Barnett Shale

Dallas could allow drilling near levees

The city of Dallas continues to work on its drilling ordinance, although there is relatively little activity in that city given the Barnett Shale's less-favorable quality east of Tarrant County. One issue involves how close to flood-control levees to allow drilling. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bans drilling closer than 3,000 feet to levees on land it controls, the Dallas Morning News says, but proposed rules for the city set no such limits. The story is here.

-- Jim Fuquay

Miller wary of drilling in Dallas

Former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller is not so keen on natural gas drilling coming to her city, even though she was a supporter of drilling at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

Miller told the Texas Tribune that she now has questions on the safety of natural gas drilling after reports of earthquakes in the Barnett Shale.

"I was gung-ho as member of the DFW Airport Board [about bringing drilling out there], because it was a great income stream, and both Dallas and Fort Worth got a piece of that. But as soon as I started reading about minor earthquakes in Tarrant County [because of Barnett Shale drilling], I thought, uh oh, this sounds like a problem. They’ve made the connection now between that and fracking. If I were back on the city council, I would be cautious and [would] want to know a lot more from the people doing the investigative work on what is happening in Tarrant County."

Researchers have argued that there may be a connection between recent small earthquakes that have been recorded in the region and natural gas drilling. Earlier this year, a team of researchers said an injection well used to get rid of wastewater from natural gas drilling was a "plausible cause" of a series of small  earthquakes at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

-Aman Batheja

Drilling in Big D

So far, most gas drilling in the Barnett Shale has been on the western side of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Platts reports, however, that the city of Dallas is considering its first well, after leasing several hundred acres of municipal property, including part of Love Field.

-- Mike Lee