Impacts

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which had been scheduled on Wednesday to release the final draft of a report on the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), said the report has been delayed because the department is too busy assisting with cleanup related to Hurricane Irene.

Anticipating limited operational flexibility to manage positive imbalances in downstream Zones 4, 5 and 6 due to possible impacts of Hurricane Irene, Tennessee issued an Imbalance Warning to become effective Saturday in those zones. All delivery point operators are required to keep actual daily takes out of the system equal to or greater than scheduled quantities regardless of their cumulative imbalance position, while all zone receipt point operators must keep actual daily receipts into the system equal to or less than scheduled quantities regardless of their cumulative imbalance position.

A large coalition of public health and environmental groups has launched a campaign to regulate chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and other exploration and production (E&P) processes at the source, petitioning the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require disclosure from chemical manufacturers and processors.

The disputed dollar impacts are sufficiently large and the deficit reduction talks equally intense so a full range of federal energy subsidies need to be debated by Congress and others, according to a white paper issued recently by the Washington DC-based Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) which generally supports renewable energy.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said he was concerned about the Morgantown City Council’s decision Tuesday night to pass an ordinance banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within the city and an adjacent one-mile buffer zone, and requested the city to “confine its governance to its city limits.”

Rediscovered as an oil/gas industry practice that hasn’t been high on California’s radar, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is taking on a higher profile among state and local elected officials as the state’s legislature considers a new law (AB 591) that would require operators to disclose chemicals they use in the fracking process.

A congressional push to increase regulations on hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) would have little impact on Pennsylvania, according to a regional director of the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Potential risks of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) well stimulation — particularly in natural gas shale plays — remain on the minds of activist energy company investors, some of whom are seeking more information on the practice and measures that could reduce associated risks.

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.