Contact: Matt Welch / 512.417.8084
Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance Names
Ben Sebree as General Counsel
Veteran Oil & Gas Attorney Joins New Trade Association
AUSTIN, TEXAS (June 9, 2022) – Today, the Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance (TxGEA) named Ben Sebree as the organization’s General Counsel. TxGEA is a Texas-led advocacy group recently launched in January of 2022 and created to advance geothermal energy development in Texas.
Sebree, a skilled attorney with a successful track record as a governmental relations practitioner, previously served for over 20 years as the Vice-President and General Counsel for the Texas Oil and Gas Association. In addition, he was elected to the Governing Council of the Oil, Gas and Energy Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and was also appointed by Governor Rick Perry to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.
Barry Smitherman, Chairman of TxGEA said, “Ben is widely regarded as an expert in the energy law sector and enjoys a tremendous reputation for integrity, intelligence, tenacity, and fairness across all facets of government relations. His experience and institutional knowledge of legislative, regulatory, and public policy issues is exceptional, and we are fortunate to have him onboard TxGEA.”
Sebree currently represents numerous clients before the Texas Legislature, the Railroad Commission of Texas, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Comptroller of Public Accounts, the General Land Office, the Public Utility Commission, and various other agencies, manages an active oil and gas practice, and consults with governmental officials and businesses both in Texas as well as nationally. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and received his Law Degree from the University of Houston in 1988.
TxGEA is a broad and interdisciplinary group of entities engaged in geothermal resource exploration, well drilling, plant construction, resource production, and markets creation. TxGEA includes representatives from the oilfield service sector, oil & gas operators, utilities, and start-up companies working to advance geothermal relevant technologies, scientists and engineers from several Texas universities, and leading environmental organizations advocating Texas public policy solutions.
Besides providing heating and cooling directly to industrial and residential consumers, geothermal energy is an inexhaustible, low-carbon resource that offers firm and flexible solutions to a changing power system. Geothermal energy can produce a range of services, including baseload, regulation, load following or energy imbalance, spinning reserve, non-spinning reserve, and replacement or supplemental reserve.
Geothermal plants can operate 24 hours a day with a steady output, regardless of weather patterns, and are not subject to the unpredictability and voltage swings that variable energy resources face. Geothermal plants can also ramp up or down quickly, allowing them to adjust to the changing needs of the power system and act as a flexible power source in addition to baseload.
The following companies and organizations support the increased development of geothermal energy in Texas with the goal of the Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance acting as the voice for the industry:
(Partial listing of TxGEA supporters as of June 9, 2022)
- Apex Subsurface Consulting
- Baker Hughes
- Blade Energy Partners
- Causeway GT
- CenterPoint Energy
- CGG
- Chesapeake Energy
- Chevron
- Criterion Energy Partners
- EarthBridge Energy
- Eavor Technologies
- Exergy
- The Fervid Group
- Fervo Energy
- GeothermEx (a Schlumberger company)
- Geothermic Solutions
- GreenFire Energy
- GRID Opportunity Solutions
- Halliburton
- Hephae Energy Technology
- Hypersciences
- Ignis Energy
- JRG Energy
- Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA)
- Magnuvis
- Meteorite Energy Services
- Nabors
- NOV Wellbore Technologies
- Ormat
- Patterson-UTI
- Petrolern
- Quaise Energy
- Quandary Geoscience
- Repsol
- Rothwell
- Sage Geosystems
- Stress Engineering Services
- Three360 Energy
- Transitional Energy
- Turboden
- Vallourec
- Vistra Energy
- Welltec
###
