Addresses

The Obama administration Friday released a national strategy that addresses the environmental, climate change and oil and gas development potential in the Arctic Region.

The University at Buffalo (UB) will close its Shale Resources and Society Institute (SRSI), which during its seven-month life issued a hydraulic fracturing (fracking) study that was the target of criticism from several areas, including some UB staff, university President Satish Tripathi said Monday.

Shying away from any political observations on what a presidential change in Washington, DC, might bring, speakers in keynote addresses and panel discussions focused on financial and environmental regulations, shale developments and future pricing as the key drivers in the natural gas industry at the LDC Gas Forum Midcontinent meeting in Chicago, held Sept. 10-12.

Two U.S. shareholder groups that together have more than $130 billion in investor assets on Tuesday called for more transparency by natural gas operators that use hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

A nonprofit environmental group recommends British Columbia keep a close eye on the shale gas industry, warning that expanding development in the Montney and Horn River shale plays could hamper the province’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and put stress on water sources.

The Interior Department issued a new directive Friday to oil and gas lessees and operators requiring them to submit information that addresses prevention measures for a possible blowout, and then followed up Monday with the swearing in of Michael R. Bromwich who will take over the restructuring of the Minerals Management Service into the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOE).

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. told regional water quality officials in Southern California that the utility will begin early this month installing a larger pump to draw chromium 6-tainted groundwater out of the desert floor around the Colorado River at the California-Arizona border, preventing it from reaching the river waters, which are a major source of drinking water in the southern end of California.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. told regional water quality officials in Southern California that the utility will begin early this month installing a larger pump to draw chromium 6-tainted groundwater out of the desert floor around the Colorado River at the California-Arizona border, preventing it from reaching the river waters, which are a major source of drinking water in the southern end of California.

Peoples Energy CEO Thomas M. Patrick said a review by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) of the utility’s purchasing practices last year “will show that the company conducted its business prudently and that none of our practices increased costs to customers.” He added that the case is on a typical procedural schedule that would bring it to conclusion early in 2003.