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Bush Family And Its Inner Circle Play Central Role In Lawsuits Against Denton Fracking Ban

November 12, 2014 By Steve Horn 2 Comments

On November 4, Denton, Texas, became the first city in the state to ban the process of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) when 59 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of the initiative. It did so in the heart of the Barnett Shale basin, where George Mitchell — the “father of fracking” — drilled the first sample wells for his company Mitchell Energy.

As promised by the oil and gas industry and by Texas Railroad Commission commissioner David Porter, the vote was met with immediate legal backlash. Both the Texas General Land Office and the Texas Oil and Gas Association (TXOGA) filed lawsuits in Texas courts within roughly 12 hours of the vote taking place, the latest actions in the aggressive months-long campaign by the industry and the Texas state government to fend off the ban.

The Land Office and TXOGA lawsuits, besides making similar legal arguments about state law preempting local law under the Texas Constitution, share something else in common: ties to former President George W. Bush and the Bush family at large.

Filed Under: Elections, Environment, National News Tagged With: Alberto R. Gonzales, American Lawyer, Antonin Scalia, Arbella Exploration, Baker Botts, Baker Botts Amicus Fund, Barnett Shale, Britton Hill Holdings, Clean Water Act, David Porter, Denton, Earthworks, election 2014, Energy Policy Act of 2005, Evan Young, Food and Water Watch, fracked gas, Fracked Oil, fracking, George H.W. Bush, George Mitchell, George P. Bush, George W. Bush, GreenWire, Houston, Hunt Oil, hydraulic fracturing, Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, Iraq, Iraqi Constitution, Jeb Bush, Jerry Patterson, Kurdish Regional Government, Michael B. Mukasey, Midland, Mitch Jones, Mitchell Energy, National Environmental Policy Act, Ray Hunt, Rick Perry, Robert L. Looney, Ronald Reagan, Safe Drinking Water Act, SCOTUS, Sharon Wilson, St. Augustine Capital Partners, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of The United States, Texas, Texas Constitution, Texas General Land Office, Texas Oil and Gas Association, Texas Oil and Gas PAC, Texas Railroad Commission, Thomas Phillips, TXOGA, United Kalyvryta

Federal Reserve Policy Keeps Fracking Bubble Afloat And That May Change Soon

November 5, 2014 By Steve Horn Leave a Comment

In August 2005, the U.S. Congress and then-President George W. Bush blessed the oil and gas industry with a game-changer: the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The Act exempted the industry from federal regulatory enforcement of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

While the piece of omnibus legislation is well-known to close observers of the hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) issue — especially the “Halliburton Loophole” — lesser known is another blessing bestowed upon shale gas and tight oil drillers: near zero-percent interest rates for debt accrued during the capital-intensive oil and gas production process.

Or put more bluntly, near-free money from the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank. That trend may soon come to a close, as the Federal Reserve recently announced an end to its controversial $3 trillion bond-buying program.

Filed Under: Environment, National News Tagged With: bloomberg, Carl Gibson, Collin Eaton, Credit Card Debt, Credit Cards, Drilling Deeper A Reality Check on U.S. Government Forecasts for a Lasting Tight Oil & Shale Gas Boom, Energy Aspects, Food & Water Watch, Food and Water Watch, fracked gas, Fracked Oil, fracking, Global Hunter Securities, Houston Chronicle, Hugh MacMillan, hydraulic fracturing, Interest Rates, James Bullard, Mike Hunter, Occupy, Occupy Wall Street, Peritus Asset Management LLC, quantitative easing, Shale Bubble, shale gas, Strike Debt, Student Loan Debt, The Urgent Case for a Ban on Fracking, Tight Gas, Tight Oil, Tim Gramatovich, U.S. Federal Reserve, unconventional gas, unconventional oil, US Uncut, Vivendra Chauhan

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