Oil Production and Refining

In the Wake of Spills, the EPA is Urging Tighter Review of the Proposed Keystone Pipeline

Back in March, the Keystone XL pipeline's approval looked practically assured. Construction of the 1,179-mile leviathan, connecting Alberta's tar sand mines with Texas Gulf Coast refiners, was already well underway in Texas. The State Department said Canadian tar sands production would proceed apace ... More >>

Trinity East's Vapor Chase

Drilling thousands of feet into the earth is a cakewalk compared with dealing with City Hall.

State Department's New Keystone XL Pipeline Report Proves Battle to Stop Tar Sands Is Probably Already Lost

On Friday afternoon came the unheralded release of a pretty important preliminary analysis from the State Department regarding the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a conduit for diluted bitumen mined in Alberta and destined for the Texas Gulf Coast petroleum refineries. The takeaway, however, has to ... More >>

Dallas' City Plan Commission Just Got a Very Special Workshop on How Safe Gas Drilling Is

When we last left the beleaguered members of the City Plan Commission, they were opting to once again delay a vote on energy company Trinity East's application to drill for natural gas in the floodplain along the Trinity River. This morning, the CPC was subjected to a four-hour workshop on gas drill ... More >>

Rawlings and Suhm's Attempt to Spin Secret Gas Deal into Something Innocent Is Hot Air

Some stuff won't spin. Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm is trying desperately to spin the story of her side-deal with Trinity East Energy. But that story is stuck in the ground like a tree. The Observer reported yesterday that Suhm signed an agreement five years ago with a gas drilling company to help ... More >>

Mary Suhm's Drilling Memo Shows Typical City Hall Pattern: Decide, Then Pretend to Listen

So Mayor Mike Rawlings responded, sort of, to Schutze's post this morning about City Manager Mary Suhm's double-super-secret letter of understanding with gas drilling company Trinity East, in which she promised the city's staff would do its level best to get the company the permits it needs to drill ... More >>

Native Americans Gathered Downtown Last Night to Protest Broken Treaties and a Tar Sands Pipeline

If you happened to be passing the corner of Akard and San Jacinto Monday night, the huge, blue LED lights spelling out "IDLE NO MORE" might have left you nonplussed. It was no coincidence that the demonstration, known as a light brigade, took place within a stone's throw of the Canadian consulate g ... More >>

Before They Vote on Fracking, Dallas' Plan Commissioners Will Get a Gas-Drilling Primer

The city's Gas Drilling Task Force never came to a consensus on the potential impact of allowing fracking within city limits, ultimately splintering into two opposing camps. But they did spend the better part of a year researching and debating the issue's many facets. It was curious, then, when the ... More >>

Absence of Two Plan Commissioners Could Tip the Balance in Favor of Fracking

It seemed a bit puzzling last week when Joe Alcantar, chair of the City Plan Commission, asked that the CPC reconsider Trinity East's request to drill in the Trinity River floodplain, which the body had just gotten through denying. Perhaps Alcantar, who voted in favor of Trinity East's proposal, ha ... More >>

Protesters Are in the East Texas Trees Again to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline

As of around 2:30 yesterday afternoon, two Keystone XL pipeline protesters were perched atop platforms strung through the trees in East Texas, aiming to block construction of what may soon become the longest pipeline in the Western Hemisphere. The controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which could be ... More >>

There Will Be Tar Sand

Tarry Canadian bitumen is barreling its way to Texas via the Keystone XL pipeline. Will it bring energy independence or environmental calamity?

As City Plan Commission Takes No Action On Gas Drilling, XTO Reportedly Pulls Its Drilling Request [Updated]

Back in September, using the format of a totally ridiculous board game, we recapped the fight over gas drilling on land owned by the city of Dallas. At that point, the drilling task force had long since wrapped up its work, and a vote from the City Council on new drilling regulations was imminent, w ... More >>

"Don't Frack My Park Day" Comes to White Rock This Weekend

On Saturday, a tad more than 1,400 people are expected to turn out to clean up their local green space for Dallas' It's My Park Day. The city launched the annual event last year as a way to give neighbors a sense of ownership of their parks and, one assumes, to squeeze a little bit of free labor out ... More >>

After Dueling Presentations, City Council Still Isn't Quite Sure What To Do About Gas Drilling

We promised you a throwdown during yesterday afternoon's gas drilling hearing before the city council, the first step towards an updated ordinance on drilling within city limits. Dallas Drilling, meanwhile, guaranteed a "smackdown." It's possible in retrospect that those were slight overstatements, ... More >>

Tiny East Texas Towns Join Fight Against Keystone Pipeline. Should Dallas?

Together, they have a population of fewer than 2,000, but the tiny East Texas hamlets of Reklaw, Alto and Gallatin have an outsized mission: To halt the southern portion of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, a conduit designed to ferry some 830,000 barrels of Canadian tar sands a day from an Oklaho ... More >>

Q&A with Trinity East Manager: Leases, Floodplains, and the Money Beneath Dallas

Four years have passed since Trinity East signed on as the largest gas lease-holder with the city of Dallas, and the company still doesn't know when it will be allowed to drill its first well -- if ever. As the company's name suggests, Trinity East wants to drill for natural gas along the east side ... More >>

Southwest Airlines' Herb Kelleher: Energy Independence, As You Understand It, Is A Myth

Southwest Airlines co-founder Herb Kelleher and a gaggle of other titans, from former U.S. Spec Ops commanders to Sam Gilliland, chief executive officer of Dallas-based Sabre Holdings, reject outright the idea that we can drill our way to energy independence. In an Energy Security Leadership Council ... More >>

This Fracking Map: Activists Plot More Than 100 Drilling Leases on City-Owned Property

This afternoon, Dallas Residents at Risk, a coalition of of anti-fracking activists, will unveiling their map featuring what they say are more than 100 drilling leases on city-owned land totaling some 1,400 acres. The colorful visual shows that the extent of gas drilling leases in Dallas goes well b ... More >>

Fear and Fracking in Southlake

In one of America's wealthiest suburbs, an unlikely band of drilling opponents helped drive away the world's biggest energy companies. Did they save the town or ruin it?

As Council Was to Take Up L.B. Houston Gas Drilling, It Retreated Behind Closed Doors

From today's council agenda​Council just wrapped discussing that police helicopter sale; Sandy Greyson, concerned about terrorist what-ifs, wanted it pulled from the consent agenda for further discussion, but the sale sailed through. This item's about something a little further down the agenda. As ... More >>

Well, At Least One Council Member's Ditching the Mayor's Dinner Tomorrow Night

Photo by Patrick Michels​Still having a hard time figuring how Mayor Mike or his staff could schedule a dinner with the council tomorrow night -- the same night as one of only two gas drilling task force public hearings. A couple of council reps think it's important enough to mention to their cons ... More >>

Finkelman Vows to Keep an Eye on Council Members Drilling In On Task Force Meetings

​I've heard from a few folks furious that council member Sheffie Kadane, a vocal proponent of gas drilling within the city limits, sat with the gas drilling task force yesterday during its inaugural meeting. As Marc McCord, an anti-drilling activist, put it in the comments below: "He showed up, to ... More >>

Dallas's Gas Drilling Task Force to Begin Meetings With Overview From Fort Worth

Via.​This morning the city posted the agenda for the first-ever meeting of the Gas Drilling Task Force, which kicks off Tuesday at 2 p.m., don't be late. The agenda's mostly a bunch of introductory what-whats: Chair Lois Finkelman will give some opening remarks, outline its scope and schedule, rev ... More >>

A Few Council Members Take in Gasland, But Not Before Mayor Mike Makes a Promise to City

Photos by Leslie MinoraAngela Hunt was asked whether it's likely Dallas will be sued by gas drillers awaiting their SUPs.​Mayor Mike Rawlings took the mic before last night's Observer co-sponsored Gasland screening and told the audience of council members, activists and concerned locals, "I wi ... More >>

Five Months After City Extended XTO's Gas Drilling Lease, Trinity East to Get Same Deal

From the city council's February 2008 briefing on gas drilling within city limits​First, a programming note: Plans are to liveblog, yet again, today's 2 p.m. meeting of the council's Ad Hoc Gas Drilling Task Force Nominating Committee, if only because last week's was such a humdinger as the counci ... More >>

UT Researcher Leading Fracking Study: "We're Gonna Look at Every Claim We Can Find."

UT-Austin geology professor Chip Groat​A week ago today, as you may recall, the University of Texas at Austin's Energy Institute announced they'd be joining the growing ranks of universities with major studies of hydraulic fracturing, with a $300,000, nine-month project of their own. Today, thank ... More >>

Want to Be on Dallas's Gas Drilling Task Force?

​After council member Angela Hunt pushed the city council to form the gas drilling task force Dave Neumann only talked about, it's time to assemble the dream team: Moments ago, Dallas City Hall sent word that it's taking applications from those interested in serving on the task force. For those wh ... More >>

Activists Ask West to Kill Bill That Would Gut Cities' Ability to Regulate Gas Drilling

Photo by Patrick MichelsRaymond Crawford and his 21-foot-long scroll of signatures unfurled at Dallas City Hall on April 20​Dallas anti-gas drilling activist Raymond Crawford just copied us on a letter he's sending to state Sen. Royce West today, asking him to "personally get involved [and] do wha ... More >>

Raymond Crawford, Actual Citizen, Fought the City on Fracking -- and Won

When Dallas' drilling rules get tougher, you'll have a professional needlepointer to thank.

Environmentalists, NAACP Unite To Ask Council For Strong Gas Drilling Task Force

Photos by Patrick MichelsRaymond Crawford unfurls a 21-foot scroll of signatures from folks concerned with gas drilling in Dallas during this morning's press conference..​It's The Big Day today for gas drilling activists here at City Hall, and as Robert mentioned yesterday, the environmentalist se ... More >>

Liveblogging City Council's Look at Gas Drilling Task Force. Or: The Return of Lois Finkelman!

Welcome back to City Hall, where the council's settling back into their seats in the briefing room after a much-needed break for lunch. Word was that the council was going to treat us to its gas drilling update in the morning -- but after taking an extra-long executive session to work out just who' ... More >>

Natural Gas Drilling Continues to Define Council Battle Between Dave Neumann and Scott Griggs

Photo by Sam MertenDave Neumann (left) and Scott Griggs (right) at their first debate in late February.​From the beginning of last night's forum at the Avalon at Kessler Park, questions from the crowd of nearly 100 District 3 residents focused squarely on natural gas drilling and incumbent cit ... More >>

Maybe City Council Should Have Asked Some Questions Before Taking Drillers' Money.

Mayor Caraway Says He's Got That Whole Gas Drilling Task Force Thing Covered

​A few weeks ago, as you'll no doubt recall, Angela Hunt called for the formation of a gas drilling task force that would consist of no fewer than 10 people, among them experts well versed in the subject of fracking, neighborhood residents impacted by XTO Energy's requests to drill near Hensley Fi ... More >>

Toxic Avenger: In the War Between the Feds and Texas, EPA Chief Al Armendariz has Science on His Side. Is That Enough?

Council Member Angela Hunt Spells Out Demands for City's Gas Drilling Task Force

​Patrick Michels, our gas-drillin' expert, is presently at the Hunt Oil Building for that Woodall Rodgers Deck Park press conference -- which, turns out, is worth $9 million (no wonder Mayor Tom's Mayor Tom till tomorrow). So, then, I'll share with you a memo council member Angela Hunt sent to her ... More >>

At City Plan Commission: Food Trucks Drive to Council, But Gas Drilling Stays Parked For Now

Robert WilonskyThe Hot Box parked on Flora Street back on October 31​I'd been all ready to settle in for a lengthy City Plan Commission meeting this afternoon, conditioned by months of long waits before commissioners got to talking about the things I'd come for -- old favorites like gas drilling o ... More >>

While Council Studies Gas Drilling Safety, Plan Commission's Taking One More Look At Another Proposal from XTO Energy

​Seems like just yesterday the City Plan Commission took up XTO Energy's second application for a specific use permit for gas drilling on city land -- this time along Camp Wisdom Road near Joe Pool Lake -- and quickly put off its decision for three months.But that was November, and here we are thr ... More >>

Oscar-Nominated Gasland Director Josh Fox On Gas Drilling in the Barnett Shale and the Backlash from Industry

Patrick MichelsGasland director Josh Fox answers questions at an October screening at the Magnolia, alongside DISH mayor Calvin Tillman and gas drilling activist Sharon Wilson.Almost as soon as Gasland nabbed one of this year's Academy Award nominations for best documentary, industry groups rushed o ... More >>

Once More Into the Frack: Council Considers Changes for Disposal Well at DFW Airport

Chesapeake EnergyA diagram from "Ask Chesapeake" shows a disposal well for spent fracking fluid, down into the Ellenburger Formation underneath the Barnett Shale.​If you thought you'd heard the last from the City Council on gas drilling for a while, well, think again.Originally, the council was go ... More >>

At City Hall, A New Lease for XTO's Drilling Plans and An Update on Dallas' Budget Shortfall

Hensley Field, where XTO Energy hopes to begin Dallas' first gas drilling operation.​I'm wedged into the corner of the briefing room at City Hall -- no complaints, because really, Brad Watson needs his legroom. The council's running through its various opening proclamations -- Delia Jasso just in ... More >>

While Council Waits to Consider First Gas Drilling Site in Dallas, Plan Commission's About to Tackle XTO Energy's Second Proposal

XTO Energy's second proposed drill site in Dallas, just north of Joe Pool Lake.​Back on October 21, you'll recall that the City Plan Commission narrowly voted to deny XTO Energy's application to set up gas drilling along Mountain Creek Lake. The City Council's likely to have their final say someti ... More >>

At Friday's Screening of Gasland, Rallying the Troops to Keep Gas Drilling Out of Dallas

Photos by Patrick MichelsAfter the movie, director Josh Fox, center, stuck around for a Q&A joined by the Sierra Club's Peter Wilson, Dallas drilling activist Raymond Crawford, DISH mayor Calvin Tillman and drilling activist Sharon Wilson.​Gas drilling opponents from around North Texas rallied ... More >>

Liveblogging's A Gas at City Hall, As Plan Commission Denies XTO's Drill Site Application

Flickr user Schlüsselbein2007Mountain Creek Lake in far western Oak Cliff, which could be the site of Dallas's first gas drilling operation.​[Update at 6:45: To spare you the trouble of reading all the way through, here's the news. With a 7-6 vote, the commission denied XTO Energy's application f ... More >>

From a Boiler Room to a Federal Prison, Dallas Man Gets Max Sentence for Swindlin' $13 Mil

​Back in December we introduced you to Tommy Eugene Barber, a 32-year-old Dallas man who pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of securities fraud. Long story short: Barber ran something called T-Bar Resources, LLC, which he used to sell interests in oil and gas drilling projects. Two of t ... More >>

Liveblogging as the City Plan Commission Hears from the People on Gas Drilling and Food Trucks

This guy didn't make it to City Hall this afternoon, but plenty more folks have something to say about new gas drilling sites in Dallas.​We're down in the big room at City Hall, where the City Plan Commission's taken over the big boy chairs and taped their nametags over the City Council's placards ... More >>

As Natural Gas Drilling Spreads East Into Dallas, A New Activist Group Is Born

Patrick MichelsNo word yet on whether this guy'll turn up again at tonight's meeting.The natural gas industry's slow creep toward Dallas over the Barnett Shale has launched a small army of activists in Fort Worth's exurbs, from small-town mayors to goat fromagers -- a well-organized crew that's gott ... More >>

Dallas Oil and Gas Man Discovers That Coffee and Federal Prison Are For Closers

​Speaking of missives sent from the U.S. Attorney's Office ...A press release just landed in the in-box concerning the tale of one Tommy Eugene Barber, a 32-year-old Dallas man who today pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle to two counts of securities fraud. And what did Barber ... More >>

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