A Reckoning in the Shale

  We are off the rails.  Hydraulic fracturing horizontal wellbores has grown exponentially since George Mitchell first broke rock with water.  Massive fields have developed, from Fort Worth to the Haynesville in Louisiana, the Ozarks of Arkansas, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, North Dakota and then back again to Texas in […]

The Unbreakable Connection of Water and Energy

It’s common now in policy circles to discuss the connection between water usage and energy. “Nexus” is the word of the times. But it’s true, and policy makers are realizing there is no one without the other—and we don’t have enough of either in Texas. The trouble starts with the […]

The Blue Thread for Agriculture

This is a critical time for everyone in Texas regarding water use both today and in the years to come. Even if it started raining today, we would be in a deficit for some time. And that ignores the millions of people that are on their way to Texas according […]

Hydraulic Fracturing Water Consumption and Disposal: A look back at the Barnett Shale

The team at UT’s Bureau of Economic Geology (http://www.beg.utexas.edu/) recently released a new report on water usage and disposal in the Barnett Shale. To date, the Barnett has more than 17,000 wells completed according to the Texas RRC. Barnett Shale Well Count 1993-2013.pdf As an earlier play, the Barnett gives […]

WATER AND ENERGY: DEPENDENT RESOURCES

Download the Report. EMERGING ISSUES IN HYDRAULIC FRACTURING AND ENERGY.

Breaking the Rock: Earthquakes and Shale Production

Earthquakes have returned to Fort Worth, the hub of the Barnett Shale.  Before, the Eagle Ford, before New York, before the Marcellus and before the Bakken, there was the Barnett.  Mitchell bore the sweat of failure and met it by refusing to quit.  He cracked the code and broke the […]

LAWYERS, WATER AND MONEY

Threats to Regulation of Groundwater arising from EAA v. Bragg   Dowload – Lawyers, Water & Money