Affairs

Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. officials said Monday that the company’s senior vice president/general counsel, Steven Helmers, will retire at the end of June and will be succeeded by Brian Iverson, currently senior vice president for regulatory/governmental affairs at the multi-state utility holding company. Iverson has held the additional role of assistant general counsel in recent years. Iverson has effectively assumed his new role and will retain his regulatory and government affairs responsibilities, reporting to CEO David Emery. Helmers will provide transition support until his retirement.

In the last two weeks, two veteran national oil and gas organizations have announced they are opening Washington, DC, operations to lobby for the midstream oil and natural gas industry.

Members of a panel testifying at a hearing of a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs subcommittee last week warned that allowing global conglomerates to own multiple pieces of the production and marketing chain for any commodity, including oil and natural gas, while simultaneously also speculating on the price of those commodities, opens the door to potential manipulation of prices.

Tom Hassenboehler, who has been vice president of policy development and legislative affairs at America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) since January 2011, is taking over as chief counsel for the Energy and Power Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over controversial energy and environmental issues. Hassenboehler previously worked on Capitol Hill for a decade as counsel for Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) on the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, and as counsel on the House Energy and Commerce panel. He also worked in the offices of former Reps. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and Bob Riley (R-AL). Hassenboehler will succeed Maryam Brown, whom House Speaker John Boehner tapped to be his top energy aide, according to sources. He has a bachelor’s degree and juris doctorate from Louisiana State University.

Tom Hassenboehler, who has been vice president of policy development and legislative affairs at America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) since January 2011, is taking over as chief counsel for the Energy and Power Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over controversial energy and environmental issues. Hassenboehler previously worked on Capitol Hill for a decade as counsel for Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) on the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, and as counsel on the House Energy and Commerce panel. He also worked in the offices of former Reps. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and Bob Riley (R-AL). Hassenboehler will succeed Maryam Brown, who House Speaker John Boehner tapped to be his top energy aide, according to sources. He has a bachelor’s degree and juris doctorate from Louisiana State University.

A University of Minnesota research team is working on a biotechnology-based process to purify wastewater from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations.

Coordinated regulation of oil and gas development is needed in Colorado, but no new laws are needed to achieve such an approach, according to a draft report from a task force created earlier this year by Gov. John Hickenlooper. The task force is scheduled to issue its final report to Hickenlooper and state lawmakers Wednesday.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) unanimously agreed Thursday to create a statewide registry for all nonpublic utility and hazardous liquids pipelines, to assess operators for the costs, and for its inspectors to begin enforcing federal pipeline safety laws on most classifications of pipeline.

Pennsylvania state Sen. Mary Jo White recently said she would not seek reelection this year after 14 years in office. The Republican from Venango County in northwestern Pennsylvania has chaired the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee for the past 12 years, placing her in the middle of the current debate over Marcellus Shale legislation. Under her watch, the committee crafted an impact fee on unconventional natural gas drilling (see Shale Daily, Jun 15, 2011) and increased coordination between gas drilling and coal mining (see Shale Daily, May 17, 2011). Before running for office, White served as a public defender in Venango and worked as the vice president of environmental and governmental affairs for Quaker State Corp.