Natural gas production in Louisiana last year hit a level not seen since 1980, according to state records. In 2010 the state produced nearly 2.06 Tcf, which is nudging up against the 2.67 Tcf produced 21 years ago. The state’s figures include wet gas after lease separation and exclude production from the Outer Continental Shelf. The Haynesville Shale area was credited for the rise in production — although Bill Delmar, assistant director of technology assessment for the state’s Department of Natural Resources, said it could not yet be determined how much of the production was from the Haynesville play proper. “The data just doesn’t split out that way for us; we’re in the process of trying to do that right now,” he told NGI’s Shale Daily. However, he said, “We could speculate that it was coming from the Haynesville Shale.”

New York City-based law firm Napoli Bern Ripka LLP, which specializes in mass tort litigation, is suing Anschutz Exploration Corp. and its contractors on behalf of nine families that claim their drinking water was contaminated by the company’s gas exploration and drilling activities in Horseheads, NY. The complaint alleges that property values for homes owned by the nine families have been reduced and the families’ health has been jeopardized. The lawsuit was filed with the Supreme Court of The State of New York in Chemung County. According to the complaint, Denver-based Anschutz owns two gas wells that were drilled almost 10,000 feet vertically and then horizontally into New York’s Trenton Black River shale formation, which is roughly twice as deep as the Marcellus Shale. The lawsuit alleges that the company was negligent in its drilling, construction and operation of the wells. A spokesman for privately held Anschutz did not respond to NGI’s request for comment.

Thirty Texas lawmakers wrote to Gov. Rick Perry seeking an emergency proclamation for additional air monitors in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to track emissions from Barnett Shale natural gas activity. The monitors would be funded through the Texas Emission Reduction Program (TERP), the 22 House members and eight senators wrote. The area to be monitored would include the 16 counties of Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) regions 3 and 4. Up to 20 new monitors would be added to those already on the ground using $5 million of TERP funding. Each monitor costs up to $250,000 for the equipment, installation and the first year of operation. Operating each monitor will cost up to $100,000 per year thereafter, according to TCEQ. Testing for 46 different volatile organic compounds (VOC), including benzene, the monitors also provide total non-methane VOC concentrations and meteorological data, which are important in analyzing air quality readings, according to TCEQ.

TransCanada Corp. reported that a one-time charge for the Mackenzie Gas Project offset its fourth quarter profits. Excluding the charge, the Calgary-based company saw comparable earnings increase C$56 million from 4Q2009. TransCanada, the largest pipeline and power company in Canada, posted net income of C$269 million, or C39 cents a share, for 4Q2010, a decline from the C$381 million, or C56 cents/share, that it posted in 4Q2009. For the year, net income totaled C$1.2 billion, or C$1.78/share, down from the C$1.4 billion, or C$2.11/share, that was made in 2009. Net income was affected by a one-time, after-tax payment of C$127 million to the Aboriginal Pipeline Group.

The largest underground natural gas storage field in California, Southern California Gas Co.’s (SoCalGas) Aliso Canyon facility, is drawing protests over a proposed expansion. Nearby residents are still smarting from a 2008 wildfire that was allegedly sparked by a downed electrical line maintained by the Sempra Energy gas utility for operations at the 100 Bcf, 3,600-acre storage complex on the north side of the City of Los Angeles. One homeowner has asked the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to delay the proposed $200 million Aliso Canyon expansion until lawsuits stemming from the 2008 blaze are settled. Upgraded power lines to serve the storage operation would be part of the expansion, which was originally outlined for the CPUC in 2009. SoCalGas has characterized the work as part of the “state’s forward-looking gas policy,” and more specifically a mandate from the CPUC and state legislature to promote more competitive gas storage services in the state.

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