private companies using eminent domain. Private companies using eminent domain is as popular in Iowa as it is in Texas.

• 57% favor pipelines
• A majority favor building wind transmission lines and pipelines

Iowans like energy projects, but they strongly dislike these same companies using eminent domain. 

• 74% oppose eminent domain by pipelines and transmission line companies
• 7% are not certain
• 19% support eminent domain for pipelines ans transmission lines

LBB recommendations in the Management and Performance Review of  the Brazos River Authority:

Projects receiving finance approval on 2/25/15 include:

• $500,000 in financial assistance to the Baylor Water Supply Corporation (Baylor, Knox, Archer, Throckmorton and Young counties) for a water supply project 
• $5,000,000 in financial assistance to the Central Texas Water Supply Corporation (Bell, Burnet, Coryell, Falls, Lampasas, Milam and Williamson counties) for a water supply project 
• $179,000 in financial assistance to the City of Malone (Hill County) for water meter replacements 
• $4,617,955 in financial assistance to the City of San Marcos (Hays, Caldwell, Guadalupe and Comal counties) for wastewater system improvements 
• $2,460,000 in financial assistance to the Harris County Municipal Utility District No. 50 (Harris County) for wastewater system improvements and a new wastewater treatment plant 
• $1,050,000 in financial assistance to the City of Reklaw (Cherokee and Rusk counties) for water system improvements

TWDB

Testimony before a California Senate Panel called the the state’s drought a threat to public health for 4 reasons:

• Rising food costs
• Increased respiratory disease
• Loss of drinking water
• During extreme weather health care and preventative health care services are disrupted, especially disrputive for low income individuals seeking health care   

Courthouse News Service

A legal analysis of the recent 9th Court of Appeals opinion in Denbury raises an interesting point that establishing common carrier status is not enough.

A common carrier might meet all its standards and establish a public use, but a jury could still deny its use of eminent domain in a particular case, if the jury does not find the facts of the case establish a “substantial public interest.”

Attorneys anticipate continued litigation over eminent domain and common carrier status.

Lexology 

On Wednesday a Travis County court heard arguments concerning whether to move the “ban the fracking ban” case to Denton.

An attorney for the state said he hopes the Legislature solves the issue first.

Refreshing Recollection, here’s what’s happened so far:

• November 2014 Denton voters approve a fracking ban
• Immediately thereafter, TXOGA files suit in Denton County to block the fracking ban
• Immediately after voters approved the ban, the General Land Office filed suit in Travis County to block the fracking ban
• Its up in the air if the two cases will be consolidated.
• The fracking ban is currently in effect

Denton Record Chronicle

A vocal group at a transmission line public meeting echoed the refrain- no eminent domain for private gain. It rhymes which makes it good for protest marches.

A Houston Company is the target of this group of landowners. The company, Clean Line Energy Partners, is seeking the federal government’s buy-in to a wind energy project in Oklahoma & Arkansas. If the federal government gets involved, then the company gets eminent domain authority. 

200 landowners showed up to a meeting. They were lock step in opinion. The highlights:

• “This project is about one thing, and that’s greed,” she said. “They don’t see our green trees, our land, our lives that are so important to us. They see a different kind of green, and that’s money.”
• Transmission lines would make their property useless and worthless
• Multiple local governments have voted in opposition to federal government involvement and in opposition to eminent domain

Project Supporters Say:

• The project will be a half-billion-dollar investment
• It will generate jobs
• It will provide 500 megawatts of low-cost, clean energy to Arkansas electric customers.
• Arkansas Wildlife Federation supports “the project as an opportunity to lower the state’s dependence on nonrenewable coal and other fossil fuels.”

Arkansas Online

Update to Regulating Groundwater, Texas Style:

• Texas A&M Agrilife Law Blog writes about the tensions running high in this fight
• Texas Tribune: Hays County Water Fight Portends Battles to Come

Refreshing Recollection from Information Intelligence:

In 2014, California for the first time began regulating the pumping of groundwater.  Sacramento Bee

With the 2015 Texas Legislature comes Texas foray into regulating groundwater. HB1191 would establish a process by which commercial entities could pump groundwater in buffer zones. TWDB would have regulatory authority over the process.

Legislators wants to pull back solar subsidies in Washington State. Solar leasing companies say pulling back subsidies does not help grow the solar industry. 

Washington Legislators say by pulling back state subsidies, the solar industry will then be able to access other subsidies which are currently not avialable.  Seattle Times

San Antonio is setting itself apart with solar energy. Here’s how San Antonio, via CPS Energy, embraced solar:

• Solar is on 2,500 roofs based on a COS Energy Program that offers rebates for homeowners
• A solar farm in the works that will power the equivalent of 70,000 homes.
  •  CPS Energy negotiated deals with solar power companies, like OCI Solar Power, the developer of the 400 megawatt solar farm.
    • It is the largest economic development agreement between a municipal utility and a private company in the U.S.,
    • Will create 800 permanent jobs by 2016.
•  A new pilot program from CPS Energy will make rooftop solar available to more San Antonio residents, including low-income households 
  • CPS Energy will buy the solar power output, and the solar developer will pay the customers for the use of their roofs.
• CPS Energy’s goal is to get solar energy in San Antonio to an output level equal to a power plant

USA Today

Munroe Falls, OH passed a fracking ban. The company that wanted to produce oil and gas sued.

Last week, the OH Supreme Court found that state oil and gas permitting requirements trump local ordinances based on specific provisions in the OH constitution. It’s a nuanced rational from Justice Judith L French:

• Local ordinances “prohibit – even criminalize – the act of drilling for oil and natural gas without a municipal permit”
• And because of the criminalization
• “… the ordinances represent an exercise of police power rather than local self-government.”
• The police power is specially mentioned in the home rule city amendment in the OH Constitution and states local ordinances “must yield to a state statute.”

The case has multiple opinions, but Justice French’s controls. Courthouse News  National Law Review

Similar cases are moving in Texas courts on the Denton fracking ban. Information Intelligence

In addition, multiple bills have been filed to ban local bans. Information Intelligence

The new State Interactive Water Plan Map can be adjusted by:

• Year
• Regional Water Demand
• Regional Existing Water Supplies
• Regional Water Needs
• Regional Recommended Water Strategies

In addition to mapping the above, the map settings (above) will generate interactive industry and water use data. The map will generate data about:

• Generates a tree map of water by region
• Generates a tree map & hard data by Water Use Categories:
  • irrigation
  • municipal
  • manufacturing
  • steam electric 
  • livestock 
  • mining

State Interactive Water Plan Map

Background: US Fish and Wildlife Department (USFWD) partners with Texas to protect the dunes sagebrush lizard. Conservationists not pleased as punch.

A person in the USFWD objected to allowing Texas to enter into voluntary pacts to conserve the lizard. The USFWD person gets relieved of their duties & relocated to Siberia by way of New Mexico. 

Issues: Declare the lizard an endangered species, would oil and gas industry weather away in the Permian Basin?  Is the USFWD person a whistleblower enttiled to legal protections?

Lawsuit #1, the Whistle Blower: Settles. 

Lawsuit #2, the little lizard: The whistleblower becomes a consultant. A group sues to protect the little lizard. They lose at district court. It’s on appeal.  

Houston Chronicle 

Burton says cities should not be able to infringe on private property rights. Her SB 440 ,prohibiting Denton-like fracking bans, protects private property rights.  SB440  leaves the door open for cities to regulate where, when and how oil and gas production can occur. 

Texas Municipal League Reaction:

• Burton’s SB 440 is a better starting point since city regulation remains on the table.
• Phil King’s HB 539 & HB 540 are “non-starter(s)” as they remove a city’s ability to establish distance regulation on gas wells.

FW Star Telegram

Refreshing Recollection from Information Intelligence:

HB 539 & HB 540: Local Fracking Bans Harm Texas Tax Coffers | Information Intelligence

Bill Filing: Ban Fracking Bans | Information Intelligence

12 North Texas Earthquakes on the Front Page, Impact to Fracking Legislation | Information Intelligence

Fracking Ban Meets Legislature. Bills Filed. Fight Begins, Again. | Information Intelligence

A re-map of fault lines in the Dallas area by SMU scientists, armed with more data, led to 3 new conclusions by the scientists:

•  Fault line is nearer to fracking locations than the previously mapped Texas Stadium location
• Little tie to fracking activities as  the Irving-Dallas fault lines are miles deeper than fracking wells. 
• Numerically, more injections wells have been linked to quakes than fracking 

Dallas Morning News

A notable uptick in the number of oil and gas lease disputes is hitting Texas.

The oil and gas lease disputes have led to policy issues and lawsuits.  The more legal disputes, the more legislative proposals that emerge. Lawsuits lead to legislation.  Law360

If HB 1221 passes, sellers of real property will have to disclose if:

• is located in a groundwater conservation district
• Is located in a subsidence district, or
• is located in other special purpose district with the authority to regulate the withdrawal of groundwater. 

The Lower Brazos Coalition formed in January. It is part of the Task Force of the Economic Development Alliance for Brazoria County. Let’s look at who is involved & what the goal is:

Members of the Coalition include:

• Coalition Chair: Brazoria County Judge Matt Sebesta
• Coalition Vice-Chair: Ivan Langford, general manager of the Gulf Coast Water Authority
• concerned individuals
• organizations
• municipalities
• ranchers and farmers
• environmentalists
• conservationists
• businesses and industries, e.g. Kirby Brown for Ducks Unlimited

What’s the Coalition’s goal?

• Respond to upstream efforts to limit water flowing downstream. 
• Protect down stream interests for the 840 miles of the Brazos River 
  • There are more than 1,100 water rights holders in the Brazos River
  • Downstream petrochemical projects bring thousands of direct jobs

Pearland Journal

SB 440 by Burton is a concise bill that makes it prohibitive for counties and cities to ban fracking.

Let the games begin for local control. 

Water Funding requests totaled $5.5 billion. That’s significantly more than the funding available. But, which parts of the state are asking for financial help for their water projects? 

State Impact mapped the funding requests, which naturally follow population. High population areas, higher water funding needs. 

• 1/3 of the projects were from Greater Harris County area
• 10% from Dallas Ft Worth
• 0 came from the Panhandle, which in recent years has received TWDB funding

See the Map: State Impact

In 2014, California for the first time began regulating the pumping of groundwater.  Sacramento Bee

With the 2015 Texas Legislature comes Texas foray into regulating groundwater. HB1191 would establish a process by which commercial entities could pump groundwater in buffer zones. TWDB would have regulatory authority over the process.

By fall 2015, TWDB will decide which of the 48 applications, totalling more than $5.5 Billion, will be awarded.

More funds were requested than are available in the State Water Plan. 

Statesman

Last Friday, the Texas Supreme Court did not answer the question inquiring landowners want to know:

Does wastewater creeping into your land’s groundwater constitute trespass?

 The Supreme Court was looking at a case by rice farmers. The case raised trespass issues after an energy service company injected wastewater 1½ miles below the surface, which encroached under the rice lands. Texas’ 9th Court of Appeals found that there is a valid cause of action for migration of wastewater.

Texas A&M AgriLaw walks through the 3 elements of trespass: (1) enter (2) land of another (3) without consent. The explanation highlights that with these 3 elements, wastewater groundwater trespass remains an unanswered legal question at the Texas Supreme Court. 

This legal trend is expected to produce the right case soon that will produce a jury finding of trespass, and will afford the Texas Supreme Court the opportunity to rule on underground trespass.

 Environmental Processing Sys., L.C. v. FPL Farming Ltd.   Austin American Statesman Agri Law Blog Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Fuel Fix

Solar is flaring land use and big brother controversies. Here’s the list:

• ​North Richland Hills requires solar users to get a construction permit & survey their neighbors. The cost: $600 for permitting and months to get your neighbors on board.
• Southlake also requires residents to apply for special permits for solar & to get the neighbors on board. 
  • These ordinances both are criticized by property rights activists. 
• ​Homeowner Associations are still standing in the way of solar installations even after legislation to pave the way for solar.
• Florida tea party is pushing a constitutional amendment to allow people to sell their solar power to their neighbors. They want to keep solar off the grid. Information Intelligence

Texas solar business is a fraction of Arizona and California, both of which offer solar incentives.

Dallas Morning News

Hill Country has a series of brand new underground sensors operated by The Texas Soil Observation Network (TxSON), run by the Bureau of Economic Geology at The University of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences.

The underground sensors are connected to NASA’s new Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite, which was launched Jan. 31.

Why are the underground sensors and satellites important?

• We’ll know how much water is in the soil in Texas
• NASA will have more data for better weather forecasting
• TX has ZERO knowledge of soil moisture levels according to  Ron Anderson, chief engineer of water resources with the Lower Colorado River Authority which determines:
  • when reservoirs get filled
  • whether there will be flash floods

PHYS.ORG

Miami-Dade County Commissioners adopted a resolution supporting a fracking ban. At the heart of the concerns over fracking:

• highly permeable limestone geology in Florida
• Florida’s drinking water supply vulnerable to contamination from fracking activities

National Law Review

Rural Pennsylvania is up in arms over a proposed pipeline crossing private lands. Two concerns are the root of the problems:

• The use of eminent domain by a private company
• Local property owner complaints of decreasing property values from oil and gas production and pipelines.

The concerns have led to a County intervening and 20 of 26 townships siding with residents to do what they can to stop the diminishing land values and land use. 

Standard Speaker

60% of the wind capacity now under construction in the U.S. is in Texas.

ERCOT says 10.6%  of its energy came from wind in 2014.

Big stats for wind in Texas.  The industry’s strength is heavily dependent upon the production tax credit it receives.

Breaking Energy

Oklahoma experienced 567 earthquakes above 3.0 in 2014. As a result, politicos took these actions:

• “Gov. Mary Fallin (R) named a coordinating council to study seismic activity.”
• “…Oklahoma Corporation Commission, an elected three-member panel that regulates oil and gas producers, has imposed new restrictions on wells in seismically active areas.”
• The Oklahoma Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case between a property owner who was injured during a 5.6 earthquake and an oil and gas company. 

Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/oklahoma-worries-over-swarm-of-earthquakes-and-connection-to-oil-industry/2015/01/28/eca21234-a71a-11e4-a2b2-776095f393b2_story.html

In a 199 page opinion, a federal judge in New Mexico overturned an oil and gas production ban.

The oil and gas company argued that the ban amounted to an inverse condemnation, but the court did not overturn the ban on those grounds.

The Court relied on 1st amendment, invalidating the ban as it applies to state, but not local, lands.

SWEPI LP v. Mora County

The House Version of the state budget (HB1) funds a $2.5 Million “TexNet Seismic Monitoring Program” at the University of Texas at Austin.

Oklahoma is doing it too. The Sooner State also has experienced seismic activity.

Star Telegram  HB 1

The Comptroller’s annual review of the Texas Economic Development Act is hot off the presses.

What you need to know about energy & the Texas Economic Development Act to be conversant:

• Chapter 313 projects have invested approximately $59.5 billion in Texas through 2013

• 259 active projects (as of May 2014) 
  • 53% are renewable energy 
• $123 billion estimated investment under the 259 agreements
  • 21% are in renewable energy.
  • 3% of the investments are in research and development and electric power generation (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle)
• Jobs breakdown. Total jobs: 5,487 qualifying jobs
  • 10% are in renewable energy.
  • 1% of jobs are in research and development. 
• Gross tax benefit break down. Total benefit:  $5.5 billion
  • 26% for renewable energy projects
  • 2% for research & development
• Renewable energy projects are returning 20% of their tax benefits back to the school districts through supplemental payments

One eminent domain bill is uber-popular: HB 565 by Burkett. The bill revokes eminent domain authority from a private toll company.

Here’s why Burkett says it is important: 

• The problem is a private company overseeing a project with eminent domain authority (hello, pipelines, are you listening?)
• If property is taken for public needs, it should be “fair and transparent”

Dallas Morning News

Refreshing Recollection.   Previously on Information Intelligence.

Increasing the number of commissioners on the PUC from 3 to 5 is the first thing HB 911 does.

It also requires a commissioner appointed from recommendations by the Speaker and a commissioner from Lt. Gov. recommendations. 

The Austin Business Journal reported that water districts will be targeted when the Legislature reigns in property taxes.

How could MUDs or water districts have their taxing authority limited, either by:

• Cutting the rate in half on rollback elections, and/or 
• Imposing appraisal caps.

Austin Business Journal 

$3Billion in new capital is heading to the North American Development Bank in large part due to the deregulation of energy in Mexico. 

The NADB funds these energy projects:

• Water
• Urban Mobility/Transportation
• Solid Waste Management
• Renewable Energy/Energy Efficiency

While it can’t fund oil and gas exploration, it can fund treating water after the fracking process. San Antonio Business Journal 

The hottest of hot topics are: Open government & Open access to government records. There has been ongoing war waging over eminent domain and records at the Tarrant Regional Water Board. Wars breed bill filings.

Van Taylor’s  SB 335 , SB 336 & SB 337 clarifiy access to local governmental records.

This brewing war over eminent domain and transparency has resulted in :

• $235,000 in campaign contributions for  a local water board Information Intelligence
• Texas Tea Party Requests Information Concerning Eminent Domain from a Texas Water District  Information Intelligence 

A Texas Water Resources Institute-led initiative has received a $2.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to address water quantity and water quality concerns in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. 

Real Estate Center at Texas A&M   AgriLife Today

SJR 9 by Van Taylor would move the ball toward legislative approval of rule making.

Sound far fetched? It’s not.  Other states are doing it:

• 59 % of Arkansas Voters approved it this past November. 
• Utah does it. 
• Idaho tried. 50.59% of voters opposed it. 

A quick, non-exhaustive, list of contentious Texas rule making issues:

• The Railroad Commission common carrier rule making, which is a fight over eminent domain.
• Any urban-rural water rule making action.

Lower oil prices is expected to boost construction in downstream oil and gas.

AGC’s Chief Economist says: “In fact, petrochemical producers are probably helped by the drop in oil prices in dollar terms,” says Ken Simonson, AGC’s chief economist. “

The Flaw: Need for more skilled workers. “Texas builders report their main challenge as finding enough professional and craft workers to fill openings.”  

 Houston Public Media

It’s a toss up whether underwriters will increase scrutiny on debt and equity markets in Texas after lower oil prices. The pros & cons of whether it will impact lending:

• Con: Knee Jerk Reaction:
  • “There is a knee-jerk reactions to do that,” said Stuart Wernick, senior vice president of Dallas-based Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC. “I was in Miami last week at a conference, and two guys came up to me telling me, ‘You are in Texas, right? It’s going to be tough.’  “They said they are going to be more stringent in their underwriting.”
• Pro: No Current Impact: 
  • Anne Raymond, managing director of Crow Holdings, said investors will be discerning in their evaluation of the nuances of Texas’ real estate markets.

    “Of course, it is very early to understand the implications of the falling oil prices,” she said. “To date, however, we have experienced no concern from lenders and equity partners for deals in Austin or Dallas.

• Con: All of Texas is the Same:

  • “People lump the whole state together in terms of energy,” said Mark Dotzour, chief economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M Univeristy. “Some underwriters may scrutinize loans in Texas more.

    “There are a lot of people who only read the headlines, and if they do, they will think Texas is in trouble.”

Dallas Morning News

It’s HB 30 for Representative Larson’s bill to develop bracking groundwater. He wants development of brackish water to be considered by:

• Regional Water Planning Groups
• TWDB 
• And, he creates a permit structure for brackish groundwater production zones