Environmental

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) said up to $4.5 million in grants is being made available to support development of a network of natural gas vehicle (NGV) fueling stations in Texas. The TCEQ Clean Transportation Triangle grants are part of the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan and are offered to entities that intend to build natural gas fueling stations along interstate highways connecting Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth (see Daily GPI, Jan. 17). The stations must be located no more than three miles from the interstate highways and must be made available to the public. A preference will be given to stations providing both liquefied natural gas and compressed natural gas at a single location and to stations located not more than one mile for an interstate highway system. The application deadline is April 16. For information visit www.terpgrants.org, or call (800) 919-8377.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead wrote the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lisa Jackson, on Monday complaining that his state has yet to get a full response from EPA to questions it raised about the federal agency’s two test wells near Pavillion, WY.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking nominations of nationally and/or internationally recognized scientists or engineers to conduct a “thorough and unbiased review” of a draft agency report released in December, which found that groundwater in Pavillion, WY, may be polluted by natural gas drilling and well stimulation practices (including hydraulic fracturing).

A Maryland panel is recommending that the state impose both a fee and a tax on shale gas development, as well as shift more costs to industry, but it did not propose specific details for any changes.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has fined Talisman Energy USA Inc. $51,478 for a well control incident that prompted the company to shut down all North American hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) operations in early 2011.

Research projects to study ways for improving the environmental performance of unconventional natural gas development are being sought by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), a facility of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy.

Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were in Dimock Township, PA on Thursday and Friday, asking residents to participate in a voluntary survey to address “potential gaps in sampling and sample results.”

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Mercury and Air Toxic Standards for power plants — commonly referred to as Utility MACT (for maximum achievable control technology) — were finalized recently, and while they cast a shadow on coal-fired generators, the stricter rules offer a brighter future for natural gas demand.

A coalition of four senators has sent a bipartisan letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expressing “growing concerns” about the broad approach that the agency seems to be taking to regulate fluids used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking), not just diesel fuels.