Injection Wells, NM Legislative Matters, and More Railroad Commissioner David Porter attended a town hall meeting in Azle, Texas, January 2nd, to listen to residents’ concerns regarding earthquakes in Parker County. Late last year, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) announced that it was sending seismic equipment and staff to Parker County to try to determine […]
From the President: Positive Developments
This year’s PBPA annual meeting was a tremendous success, by all accounts. I want to thank all of you for attending and give a special thanks to our sponsors and speakers. As we heard from both our elected officials and our CEO panelists, the Permian Basin is the place to be economically and should remain […]
From the President: Getting There
Legislative sessions have their way of creating their own realities. “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.” —Yogi Berra When we began the Legislative session, re-authorizing the Railroad Commission, funding our water and transportation infrastructure needs and improving the state’s response to […]
Sessions Nearing Their End
In New Mexico and Texas, the stakes have been high, the bills have held surprises, and the full results are near but still unknown. By now, the New Mexico session is all over but the shoutin’. There was quite a bit of oil and gas activity there and I would like to give you a […]
From the President
November marks the emergence of two issues requiring close scrutiny: Rule 13 and the Lesser Prairie Chicken Late last month, several PBPA board members and I traveled to Austin to testify on the Railroad Commission’s proposed changes to Rule 13, which addresses new casing, cementing and completion requirements. The Rule has not been updated […]
From the President
Here we go again. By now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will have proposed listing the Lesser Prairie Chicken as either Threatened or Endangered. This is another result of the legal settlement between the USFW and the Centers for Biological Diversity and the WildEarth Guardians, which brought us the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard listing proposal. […]
From the Association President
Questions of whether certain information must be shared or not are at the forefront of much debate within the industry. The Texas House Energy and Natural Resources Committees both met in late June to discuss Interim charges. These Interim hearings will guide the development of legislation we will see in the 2013 legislative session. A […]
From the Association President
The decision against listing the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard as endangered is a victory for clear thinking, responsible scientific study, and regional economic health. And it shows the effectiveness of rallying to a cause. At long last, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has ruled NOT to list the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard as Endangered. This decision […]
From the President: PBPA
March was a busy month for both state and federal issues. I spent the first part of the month in Washington, D.C., as part of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) call-up. The Permian Basin was very well represented this year with six PBPA representatives joining operators from around the country as we called […]