The next Texas General Land Office (GLO) Winter Oil & Gas Lease Sale is Jan. 17. Participants bid for the right to explore for oil and natural gas on Permanent School Fund (PSF) property owned by the state. The company offering the highest up-front payment (commonly called a bonus) is awarded the lease. Tract information is now available on the EnergyNet website. The sale will be the fourth GLO lease sale to be held online. The third online lease sale, held last July, earned more than $98 million. In the first online lease sale in August 2015, PSF tracts of land brought in more than $20 million, which is about $1,500 per acre more than the previous traditional lease sale. The online lease sale in January 2016 brought in nearly $11 million for 4,393 acres, which is just under $2,500 per acre. Sales are held semiannually and available tracts may be nominated by contacting the GLO.

The Big Bend Conservation Alliance has petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for review of FERC’s approval of a presidential permit for the border crossing facilities of Trans-Pecos Pipeline LLC, a Texas pipeline that would carry natural gas to the U.S.-Mexico border for import by Mexico to be used primarily for power generation [CP15-500]. In May 2015 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a presidential permit for the border-crossing facilities near the city of Presidio in Presidio County, TX, and the Mexican city of Manuel Ojinaga in the state of Chihuahua.