XTO Energy Inc.

Trinity East's Vapor Chase

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

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 >>

Gas Drillers' Reps to Task Force: 1,000-Foot Set-Back Rule Would Be a "Deal-Killer"

​After a few weeks off, the city's Gas Drilling Task Force gets back at it today at 2. The agenda's short and sweet -- "Develop Recommendations for Gas Drilling and Production Regulations" -- but the process has been anything but; initially, you may recall, the group was to turn in its recommendat ... More >>

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 >>

Gas Drilling Activists Not Happy With Council Component of Task Force Caraway's Assembled

Photo by Patrick MichelsRay Crawford and his petition signed by those opposed to gas drilling in the Dallas city limuts​As we noted a couple of weeks back, Dallas City Hall's taking applications for the gas-drilling task force Angela Hunt demanded after Dave Neumann failed to make good on his prom ... More >>

Tomorrow Night in Far West Oak Cliff, Mayor and Council Candidates Tackle Gas Drilling

Hey, Dave, how you feelin' about tomorrow night's debate over gas drilling?​Not sure if there's more fun to be had this election season than at the North Texas GLBT Chamber's mayoral forum tonight, moderated by both Robert and Schutze -- but tomorrow night in far western Oak Cliff sure might come ... 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.

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 >>

Failure Is an Option We Should Consider

​Those images of the out-of-control nuclear plants in Japan are hard-wired to our own situation in Dallas. Their tragedy is our challenge. The question is whether we see the wire in time. City council member Angela Hunt has succeeded in forcing Mayor Dwaine Caraway to put the issue of natural ... More >>

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 >>

Following Report on the Fracking Dangers of Drilling, Hunt Explains Need for Task Force

How fracking works, as explained in the Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland​Over the weekend, local gas-drilling opponents forwarded to media members Ian Urbina's piece in Sunday's New York Times about the heretofore unknown dangers posed by hydraulic fracturing, which involves injecting water, sa ... More >>

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 >>

Is Fort Worth's Star-Telegram Now a Newspaper Without a Home?

Flickr user: QuesterMark​Just got off the phone with Jim Witt, executive editor of the Star-Telegram, who pointedly did not deny this morning's hot rumor -- that the Fort Worth newspaper's building, which has been on the market since September 2008, has been sold and the staff told to work from ho ... 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 >>

Here's Why Ron Natinsky Excused Himself When Council Talk Turned to XTO Energy

​Before the Dallas City Council voted to back Dave Neumann Wednesday and wait till October to vote on XTO Energy's gas drilling proposals, we did get a little more insight into where the council stands right now. Angela Hunt, for instance, mentioned why she was for extending the city's leases to X ... 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 >>

Well, Fracking Fans, That Was Anticlimactic. But Caraway Did Address That Police Call.

The Dallas City Council kicked off the afternoon with a few minutes in executive session, and it didn't take long for Mayor Leppert to bring up the SUP application for XTO Energy to drill at Hensley Field -- the one we expected Dave Neumann to push for deferring for a few months. Quicker than that, ... More >>

Don't Expect Fireworks When the City Council Takes Up Gas Drilling Proposals Tomorrow

Patrick MichelsCouncilman Dave Neumann says his plans to postpone a decision on XTO's gas drilling permits tomorrow are still set. "Honestly, I think it'll be anticlimactic," he says.​Robert already alerted us to that item on tomorrow's council agenda regarding XTO Energy's proposal to drill at tw ... More >>

With City Staff's Support, XTO To Take Its Gas Drilling Permit Fight to City Hall in Two Weeks

Flickr user: Schlüsselbein2007Mountain Creek Lake in far western Oak Cliff, where XTO wants to plant Dallas's first gas drilling operation.​Patrick Michels is really our expert on the subject of XTO Energy's application for a specific use permit to drill at Hensely Field in far west Oak Cliff, wh ... More >>

Gas Drilling Variances Denied Near Grapevine Lake, While A Pair of Federal Suits Allege Water Contamination from Barnett Shale Fracking

​Worries about groundwater contamination from hydraulic fracturing around the Barnett Shale got a fresh wave of attention yesterday -- first with a pair of federal suits filed in Dallas, and then with the Town of Flower Mound's denial of a request to drill near to Grapevine Lake. Keystone Energy w ... More >>

Do the Rangers' New Owners Have the Money and Will to Build on a Winning Formula?

Drill, Maybe, Drill? Almost Three Years After Council OK'd Gas Leases, Hunt Still Concerned.

​Patrick Michels has been all over XTO Energy's efforts to sink some gas drills in and around Dallas, a piece of which may or may not wind up on the council's year-ending agenda on December 8 following the City Plan Commission's decision last month to deny the wastewater-spilling Exxon subsidiary ... More >>

City Plan Commissioners Recused Themselves from Gas Drilling Talk Last Week for Owning Stock in XTO Energy Parent Exxon

​Even before their meeting last Thursday afternoon, City Plan Commissioners had decided to hold off voting on XTO Energy's second application for a gas drilling site in Dallas -- leaving time for the city council to figure out what to do with XTO's first application, maybe even delaying that call ... More >>

Once More, With Fracking: Plan Commission Considers a Second XTO Gas Drilling Site

XTO Energy wants to drill on Joe Pool Lake, but will it effect your ability to kick back with a cold beer on the deck at The Oasis? The answer may surprise you.​If you're not sitting down here in the Council Chambers at City Hall right now, then you're missing one of the fine ways to spend a Thurs ... 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 >>

Read the Extra Safeguards Plan Commission Is Considering for Dallas's First Gas Drilling Site

Hensley Field, where XTO hopes to begin Dallas' first gas drilling operation.​After hearing from the public and discussing the issue at great length last Thursday, the City Plan Commission stopped short of recommending an SUP for XTO Energy to drill for gas at Hensley Field. It would be the first ... 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 >>

At Dave Neumann's Invitation, XTO Energy Briefs Neighbors on Hensley Field Drilling Plans

Photos by Patrick MichelsCouncilman Dave Neumann uses his hands to clear up confusion over XTO's gas drilling plans at Hensley Field along the Grand Prairie border. Never one to let an unwelcome neighbor move in unannounced, Councilman Dave Neumann invited residents around far west Oak Cliff's Hensl ... More >>

Waiting on a Buyer, Dallas-Based Chief Oil Plans To Start Drilling in the City By Year's End

Last week around this time, the Wall Street Journal was telling us about three very private oil and gas companies -- two of them based in Dallas -- with designs on getting bigger in the gas drilling world. So, to help take their operations up a notch, both Talon Oil & Gas and Chief Oil & Gas ... 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 >>

At EPA's Public Comment Session Over Gas Drilling Regulations, An Airing of Grievances

Patrick MichelsEPA representatives hear concerns over current air pollution regulations for the natural gas industry Monday night.​They came in striped ties and checkered ties, sport coats and shirtsleeves and the beard stubble of Washington operators on the road. The four white-collar grunts from ... More >>

Is there Natural Gas Beneath Dallas County?

Drillers—and cities—are betting Barnett Shale riches are headed Dallas' way.

In the Hunt: Fort Worth-Based XTO Buys History For $4 Billion

The Whore Truth About Tomorrow's City Council Meeting