Calls

Two environmental groups — the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) — are urging the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to amend the state’s Oil & Gas Act, specifically calling for reforms to the permitting process for Marcellus Shale wells and enacting tougher rules on hydraulic fracturing.

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has been around for decades with little or no environmental problems, and it is a key to the nation’s energy independence through stepped up use of plentiful natural gas supplies in transportation, oilman-turned-clean transportation advocate T. Boone Pickens told a National Press Club luncheon Tuesday in which he tackled a wide-ranging set of energy, environmental and political issues with fellow billionaire and CNN founder Ted Turner.

Offering high hopes but no consensus on a strategy, the latest report from the Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA) calls natural gas a potential U.S. energy solution, although it hastened to point out that opinions still vary widely on how to make that happen.

With calls for protection against “rate shock” by the National Energy Board (NEB), international and domestic natural gas shippers are fighting the second attempt this winter to raise tolls on TransCanada PipeLines (TCPL).

With calls for protection against “rate shock” by the National Energy Board (NEB), international and domestic natural gas shippers are fighting the second attempt this winter to raise tolls on TransCanada PipeLines (TCPL).

In what the chairman calls a “new chapter” for the company, a subsidiary of High Plains Gas Inc. (HPG) has acquired 155,000 net operated acres in the gas-rich Powder River Basin (PRB).

In what the chairman calls a “new chapter” for the company, a subsidiary of High Plains Gas Inc. (HPG) has acquired 155,000 net operated acres in the gas-rich Powder River Basin (PRB).

Citing the need for a national clean energy standard, NRG Energy Inc. CEO David Crane lashed out (again) Wednesday at what he calls the “tyranny of natural gas” as part of his pitch for Congress to consider not only a national renewable energy standard, but a clean energy standard including all zero-emission options, such as nuclear generating plants.

Some residents of Fort Worth, TX — which sits atop the Barnett Shale — would like to see their city and state reconsider policies on siting and regulation of natural gas pipelines. A group of neighborhood associations said Thursday that citizens of other shale gas towns could learn from mistakes made in their city.