Issues

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has asked state legislators, who this week are working through an extended budget session, to come up with an additional $2 million to pay for additional oil and gas inspectors at the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

A federal judge ruled last week that Pennsylvania landowners who signed Marcellus Shale leases with oil and gas companies — then unsuccessfully sued to have them nullified — did not “repudiate” the lease terms, and turned down the companies’ counter suit to extend the leases by two years to regain time lost during litigation.

Unprecedented risks face the oil and gas industry in the coming decades in the quest for more energy supplies, but everyone should work cooperatively now to prepare for issues down the road, BP plc CEO Bob Dudley said last week.

Unprecedented risks face the oil and gas industry in the coming decades in the quest for more energy supplies, but everyone should work cooperatively now to prepare for issues down the road and possible tragedies, BP plc CEO Bob Dudley said Tuesday.

In a state with significant energy and environmental issues, Wyoming’s new Gov. Matt Mead announced his appointments to various boards and commissions, including a number that deal with the energy sector. In most cases Mead went with incumbents, such as his reappointment of Kathleen “Cindy” Lewis to the three-member Public Service Commission. Similarly, Thomas Doll was reappointed as director and Donald Basko as a member of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. These appointments require confirmation by the state Senate by the end of this month. Other appointments were to the Energy Resources Council, Enhanced and Improved Oil Recovery Commission, Environmental Quality Council, Geological Survey Board, Infrastructure Authority, and Pipeline Authority. The oil recovery panel appointment was new — Tom Fitzsimmons, succeeding Gail Chenoweth; and the infrastructure and pipeline panel selections were reappointments — Kyle White and Duane Zavadil, respectively.

Questerre Energy Corp. CEO Michael Binnion has launched a blog on the company website to open a “dialogue on shale gas” and issues relevant to the Calgary-based independent.

Residents of Dimock Township in Susquehanna County, PA, whose drinking water supplies were contaminated by natural gas, are to receive a share of $4.1 million that Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. agreed to pay under a settlement negotiated with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Oil and natural gas producers and environmental groups routinely have been at odds with each other over the practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), but they are now working together to draft a framework for regulation.

The Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) placed 208 trucks out of service in a three-day enforcement sweep that focused on commercial vehicles that haul wastewater from Marcellus Shale gas drilling sites, Police Commissioner Frank E. Pawlowski said Wednesday.