Fiscal

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), as required by the budget deal for the current fiscal year, will not administratively designate any lands as “wild lands,” which opens the door for oil and natural gas production and other activities on these lands.

A breakthrough technology using an absorbent form of silica removed nearly all of the petrochemicals from water produced by hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) in natural gas shale wells and other geologic formations, Energy Department scientists reported late last week.

The Supreme Court of Arkansas on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling dismissing a lawsuit against the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) for leasing thousands of state-protected wildlife acres in the Fayetteville Shale for gas exploration.

Because of an anticipated funding shortfall for fiscal year (FY) 2012, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) may need additional authority from Congress to impose user fees on traders of futures and swaps to implement the new regulations required under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, said CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton.

The Obama administration fully supports a cumulative study of the effects of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, but it also supports the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) decision to release proposed rules that would allow some natural gas development projects before that study is completed, according to a letter written by Brigadier Gen. Peter A. DeLuca.

FERC last Thursday reported that it approved six settlement agreements in fiscal year (FY) 2010 for a total of $31.4 million in civil penalties and disgorgement of $281,038 plus interest.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Thursday reported that it approved six settlement agreements in fiscal year (FY) 2010 for a total of $31.4 million in civil penalties and disgorgement of $281,038 plus interest.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said it brought 57 enforcement actions in fiscal year (FY) 2010 for market and trading violations, which was 14% and 42% more than what was filed last year and in FY 2008, respectively.

Pennsylvania’s capital budget for fiscal year 2010-2011, which was approved Monday by the state’s House and last week by the state’s Senate, includes several Marcellus Shale-related infrastructure projects.