Crafting

Forced pooling is critical to ensuring that the Marcellus Shale is developed to its fullest, but crafting those laws will be difficult because of the unique nature of shale and the slim legal history of pooling in Appalachia, a natural resources legal expert told a Pittsburgh audience Tuesday.

Lawmakers should look to the recent crafting of “one of the most comprehensive underground mine safety laws in the country” for inspiration when they consider the further regulation of Marcellus Shale natural gas activities in Pennsylvania, John Hanger, secretary of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), told a state Senate panel Wednesday.

The trio of senators crafting energy and climate change legislation has signaled that language barring federal regulation of the production technique known as hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracing) will not be included in the measure, the head of the American Gas Association (AGA) said Tuesday.

The trio of senators crafting energy and climate change legislation has signaled that language barring federal regulation of the production technique known as hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracing) will not be included in the measure, the head of the American Gas Association (AGA) said Tuesday.

To be sure, relations between FERC and the states can get testy at times. But it would be the wrong call for FERC to give up on trying to work with the states in crafting energy policy, John Moot, general counsel at the federal agency, said last week.

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) last Thursday urged fellow lawmakers crafting a comprehensive energy bill to place restrictions on what he called FERC’s “virtually unintelligible, 638-page” proposed rulemaking for a standard market design (SMD) in U.S. wholesale electricity markets.