Indictment

Prosecutors in Oklahoma are dropping charges against Aubrey McClendon for his alleged role in a bid rigging conspiracy, following his untimely death Wednesday. However, an ongoing federal investigation continues into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the oil and natural gas industry, officials said.

Aubrey McClendon, 56, the former chief and co-founder of Chesapeake Energy Corp., was killed Wednesday in a single-car crash, authorities said.

Former Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon, 56, who founded American Energy Partners LP in 2013, was killed in a car wreck Wednesday, according to Oklahoma authorities.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.. (PG&E) lawyers went to federal court Monday, responding to a superseding indictment charging the San Francisco-based combination utility with obstructing a safety investigation and violating the 1968 Pipeline Safety Act (PSA) related to the rupture in 2010 of a natural gas transmission pipeline that killed eight people in San Bruno, CA (see Daily GPI, July 31).

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is investigating the source of methane found in some water wells and a nearby stream in Lycoming County, DEP said Friday.

When people talk about “getting it right” in shale development, they usually mean protecting the environment, and on Tuesday an audience in Pittsburgh heard various ways that the natural gas industry can get it right in the Marcellus Shale.

In an interview with The New York Times Sunday, former Enron Corp. Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay admitted responsibility for the company’s bankruptcy, but said he had not committed any crimes.

At least five former Enron Broadband employees were named in a sealed indictment filed in federal court Tuesday, sources told the Houston Chronicle. Reporters were barred from the grand jury investigation, but sources indicated that charges would be made in connection with statements made at an analyst meeting in 2000 that may include insider trading, stock fraud and money laundering.

Under indictment for fraud, conspiracy and submitting false documents to a federally insured bank in Topeka, KS, David C. Wittig, chairman and CEO of Westar Energy Inc. resigned last week, two weeks after being put on unpaid administrative leave (see Power Market Today, Nov. 15; Nov. 8).