Dumping

Responding to petitions from several U.S.-based steelmakers, the Commerce Department on Friday imposed a stiff tariff on tubular steel (pipe) imported from South Korea and eight other nations. Steel companies and the U.S. steelworkers union lauded the Obama administration’s action.

Michael Guesman, an employee of Hardrock Excavating LLC, admitted Thursday that he dumped oilfield waste into a storm drain that empties into the Mahoning River near Youngstown, OH, a violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) that prompted the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) to permanently revoke the operating permits for Hardrock and a second company also alleged to have violated the CWA.

Levying the largest civil penalty ever — $1.5 million — for an oil and natural gas violation, the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) last Wednesday found a small operator, Halek Operating ND LLC, guilty of violating state standards for disposing of salt water, a byproduct of oil production, in an injection well.

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.

With a major winter storm bearing down on the Northeast after dumping copious amounts of snow in the South Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic states, prices were up across the board Monday. All Northeast citygates recorded $5-plus advances, with a few skyrocketing by more than $7.

Houston-based distributors TE Products Pipeline Co. LLC and TEPPCO Crude Pipeline LLC have been fined approximately $2.8 million for allegedly dumping fuel into waterways in the South, the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency said last Wednesday.

Houston-based distributors TE Products Pipeline Co. LLC and TEPPCO Crude Pipeline LLC have been fined approximately $2.8 million for allegedly dumping fuel into waterways in the South, the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday.

Despite continuing extreme cold in the Northeast, spot prices sharply reversed course Tuesday with Transco Zone 6 New York dumping more than $24 to end the day with an average slightly less than $16. Other Northeast locations were off $2-$5.75 into the $9-12 range.

It was deja vu all over again, as Hurricane Rita slowly churned into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico as a Category Two storm after dumping heavy rain in the Florida Keys on Tuesday. The storm is expected to intensify into a Category Three and its center was projected to reach the middle of the production area off Texas sometime Friday. In preparation, energy companies were stepping up offshore evacuations.