Austin

Witnesses for Range Resources Corp. took the stand Wednesday during the first day of a hearing at the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) in Austin, TX, to defend the company against allegations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that its drilling activities in the Barnett Shale caused the contamination of private water wells in the area. However, EPA representatives were not in attendance.

Newfield Exploration Co. said Monday its hunch that the Maverick Basin in the Eagle Ford Shale “would hold thick, high-quality” pay has turned out to be true as it released initial results from its Eagle Ford assessment program.

Shale gas resources — and growing output from shale oil — will offset declines in other U.S. supplies through 2035, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday.

Conventional wisdom says the bursting of the real estate bubble triggered the nation’s latest recession. But a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) puts the blame on energy — or rather the fact that citizens were forced to pay a greater percentage of their incomes for energy.

Conventional wisdom says the bursting of the real estate bubble triggered the nation’s latest recession. But a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) puts the blame on energy — or rather the fact that citizens were forced to pay a greater percentage of their incomes for energy.

California-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. has inked a 10-year contract with Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, TX, to build, operate and maintain a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station, including an adjacent public portion of the facility. Clean fuel airport shuttles, taxicabs and private fleet vehicles are slated to use the facility. Clean Energy said the facility will support growing fleets of shuttle vehicles, taxicabs and private CNG-fueled fleet vehicles in the area. Construction of the CNG facility on a site adjacent to the airport is to begin in February.

Martin L. Allday, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 1989 to 1993, died last Monday in Austin, TX, at the age of 82. “Chairman Allday was one of the founding fathers of FERC competition policy,” said FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher. “Under [his] direction, FERC embarked on the restructuring of the interstate natural gas pipeline industry, culminating in 1992 with the landmark Order 636. That rulemaking, which required separation of sales and transportation services on interstate natural gas pipelines, is widely praised for helping usher in…energy market competition.” Allday is survived by his wife, three children and several grandchildren. Former President George Herbert Walker Bush, a close friend of Allday, was one of the pallbearers at the funeral last Thursday.

Martin L. Allday, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 1989 to 1993, died Tuesday in Austin, TX, at the age of 82. “Chairman Allday was one of the founding fathers of FERC competition policy,” said FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher. “Under [his] direction, FERC embarked on the restructuring of the interstate natural gas pipeline industry, culminating in 1992 with the landmark Order 636. That rulemaking, which required separation of sales and transportation services on interstate natural gas pipelines, is widely praised for helping usher in…energy market competition.” Allday is survived by his wife, three children and several grandchildren. The first President George Bush, a close friend of Allday, will be one of the pallbearers at the funeral Thursday.

An Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) judge has recommended that Austin, TX-based Santanna Energy Services be barred from selling natural gas to residential customers in Illinois and ordered to pay refunds for overcharges. The full Commission, which has the option to either accept or reject the judge’s proposed action, is expected to take up the matter either later this month or in early November.