The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Friday that a fourth and final round of testing indicates that water from 12 private wells in Dimock Township, PA is safe to drink, and found no evidence of contamination from natural gas drilling.
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New York Landowners Group Presents ‘Declaration of Rights’
A coalition of New York landowners who support natural gas development came to the state capital on Wednesday to meet elected officials backing their cause and to deliver them a six-point landowners’ “declaration of rights.”
With Record Production in First Quarter, Ultra Cuts Capex
Ultra Petroleum Corp. said that while it produced record volumes during 1Q2012 and was optimistic about its plans to target oil shale in the Niobrara, it would follow the example of its joint venture (JV) partners in the Marcellus and cut capital expenditures (capex) for the rest of the year.
Industry Brief
The ConocoPhillips board of directors has given final approval to spin off the downstream businesses as Phillips 66 at close of business on April 30, which would result in ConocoPhillips becoming the largest pure-play, upstream independent in North America (see Daily GPI, July 15, 2011). The companies would be headquartered in Houston. Chairman and CEO Ryan Lance would lead ConocoPhillips. Phillips 66, to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange as “PSX,” would be led by Chairman and CEO Greg Garland and would comprise the refining and marketing; midstream and chemicals businesses.
Group Calls for Continuing Work on Pennsylvania Regulations
As Pennsylvania worked toward overhauling environmental rules for shale development in February, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) said “while this legislation is not perfect, the people of Pennsylvania are better served by passage of this bill now than to wait another year or longer for something stronger.”
Drilling Reductions May Create Recycling Problem
The decrease in drilling expected in the Marcellus Shale this year could have an unexpected consequence: reducing the amount of flowback water that operators reuse at well sites.
Maryland House Passes 7.5% Severance Tax on Natural Gas
The Maryland House of Delegates passed a 7.5% state severance tax on natural gas production on Monday, which if adopted would become the highest severance tax rate for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale.
Maryland House of Delegates Passes Two Marcellus Bills
The Maryland House of Delegates passed two Marcellus Shale regulatory bills on Saturday, adding clarity to how lawmakers expect the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to regulate oil and natural gas operators, as well as several aspects of their drilling activities.
BLM: No Decision Yet on Raising Royalty Rate
The head of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday that the agency has not made a final decision on whether to hike the onshore royalty rate to 18.75% from its existing 12.50%.
House Republicans, Salazar Square Off Over Fracking
Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) took center stage at a House hearing Wednesday on the fiscal year (FY) 2013 Interior Department budget, with Secretary Ken Salazar saying that he hopes that federal government research into the shale gas practice will end “a lot of the hysteria” surrounding the drilling practice.