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Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were in Dimock Township, PA on Thursday and Friday, asking residents to participate in a voluntary survey to address “potential gaps in sampling and sample results.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is challenging a Pennsylvania policy for measuring air emissions, including those from Marcellus Shale development.

Shareholder proposals requesting information on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) practices, which received an average 30.3% shareholder support in 2010, are becoming more popular, receiving an average 40.7% support this year, according to Institutional Shareholder Services. The corporate proxy firm has proposed a policy calling on shareholders to vote for proposals requesting greater disclosure of fracking operations, including measures companies have taken to mitigate potential community and environmental impacts. Current ISS policy does not specifically address fracking-related shareholder proposals.

While environmentalists and some citizens are opposed to the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to develop shale natural gas, experts — one of whom has studied fracking for more than 41 years — told a Senate committee the practice does not negatively impact drinking water or the environment.

A voluntary first-of-its-kind groundwater sampling program was launched this month by Colorado’s energy industry to “proactively” address concerns associated with drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

A big push begun six to eight years ago among public-sector utilities in California to hedge their bets on natural gas to address growing concerns about wholesale price volatility has come under fire as some municipalities struggle with a recessionary economy and continuing low gas prices.

California’s first legislative attempt (AB 591) to address hydraulic fracturing (fracking) will be placed in the state Senate Appropriation Committee’s suspense file when the legislature returns from its summer recess. It is then to be voted on closer to the end of the legislative session in an appropriations panel meeting. The bill is aimed at chemical disclosure of fracking chemicals. The bill’s author, Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, said “several reports” from the oil and gas industry suggest that California is on the “cusp of a boom” in unconventional oil and gas recovery. Chemicals used and sources and amounts of water in the fracking process would be disclosed as a result of AB 591, Wieckowski said.

Inspired by pioneering legislation in Texas, a Pennsylvania state lawmaker is proposing a bill that would require Marcellus Shale operators to disclose all the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) operations.

California’s proposed law (AB 591) to address hydraulic fracturing (fracking) passed a second hurdle, being voted out 5-1 from the state Senate Environmental Quality Committee (EQ). The measure has been sent to the Senate Appropriations Committee, but no hearing date has been set. AB 591’s author, Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, told EQ that the proposal is a “modest” attempt to provide state regulators in the Division of Oil and Gas with added information on fracking. Wieckowski emphasized that fracking in some form has been around for the past 50 years in California, but only recently has the oil/gas sector begun to use more sophisticated techniques that carry greater potential impact on the state’s water quality. The bill is aimed at chemical disclosure for operators using the fracking process and comes at a time that Wieckowski said “several reports” from the oil/gas industry have indicated California is on the “cusp of a boom” in unconventional oil/gas recovery because of drilling technique advancement, such as fracking. Chemicals used and sources and amounts of water in the fracking process will be disclosed as a result of AB 591, Wieckowski said.