Compromise

Seven oil and natural gas companies have thrown their support behind Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s efforts to find a compromise on local control of drilling-related activities. The companies are Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) members.

Elected officials in Fort Collins, CO, 60 miles north of Denver, on Tuesday rejected two proposals to extend the city’s oil/natural gas drilling moratorium, which is set to expire at the end of July. The measures were defeated on 4-3 votes of the seven-member city council.

The federal government and states would reach a compromise on regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) if the parties agreed to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the issue, a Texas official told a House panel Wednesday.

Lawmakers in the Vermont House of Representatives were to vote Friday on a bill that would ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the Green Mountain State and require regulators with the state Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to submit a report by 2015 on the best ways to regulate the practice.

After a chemical disclosure bill was shot down last year, critics of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in California are attempting to rekindle a fire in Sacramento to heat up both regulators and legislators, according to a report in Thursday’s Los Angeles Times. Focused on ways to create jobs, Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration has shied away from the issue, fearing it could stymie growth in the energy sector.

As a compromise bill to impose an impact fee on unconventional natural gas plodded through the Pennsylvania legislature Tuesday, Gov. Tom Corbett assumed a favorable outcome, commending lawmakers for their cooperation, saying he was “looking forward to signing the legislation into law.”

As a compromise bill to impose an impact fee on unconventional natural gas plodded through the Pennsylvania legislature Tuesday, Gov. Tom Corbett assumed a favorable outcome, commending lawmakers for their cooperation, saying he was “looking forward to signing the legislation into law.”

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin appears poised to call a special session of the legislature in mid-December to discuss, and hopefully pass, a compromise Marcellus Shale regulatory reform bill.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin appears poised to call a special session of the legislature in mid-December to discuss, and hopefully pass, a compromise Marcellus Shale regulatory reform bill.