Investigations

EOG Resources Inc. has agreed to pay the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) $93,710 to settle a late 2010 pollution incident in the Marcellus Shale.

While separate regulatory commission and fire department investigations are ongoing, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) determined Tuesday it is probable that a wind-toppled tree in a north Seattle residential neighborhood caused a gas leak at a home blocks away that resulted in an explosion at 6 a.m . Monday. The married couple inside the home were being treated for various burn-related injuries and the home was leveled, a PSE spokesperson told NGI Tuesday.

The attorney general of New York has issued subpoenas to three companies looking to develop oil and gas resources in the Marcellus Shale, part of an investigation into how the companies calculated production estimates and drilling costs to investors.

Chief Oil & Gas LLC announced Thursday that separate investigations by the company and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) have concluded that Chief is not responsible for contaminating the water well of a woman in Bradford County, PA, who went on to become a vocal critic of hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Chief Oil & Gas LLC announced Thursday that separate investigations by the company and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) have concluded that Chief is not responsible for contaminating the water well of a woman in Bradford County, PA, who went on to become a vocal critic of hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

The couple at the center of state and federal investigations of alleged water well contamination by gas drilling activities in North Texas has filed suit against Range Resources Corp. and others, seeking damages of $4.5 million plus $2 million for mental anguish, attorney fees, as well as trebling of damages under the Texas Business and Commercial Code.

A Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) hearing intended to get to the bottom of the matter of whether the Barnett Shale gas drilling activities of Range Resources Corp. led to the contamination of two water wells in Parker County, TX, has been postponed to Jan. 18 from Monday (Jan. 10). In the meantime, one interested observer told Shale Daily that both research that condemns the company and other findings that would exonerate it are incomplete.

Federal and state authorities last week turned up the heat in parallel but separate investigations and reviews of the Sept. 9 San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline explosion and fire, and the utility in the middle, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), moved ahead with stepped up pipeline safety checks and operating/maintenance plans.

California regulators on Thursday formally ordered investigations of the Sept. 9 San Bruno transmission pipeline explosion and fire, and they established an independent review panel to be paid for by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), on whose line an explosion killed seven and destroyed or damaged of up to 50 homes (see Daily GPI, Sept. 22).