Environment

Regulators must take a harder line when it comes to natural gas drilling’s effects on Texas’ environment, and the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), “long the oil and gas industry’s lapdog, must become a watchdog,” as activity in the Eagle Ford Shale increases, according to a report released Thursday by Earthworks’ Texas Oil & Gas Accountability Project (OGAP).

Action is pending following hearing of the Washington state legislature’s House Environment Committee, which is considering a Senate-passed measure (SB 5769) calling for the phased closure of the state’s only coal-fired electric generation plant and the construction of a natural gas-fired plant on adjacent property at the Centralia coal facility (see Daily GPI, March 9). A committee staff member told NGI Friday that there is no established date for when the committee will vote on the measure, which is the outgrowth of an agreement earlier this year among Centralia plant operator/owner TransAlta, environmental groups and the state. The legislation is conditioned upon certain state and federal regulatory actions, including getting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to exempt the coal-fired plant from looming greenhouse gas emissions restrictions, that would save TransAlta some $600 million on emission-control equipment while it still sold power to utilities in the region.

The Gasland documentary film continues to dog the footsteps of the natural gas industry (see Shale Daily, Feb. 16). The film’s director Josh Fox and actor-turned-activist Mark Ruffalo flanked Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Rep Jared Polis (D-CO) and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) Thursday as they announced plans to reintroduce legislation to regulate the practice of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) at the federal level.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has been named the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, which holds the purse strings to the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — agencies with which she has had policy disputes during the last couple of years.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has been named the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, which holds the purse strings to the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — agencies with which she has had policy disputes during the last couple of years.

Leading Republican policymakers on energy and the environment Monday filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court challenging the authority of the judicial branch to address environmental and economic issues associated with federal climate change policy.

Wyoming requires a “balanced approach” to protect the state’s wildlife and environment while allowing for all types of energy development, incoming Gov. Matt Mead said last week.

Wyoming requires a “balanced approach” to protect the state’s wildlife and environment while allowing for all types of energy development, incoming Gov. Matt Mead said Wednesday.

Eight out of nine major national and regional hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) service providers have agreed to submit “timely and complete information” to help the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conduct its study on hydrofracking and its impact on drinking water quality, the EPA said Tuesday. Halliburton, after failing to comply with the agency’s voluntary requests for information, has been subpoenaed.