Economic

A recent study that showed the percentage of wells in Pennsylvania with pollution events has declined, thanks at least in part to the state’s regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), contained “significant errors and distortions” that undermine its conclusions, according to an analysis released by the Public Accountability Initiative (PAI), a nonprofit research organization based in Buffalo, NY.

Touting potential jobs and economic growth, California energy officials on Wednesday approved approximately $100 million in annual state funds to support the development of more alternative and renewable fuel vehicle technologies. Natural gas as a transportation fuel will benefit directly and indirectly for up to nearly one-third of the allotment.

Lifted by prices and successful well tests from an extension of the emerging Mississippian Lime play, oil production in Kansas rose last year, according to new estimates by the Kansas Geological Survey at the University of Kansas. Natural gas production in 2011, however, declined by more than 6%.

Proposed federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rules on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) violate the spirit of an earlier order by President Obama that called for the “least burdensome” regulations to be applied to allow for predictability and certainty, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead told U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in a letter last Thursday.

The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has outlined an initiative for wrestling with the growing mix of economic, political and environmental issues cropping up on public lands. BLM’s “Landscape Approach for Managing the Public Lands” initiative is to examine ecological conditions, patterns and management opportunities that may not be evident when managing smaller land areas, a BLM spokesperson said. This approach is designed to help the federal agency better manage the increasing demand for the use of public lands for recreation and energy development. BLM said its “landscape” approach will be a national program built on, connected to and supported by efforts in its field offices. The program was put together by a 12-member team consisting of managers from the Washington, DC, office, National Operations Center and state field offices in Alaska, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. The program will focus on two components: rapid ecoregional assessments and ecoregional direction.

The Blackfeet Nation in Montana and Florida-based Ecosphere Technologies said Tuesday they have agreed for Ecosphere to provide water treatment services to oil/gas operators using hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on portions of the Native American tribe’s 3,000-square-mile reservation.

To deal with growing midstream activity in western Oklahoma and the emerging Mississippi Lime, SemGroup Corp., Gavilon Midstream Energy LLC and an affiliate of Chesapeake Energy Corp. plan to construct a 210-mile crude oil pipeline to carry supplies to a 1 million bbl storage facility in Cushing, OK.

Several natural gas advocacy organizations are urging the federal government to extend the proposed economic incentive program for electric vehicles (EV) to include natural gas vehicles (NGV) and other alternative fuel vehicles.

Several natural gas advocacy organizations are urging the federal government to extend the proposed economic incentive program for electric vehicles (EVs) to include natural gas vehicles (NGVs) and other alternative fuel vehicles.