“Over the next few years, the biggest challenge is maintaining resource adequacy for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”) electric market. Our state has not seen reserve margins this slim in many years. However, I am convinced the ERCOT market is the right approach to managing our grid and that the Texas economy will continue to flourish as a result.”

— Texas PUC Chair DeAnn Walker in Austin law firm Lloyd Gosselink’s July 5th interview. Read it here.

The TER Buzz:

Rising Texas Oil & Gas Employment and Production Threatened by Steel and Aluminum Tariffs

By Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO)

 

July 18, 2018

 

Austin, Texas – The oil and gas industry remains one of the most resilient and impactful sectors in the country, despite ongoing efforts by some to derail domestic production based on an ideology, not science, and certain ill-conceived policies carrying unintended consequences threatening to restrict the E&P sector.

 

Though operators have welcomed a reprieve from overly burdensome federal regulations targeting the oil and gas industry under President Trump, newly implemented tariffs on steel and aluminum products by the Trump Administration already are having a negative impact on infrastructure development and drilling projects throughout the country.

 

Not yet feeling the full effect of the newly-implemented tariffs, the Texas oil and natural gas industry has continued to expand in 2018. More than 2,560 net new jobs were added to the state economy in the first half of year compared to 2017, for a total of 328,376 workers directly employed by the industry, subject to revisions. These positions command an average salary of $128,000 per year, 132 percent more than average private sector wages in Texas, for a total payroll of $42 billion in the state. The following is a breakdown of the various oil and gas sectors used to define the industry and the related employment…

RRC Wraps Up Abandoned Mine Restoration Project: News Release

54-year-old abandoned uranium mine restored to natural landscape

 

AUSTIN – The Railroad Commission’s Abandoned Mine Land program has completed restoration of an eight-acre abandoned uranium mine in Karnes County. Known as the Hackney Site, it was last mined in 1963 and sat abandoned for 54 years. It was selected for remediation because of the safety hazard abandoned pits pose to the public, as well as elevated naturally-occurring radiation levels. The four-month long project reduced radiation to safe levels and restored the area to its natural state.

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Texas Drilling Permits and Completions Statistics for June 2018: RRC

07/10/2018

AUSTIN –– The Railroad Commission of Texas (Commission) issued a total of 1,230 original drilling permits in June 2018 compared to 1,305 in June 2017. The June total included 1,062 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, 13 to re-enter plugged well bores and 155 for re-completions of existing well bores. The breakdown of well types for those permits issued June 2018 included 342 oil, 67 gas, 742 oil or gas, 55 injection, five service and 19 other permits…