City

Exactly 32 years after a massive earthquake took 10,000 lives in Mexico City, yet another fierce tremor hit the center of the nation on Tuesday, killing more than 200 people but having little effect on energy infrastructure outside of power outages.

The city of Dallas has asked the Texas Supreme Court to block a $200 million lawsuit by spurned driller Trinity East Energy LLC. The Fort Worth-based company sued in February 2014 after the Dallas City Council voted in 2013 to deny the company the permits it needed to drill on leases in the Barnett Shale region for which it had paid the city more than $19 million. Last February an appellate court ruled that the city must face the lawsuit, City of Dallas v. Trinity East Energy LLC [No. 05-16-00349-CV]. In asking the Texas Supreme Court to block the lawsuit, Dallas is arguing that it should be immune from the action as its decision to enter into the mineral leases with Trinity East was a governmental function and it was not acting in proprietary capacity.

Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday put in play the possibility of carving out buffer zones around the city’s drilling sites that are near homes, schools, churches and health care facilities. The council president has asked for a study of the feasibility of establishing the setbacks.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal developer NextDecade LLC has signed lease agreements with the state of Texas and city of Texas City for a nearly 1,000-acre site at Shoal Point for the potential development of an LNG export facility. Texas City owns almost 376 acres at Shoal Point, while the Texas General Land Office manages the adjoining 618 acres of state land. The Ports of Houston, Texas City and Galveston form the largest port complex in North America, and the NextDecade project could be the first LNG facility in the area, the company said. The Shoal Point site is east of a petrochemical industrial complex and 40 miles southeast of Houston. NextDecade is currently focused on Rio Grande LNG in South Texas, a 27 million tonne per annumproject that is advancing through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission permitting process. The project at Shoal Point would benefit from NextDecade’s ability to replicate much of the design and engineering work done for Rio Grande LNG, a project that is expected to have one of the lowest construction costs of any LNG production facility in the world, the company said.

While Colorado remains the focal point for local government seeking more control of oil/natural gas drilling, the issue has also found its way to Los Angeles. The nation’s second-largest city still can count dozens of active drilling sites, none more controversial than one operated by Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan.

The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that a Clean Air Ordinance enacted by the city of Houston in 2007 is preempted by the Texas Clean Air Act. Petrochemical, energy and business interests had been challenging the law for years.

The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that a Clean Air Ordinance enacted by the city of Houston in 2007 is preempted by the Texas Clean Air Act. Petrochemical, energy and business interests had been challenging the law for years.

Aubrey McClendon, who died suddenly on Wednesday, was considered an ambitious risk-taker, a dreamer, at times reckless and shrewd, but there is no denying that for a time, as the chief architect of Chesapeake Energy Corp., he was the King of Shale, overseeing the largest store of natural gas leaseholds in the country.

Aubrey McClendon, who died suddenly on Wednesday, was considered an ambitious risk-taker, a dreamer, at times reckless and shrewd, but there is no denying that for a time, as the chief architect of Chesapeake Energy Corp., he was the King of Shale, overseeing the largest store of natural gas leaseholds in the country.