“Eagle Ford Shale Counties Not Cashing in on Royalties”

KENS-5 TV  
July 29, 2014 

This story points out an injustice with which county taxpayers in the Eagle Ford Shale area are being burdened. Literally millions of dollars worth of oil and natural gas is being pulled from deposits directly under county roads, yet the counties in the Eagle Ford Shale don’t receive one dime of the profits from those natural resources. Thanks to a 1960 Texas Attorney General ruling, the State of Texas receives mineral rights revenue from county roads. Meanwhile those same county governments (and, by extension, the taxpayers) are having to foot the bill to maintain the county roads which are being torn up by the huge increase in oilfield traffic caused by the fracking boom. County road repair costs are increasing by as much as 16 times and the state is not chipping in one penny.

The story brings their plight to the public’s eye. Now through those county’s judges efforts and our story, the legislature sees the problem and is moving to correct it.

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Submitted by Michael Humphries.