Association

In a report that aired Sunday, CBS News said New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will make an announcement sometime after Sept. 3 that high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) will be allowed to move forward in the state, ending a four-year wait and an effective moratorium on the practice.

The Louisiana Oil and Gas Association (LOGA) is launching a television show, called “The Energy Zone.” It will be the only television talk show in the state focused on the oil and gas industry. The show premieres Tuesday, Aug. 7. The 30-minute show will be hosted by LOGA’s Gifford Briggs. Briggs will host interviews with industry insiders, elected officials, field experts and many others. It will be televised weekly on Cox 4 on Tuesdays at 6 p.m., and Wednesdays and Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. Additional airings for the Acadiana Region will begin on Friday at 6:30 a.m. and will occur throughout the week on the Acadiana Open Channel. LOGA is also negotiating air times for the Shreveport and Ark-La-Tex region. For more information, visit www.theenergyzone.tv.

A crowd of about 5,000 showed up recently for the third annual community picnic hosted by Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. at the Harford Fair Grounds in Susquehanna County, PA. Attendees included residents in the Marcellus Shale area, oil and gas industry representatives and their suppliers and a healthy contingent of Cabot employees manning displays from shale rock samples to compressed gas equipment.

All but two of Encana Corp.’s 35 shut-in natural gas wells were back in service Tuesday in the Piceance Basin as the danger from the Pine Ridge fire along the Western Slope in Colorado continued to subside. The two remaining shut-in wells are “low-producing” and located in the north end of the Piceance, an Encana spokesperson told NGI.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead appealed to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Thursday for more time to review the proposed Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rules on hydraulic fracturing (fracking). In a letter to the Obama administration cabinet member, Mead asked for an extension of the comment period on the draft BLM rules.

Cheap natural gas might be weighing on producers but it’s been a boon for consumers and economic development, according to a study by the American Gas Association (AGA) that says consumers have saved $250 billion over the last three years.

The Colorado Mining Association (CMA) has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider its challenge to the Clinton-era “roadless rule,” which places restrictions on road-building to carry out energy exploration and production, logging and other commercial activities on forest lands. The CMA petition comes only days after the State of Wyoming petitioned the high court to review the October 2011 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which had overturned a 2008 U.S. District Court ruling permanently enjoining the enforcement of the roadless rule (see Daily GPI, Oct. 25, 2011). Because the roadless rule violated the National Environmental Policy Act and Wilderness Act. it “must be set aside,” U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer of Wyoming wrote in his 2008 decision (see Daily GPI, Aug. 14, 2008). “If allowed to stand, the roadless rule will effectively prevent future mining operations on roadless lands lead to a decrease in mineral and coal production, job losses and sharp decreases in taxes and revenues,” said attorney Paul Seby, who filed the CMA’s petition with the high court.

A Canadian family doctors’ association has called for the government of New Brunswick to enact a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), while researchers with the University of New Brunswick (UNB) are urging Fredericton to proceed with caution.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has delayed implementation of Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law, “due to an ambiguity with an injunction imposed by the state’s Commonwealth Court,” the PUC said late Thursday.