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Sponsors

The EENR Center would like to recognize and thank our current sponsors:

Underwriter
Blank Rome LLP
Bracewell LLP

Benefactor
Vinson & Elkins LLP

Collaborating co-sponsor
with the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law
ENTRA Energy Transactions LLC

The Houston law firm of Connelly Baker & Wotring LLP provided initial funding to create the EENR Center, and we gratefully recognize them as a Founding Partner.

Become a sponsor of the EENR Center

Owning Heat: Legal and Practical Challenges to Allocating Ownership Rights in Geothermal Energy

Tuesday, January 20, 2026
1:00 – 2:00 PM Central
Via Zoom

Register

Approved for 1.0 hour of Texas MCLE credit


Headshot of Professor Gabriel Eckstein

Speaker

Gabriel Eckstein
Professor of Law
Director of the Energy, Environmental, and Natural Resource Systems Law Program
Director of the Environmental & Natural Resources Systems Clinic
Texas A&M University School of Law

About the webinar

The Earth contains 50,000 times more heat energy within the top 10,000 meters of the surface than contained in all of the world’s oil and natural gas resources combined. Yet, geothermal energy accounts for a mere 0.4% of the total electricity generated in the United States. Ambiguity in property rights related to geothermal energy is one of the challenges constraining expansion of this energy sector in the U.S.

While landowners have clear ownership rights to oil, gas, water, and other tangible natural resources in their subsoil, the same cannot be said for subsurface thermal energy in many U.S. states. This presentation explores the legal and practical challenges to owning an incorporeal, uncontainable, natural resource that is better defined as a characteristic of underground formations rather than as a physical or tangible thing.

The program also proffers two ownership models that balance the need to incentivize investment in geothermal energy with the sustainable development of this promising clean energy resource.

Registration

Register for the Zoom webinar here: https://uhlc.zoom.us/meeting/register/eLfbkE3ySimnUjuMEULTcQ

Sponsors

The EENR Center would like to recognize and thank our current sponsors:

Underwriter
Blank Rome LLP
Bracewell LLP

Benefactor
Vinson & Elkins LLP

Collaborating co-sponsor
with the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law
ENTRA Energy Transactions LLC

The Houston law firm of Connelly Baker & Wotring LLP provided initial funding to create the EENR Center, and we gratefully recognize them as a Founding Partner.

Become a sponsor of the EENR Center