Constitute

A Pennsylvania judge has ruled against a Lycoming County landowner who had argued an oil and gas lease could not be extended because he was not aware of an extension clause.

A coalition of landowners in Wayne County, PA says it has “run out of patience” with the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), and is urging the organization to either enact natural gas regulations or step aside and let the states do so.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) agreed Thursday to a request by New York that any water withdrawal applications for natural gas development in the state be postponed until the Empire State completes its environmental review of hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

A proposal before the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to revise its water quality regulations and open the basin to Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling suffered a serious setback after Delaware Gov. Jack Markell said Thursday his state would vote against the plan.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s proposed standard as to what would constitute prohibited behavior in natural gas markets in the future is “highly vague,” says EnCana Marketing (USA) Inc. It urged the agency not only to reject the proposed standard, but to defer further action on it until the investigations into the market behavior of gas suppliers have been completed.

Armed with “preliminary evidence” of manipulation of prices for short-term electric and natural gas markets in western markets, FERC launched formal investigations last week into the potentially illegal pricing activities of three Enron Corp. affiliates — Portland General Electric, Enron Power Marketing and Enron Capital and Trade Resources Corp. — and El Paso Electric, Avista Corp. and marketing affiliate Avista Energy to determine the extent of any wrongdoing and the type of disciplinary actions warranted.

Noting that the advent of rolling blackouts constitute a threat to the state’s health and welfare, California’s two top legislative leaders Tuesday filed a suit against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, requesting the court to order the federal regulators to provide just and reasonable wholesale electricity rates.