Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett signed a bill recently giving state regulators authority over gathering lines. The law makes the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) the “state agent” of the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, a designation shared by the regulatory body in every natural gas producing state except Alaska. With the authority the PUC can now inspect and investigate pipelines that are not public utilities. Because the law only allows the PUC to enforce federal regulations, it does not give the agency oversight over pipelines in sparsely populated corners of the state, known as “Class I” gathering lines. But the law does allow the PUC to hire at least 12 additional inspectors to ease the increased workload, with the positions paid for by a combination of federal funds and industry fees.

The New Mexico State Land Office earned more than $2 million from its oil and gas lease sale in December. The sale covered three counties in the southeastern corner of the state. Two dozen tracts were completely sold, covering Chaves, Eddy and Lea counties, the agency said. The highest bid was placed by Roswell, NM-based Crown Oil Partners, which paid $300,000 for 320 acres in Eddy County. Proceeds from the sale go into a state trust that helps fund public schools, hospitals and universities. For the year, the State Land Office said it generated more than $93 million for the trust.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is fining a Chesapeake Energy Corp. subsidiary, Appalachia Midstream Services LLC, $19,510 for erosion and sedimentation violations. At an inspection in February Bradford County officials found that Appalachia Midstream violated the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law, Dam Safety and Encroachment Act and other state regulation by not implementing the required best management practices to control erosion and sediment runoff during construction. The DEP sent a notice of violation in late March, but during an inspection in May it found that the problems persisted. “Appalachia Midstream did not correct the violations documented in February by the Bradford County Conservation District until August, which is far longer than needed,” DEP North-Central Regional Director Nels Taber said. “We continue to work to ensure that the companies DEP regulates take their compliance obligations seriously.”

Federal investigators are looking into an alleged fraud scheme luring investors over the Internet in fictitious oil and gas development projects on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana over the past three years using front companies named Domestic Energy Solutions and U.S. Oil and Gas LLC. The former company used a 2006 letter from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) claiming it had obtained three leases on Fort Peck to lure small investors in California and Nevada. Records show Domestic did successfully bid on leases in 2006, but they were subsequently canceled the next year for lack of payment. This year the oil and gas company surfaced soliciting investments in the refinery project on the reservation for which it had sought a letter of intent from BIA to build the refinery as a partner with the Domestic firm whose business address in Yorba Linda, CA, turned out to be a UPS Store mailbox. U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Strong of Great Falls, MT, has approved warrants for federal investigators to search Yahoo! and Microsoft offices in California for records of the e-mail accounts used to solicit the investments or contact BIA.

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