1992

Ask and you shall receive.

As the final days for public comment over proposed rules governing high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) tick away, legislators in the New York State Assembly have introduced a flurry of bills on the practice, including one to extend a moratorium on it until June 1, 2013.

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is urging the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to adopt his proposal for an industry-funded program that would help pay for possible damages attributed to development in the Marcellus Shale.

Responding to complaints that its findings were biased in favor of drilling, a consulting firm that studied the socioeconomic impact of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in New York has been asked to go back and do more research.

The natural gas industry said it was largely supportive of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) final draft report on the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Tens of thousands of new jobs would be created in the Empire State if regulators decide to allow shale development, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) reported in the final draft of its report on the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on Wednesday.

R. Bruce Northcutt, the president and COO of Copano Energy LLC, has been elected CEO following the death of John R. Eckel Jr., who was chairman and CEO. Eckel, who was 58, founded Copano in 1992 and served as president and CEO until April 2003 when he was named chairman. Under Eckel’s leadership, Copano grew from a single 23-mile natural gas pipeline to a successful midstream natural gas company with more than 6,000 miles of pipeline and seven processing plants in Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming and Louisiana. Copano was the first midstream company to trade publicly as a limited liability company. In addition to his roles at Copano, Eckel served on the board and on the executive committee of the Texas Pipeline Association, and as CEO of Live Oak Reserves Inc., an exploration and production company that he founded in 1986. William L. Thacker, who has served on Copano’s board since the company’s initial public offering, has been elected chairman.

John R. Eckel Jr., chairman and CEO of Houston-based Copano Energy LLC, has died, company officials said. Eckel, who was 58, founded Copano in 1992 and served as president and CEO until April 2003 when he was named chairman. Under Eckel’s leadership, Copano grew from a single 23-mile natural gas pipeline to a successful midstream natural gas company with more than 6,000 miles of pipeline and seven processing plants in Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming and Louisiana. Copano was the first midstream company to trade publicly as a limited liability company. In addition to his roles at Copano, Eckel served on the board and on the executive committee of the Texas Pipeline Association, and as CEO of Live Oak Reserves Inc., an exploration and production company that he founded in 1986. In separate news, R. Bruce Northcutt, the company’s president and COO, was elected as CEO and to the board. William L. Thacker, who has served on Copano’s board since the company’s initial public offering, has been elected chairman.

Will the South Atlantic region be the next ‘California 1992’ or ‘California 2000?’ That’s the question Arlington, VA-based consulting firm Energy and Environmental Analysis Inc.(EEA) asked in its July Monthly Gas Update because of all the pipeline expansions planned for the region and the current financial turmoil affecting the companies who are behind the new projects.