Hearing

As operators search for water treatment options in shale plays, they are hearing some crazy pitches, according to Rick McCurdy, senior engineering adviser for Chesapeake Energy Corp.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) issued separate permits to Patriot Water Treatment LLC and the City of Warren on Monday, barring the latter from accepting pre-treated wastewater from oil and natural gas drilling starting April 1.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Thursday initial test results of water samples taken from 11 households in the Carter Road/Meshoppen Creek Road area of Dimock Township, PA, do not indicate any levels of contamination from natural gas drilling.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a confirmation hearing Wednesday (March 14) to consider multiple nominations to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Interior Department. The nominees include Tony Clark, who currently is chairman of the North Dakota Public Service Commission, to be a FERC commissioner; John Norris for a second term at FERC; Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist for Deutsche Bank, to head the EIA; and Marcilynn Burke to be an assistant secretary of the Interior.

Wyoming is preparing a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a hearing of the state’s challenge to the federal “roadless rule,” which potentially has an impact on oil, gas and future mineral development on federal lands (see Daily GPI, Dec. 7, 2011). Gov. Matt Mead said he decided to seek high court review following the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals denial of Wyoming’s petition for an en banc court rehearing in the case, which Mead has maintained “raises legal questions of exceptional importance.” The Tenth Circuit reversed of an earlier Wyoming federal district court injunction against the U.S. Forestry Service’s designation of additional wilderness areas through the roadless rule, and the state continues to argue that the federal forestry agency’s actions circumvented Congress, which is the only legitimate source of wilderness designations. “The roadless rule has seriously impacted Wyoming, our people, our industries and the health of our forests,” Mead said. “Given the consequences, it is important to ask the Supreme Court to hear this case.”

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.”

Environmentalists say Delaware Gov. Jack Markell will be in a key position to oppose hydraulic fracturing (fracking) when the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) meets on Monday, but they admit they are unsure of where he stands on Marcellus Shale development within the basin.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) later this month plans to consider adopting water quality regulations that would apply to all natural gas development projects in the basin, including the construction and operation of all gas wells, regardless of the target geologic formation, whether a well is for production or exploration, or whether high-volume or low-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is being considered.

Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) has launched a campaign to prevent Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania’s state parks. The campaign was unveiled by John H. Quigley, a special adviser to PennFuture and former secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).