Activities

Citing disasters involving commodities, from the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to recent crude oil tanker train crashes to the Three Mile Island nuclear leak in 1979, the Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday said it was re-examining the risk involved in the physical commodity activity of financial holding companies (FHC). The banking agency issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comment on how to limit risk.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, has urged the federal government to stop “mining, drilling and other extractive activities .. until employees are no longer locked out.”

Millennium Pipeline Co. LLC said Monday it has received approval from FERC to construct the proposed Hancock Compressor project in the town of Hancock in Delaware County, NY. The addition of the compressor station will allow for more Marcellus Shale gas to be pumped north to demand centers in the Northeast.

In the event of a potential government shutdown beginning at 12:00 a.m. (EST) on Oct. 1, FERC said the majority of its approximately 1,500 employees would be furloughed, while it would continue to inspect liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, monitor energy markets for manipulation or other violations of Commission rules and potential threats to energy infrastructure.

Shale gas production activities in the Barnett Shale have not resulted in volatile organic compound (VOC) exposures great enough to pose a health concern for area residents, according to a new study of the region’s air quality.

A report by environmental group Earthworks on the Eagle Ford Shale alleges “reckless endangerment” by regulator Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ); however, TCEQ has fired back that Earthworks is being reckless with the facts of its monitoring and enforcement of drilling, fracking and production in the region.

Oil and natural gas regulators in Wyoming on Tuesday initiated a rulemaking process for exploration and production (E&P) operators regarding water testing as part of the drilling permit application process.

The state of Wyoming will take the lead in the continuing investigation of the potential impact of natural gas production activities on drinking water in the Pavillion, WY, area, with the cooperation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is suspending its own investigation.

The state of Wyoming will take the lead in the continuing investigation of the potential impact of natural gas production activities on drinking water in the Pavillion, WY, area, with the cooperation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is suspending its own investigation.