Controversial

President Obama on Friday requested that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdraw its controversial draft Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards, saying he did not support asking state and local governments to begin implementing a new standard that is due to be reconsidered again in less than two years.

President Obama on Friday requested that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdraw its controversial draft Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards, saying he did not support asking state and local governments to begin implementing a new standard that is due to be reconsidered again in less than two years.

Range Resources Corp. has gone on the offensive in its battle with a North Texas landowner and a controversial environmental consultant widely believed to have an anti-gas industry agenda. In its response to a lawsuit over alleged water well contamination, the company said it wants to be compensated for millions of dollars in damages caused by false allegations.

Range Resources Corp. has gone on the offensive in its battle with a North Texas landowner and a controversial environmental consultant widely believed to have an anti-gas industry agenda. In its response to a lawsuit over alleged water well contamination, the company said it wants to be compensated for millions of dollars in damages caused by false allegations.

A self-described national ethics organization has asked the New York Times’ public editor, who essentially serves as the newspaper’s ombudsman, to investigate its controversial front-page series deriding the shale gas industry.

A self-described national ethics organization has asked the New York Times’ public editor, who essentially serves as the newspaper’s ombudsman, to investigate its controversial front-page series deriding the shale gas industry.

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber signed a bill (SB 967) that repealed a controversial law (SB 408) passed six years ago requiring annual state regulatory adjustments to align retail utility rates with the actual amounts of taxes paid by the state’s four major investor-owned utilities. NW Natural, the gas-only utility distribution company based in Portland, said it has had a surcharge in place every year that the tax true-up law has been in existence. As a result of the new law being effective immediately, NW Natural said it will be denied recovery of its surcharge for the 2010 tax year. The gas utility said it is now required to record a one-time pre-tax charge to earnings in the second quarter this year of approximately $7.4 million ($4.4 million, or 17 cents/share, after tax) related to amounts earned from the surcharge last year. The original law grew out of a concern that utilities were collecting more in taxes as part of customer rates than they were paying out to governments (see Daily GPI, April 15, 2008).

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last Thursday closed out its final meeting of the year by putting off consideration of the most controversial of its proposed regulatory reforms — setting limits on the amount of speculative trading of derivative swaps by a single entity — and making it highly unlikely that the agency will meet the congressionally mandated deadline for imposing position limits.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Thursday punted the most controversial of its proposed regulations — setting limits on the amount of speculative trading of derivative swaps by a single entity, abruptly adjourning its meeting after discussing a staff proposal. The next scheduled meeting is next year.