The Houston Chronicle said this week there have been no filings to the state for horizontal drilling permits in more than a month in the Barnett Shale in north Texas, the so-called “birthplace of the shale revolution.” The Chronicle said May 13 that Fort Worth-based TEP Barnett USA was the last company to seek a horizontal drilling permit in the Barnett Shale from the Railroad Commission of Texas April 9 to develop three horizontal wells in Arlington.