San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-02-25
LEGISLATURE
HAS 4 kNOTTY
GAS PROBLEM
Say Companies Use Unfair
Methods in Making
Carbon Black.
BILL HITS LOUISIANA
Senate Measure Would
Make Radical Change
in Present Laws.

Austin, Tex, Feb. 24.--Shall Tex
as authorize the general use of nat
ural gas for the manufacture of car.
bon black? That is one of the ques.
lions that have come to the front in
the present session of the Legisla'
ture and it is question that has an
almost unansweruble argument on
each side. Is it fair to the state as
a whole to permit its natural reserve
of gas to be burned up without any
further use or development than IL
get the residue? That is the Ques'
ton the opponents of the carbon
black bill are asking.
Is it fair for the big gas companies
to be permitted to lease a few acres
in the heart of the gas well fields
and from those few wells draw the
gas from under the ground, without
paying for such gas? That is the
question the proponents of the bill
are asking.
According to the statements that
have been made before the commit
tee and by persons interested in the
question, no good comes from the
burning of gas for carbon black ex'
cept the actual production of that
commodity. In other words, millions
of cubic feet of gas will be burned
without developing any steam power
without heating any homes, without
developing electric power, and only
to produce q small amount of car
bon black.
Practice Is an Injustice.
20 En- 70
other side, the gas companies that
supply natural gas to several cities
follow the custom of leasing few
hundred acres in the heart OF field
and sink a well from which they draw
gas from under the surrounding thou.
sands of aces. In most cases, and
especially in Pamela and other Easl
Texas counties, according to Miss
Margie Neal of Carthage, the sur
rounding land is owned by poor fam.
lilies Of farmers who are barely able
TO make a living off the surface OF
their farms while millions of cubic
feet of gas are being drawn from un
der the farms and for which they dc
not get a cent.
The bill provoking all the discus
sion in the Legislature was original
ly offered by w. q. Crawford of Pa
nola county and is aimed directly a
users of gas from the Bethany fielt
in that county. Gas is piped from
the Bethany field to Shreveport, La.
while gas from the Louisiana field
is being used to make carbon black
according to Mr.. Crawford. Gas fol
the city of Marshall is also pipe;
from the Bethany field and plans arr
now under consideration to lay pipt
line to Dallas and Fort. Worth.
The carbon black bill as now pend
ing in the Senate would keep the ga!
wells under the railroad commission
as at present. but instead of leaving
it optional with the commission e
grant permits it would authorize any
one complying with its terms to in
stall a plant. One condition is thai
all gasoline must be taken from thu
gas before it is burned and another il
that not more than one-fourth of thu
maximum output of well can b
used for the manufacture of carbon
black.
A Slap at Louisiana.
The bill is more or less a slap a
Louisiana because it is contendet
that that state permits the use of III
gas for manufacture of carbon blacl
while drawing on Texas for gas TO
domestic use.
The present laws on the subject au
thorize the railroad commission TO ii
csnse the manufacture of carbol
black where the natural gas is s
far removed from TRANSFORMATION an,
industry as to be virtually useless TO
any other purpose. or where there ]
so much of it that it is going t
waste.