June 21, 2019
An early morning explosion and fire at a Philadelphia refinery, reputed to be one of the oldest and largest in the Eastern US, lit the night sky and was reported to have been felt as far away as New Jersey….
June 11, 2019
In years to come, Corpus Christi will emerge as the top crude exporting hub in the US….
June 10, 2019
MMEX Resources says it has new agreements with unnamed partners to buy the company’s marine fuel and provide product movement….
June 10, 2019
The regulatory burden on the Public Utility Commission of Texas will be a little bit lighter with some minor changes to the state Utilities Code….
June 4, 2019
By Christopher Gardner, US Army Corps of Engineers
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently completed the safe removal of more than 1.5 million pounds of radioactive material from STURGIS — a WWII Liberty Ship turned into the first floating nuclear power plant in the 1960s.
The Corps’ Baltimore District was tasked with the unique mission to decommission and dismantle the STURGIS, and its nuclear reactor, known as MH-1A, which was used to generate electricity for military and civilian use in the Panama Canal for several years before being shut down in 1976….
May 27, 2019
The 86th Texas Legislature has ajourned “with no appointed date of resumption,” no special session planned.
The House gaveled out at about 1 pm, the Senate at about 4.
Forget partisanship, now the real parties begin.
May 27, 2019
Bill never makes it out of conference committee, TXOGA says it remains committed to move forward on the issue
A Texas Senate bill aimed at increasing protections for landowners in the eminent domain process is dead…..
May 25, 2019
An amended bill calling for increased safety inspections of power lines has been sent to the governor for his signature.
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May 22, 2019
In the rush of the business day, haven’t most people accidentally called someone by the wrong name?
And on some of those occasions hasn’t it been awkward when the two names confused turned out to be people who looked alike, or both were recent hires or both similar in some way?
Or like, both were of the more outspoken conservative political persuasion?
Name confusion caused a particularly awkward moment on the floor of the Texas House on Wednesday, however, when Rep. Joe Moody, standing in for Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen during the naming of one bill’s conferees, called on state Rep. Briscoe Cain by saying, “Mr. Stickland for what purpose?”
Rep. Cain exclaimed, “Wow, that’s…pretty painful.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Cain, for what purpose?”
Rep. Cain bit his lower lip and looked at the House while laughter filled the room for a moment, then smiled and conjured more laughter by deadpanning, “Is there any way Mr. Speaker, Mr. Bonnen, Speaker Bonnen, is there any way to change the names of the conferees?”
For those who don’t get the humor, it’s a “looks” thing, though both are notably right of center.
Rep. Cain is not tall and is clean-shaven.
Rep. Stickland is tall and, well, resembles Rep. John Bucy III.
— Mike Shiloh
May 21, 2019
Using Brazos River water for residential and industrial development along Allen’s Creek in Austin County is the intent of a bill that’s ready for Governor Greg Abbott’s signature….
May 20, 2019
A bill to set up a council for helping to coordinate water resource management and “best practices” across Texas has passed the state legislature….
May 20, 2019
Governor Greg Abbott has signed into law a bill intended to clarify whether electric co-ops can own or operate energy-storage batteries without having to register as “power generation companies.”…
May 19, 2019
A bill to “fix” the Railroad Commission‘s oil and gas cleanup fund and give the RRC faster access to needed cash has been signed by Governor Greg Abbott….
May 19, 2019
A bill that essentially “gets the General Land Office out of the electricity business” was signed on Friday by the Governor of Texas….
May 17, 2019
Governor Greg Abbott has signed into law Sen. Kelly Hancock‘s SB 1938 (substituted for the House version HB 3995) giving utilities the right of first refusal for the building of transmission infrastructure….
May 16, 2019
The Texas Legislature has passed a bill that would open up the TERP program’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Incentive Program to more vehicles in an attempt to help reduce air pollution by removing more older diesel vehicles from the road….
May 16, 2019
Legislation to bring control of energy brokers in Texas under the registration requirements of the Public Utility Commission has passed the state legislature…..
May 15 2019
Governor Greg Abbott has signed a bill aimed at increasing consumer protection and notice on advanced electric meters outside of ERCOT.…
May 14, 2019
The Texas Legislature has passed a bill (134 for, 7 against, 2 present not voting) that would allow the state to take over the relocation of some utility lines in cases where any delay would also delay Department of Transportation projects…..
May 13, 2019
The Railroad Commission of Texas is receiving more funding for plugging wells and paying inspectors…..