Railroad

Port Arthur, TX, is slated to be the site of a new multi-user rail terminal to handle delivery of Bakken Shale crude oil to the Gulf Coast for distribution to pipeline or refining consumers in Texas.

Range Resources Corp. Tuesday was cleared of fouling North Texas water wells with natural gas by a unanimous vote of the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC). It was vindication for the Fort Worth, TX-based producer and an informal indictment of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — not that anyone from the federal agency was at the meeting in Austin, TX, to hear it.

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.

Two lawsuits were filed in Dallas Wednesday alleging that units of Devon Energy Corp., Encana Corp. and Chesapeake Energy Corp. contaminated water wells in the Barnett Shale with hydraulic fracturing and the storage of drilling waste.

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has set for hearing a complaint by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against Range Resources Corp. alleging methane contamination of residential water wells in Parker County in the Barnett Shale play (see Shale Daily, Dec. 9). The hearing date is to be Jan. 10. “Because this matter has now been set for hearing, and the commission will sit in judgment of the facts, the commissioners cannot comment on the case,” said RRC General Counsel Lindil Fowler. “However, RRC staff expects both parties, the EPA as well as Range Resources representatives, to appear before hearings examiners and testify as to the allegations…”

Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) member Elizabeth Ames Jones on Friday joined a chorus of those who are blasting the President Obama’s decision not to open new areas in the offshore to exploration.

The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission has released findings from its separate audits of the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). While each agency was recommended for another 12-year lease on life, changes are in order, the reviews found.

The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission has released findings from its separate audits of the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). While each agency was recommended for another 12-year lease on life, changes are in order, the reviews found.

A Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) investigation has found a unit of Enterprise Products Partners LP as well as C&H Power Line Construction of Oklahoma to be at fault for a June 7 pipeline explosion and fire in the Barnett Shale of North Texas that killed one worker and injured eight.