Lawmakers

A bipartisan group of more than 30 Virginia state lawmakers has come out in support of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), saying the project would “be a major step forward in promoting” Virginia’s “economic and environmental health.”

The Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE PIPES) Act, designed by a bipartisan quartet of lawmakers to improve the safety of the nation’s oil and natural gas pipelines and revamp procedures at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), was passed out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Wednesday morning.

Kinder Morgan Inc.’s (KMI) Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project has been a lightening rod for protest by New England pipeline skeptics since it was announced. Now, NED-minded New Hampshire lawmakers say more scrutiny is needed of the FERC process for approving such projects to ensure that the public is fully heard.

Fourteen Republican members of Congress on Monday urged FERC to quickly finish its environmental review of the proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project along the south-central coast of Oregon. They called the project the only outlet to overseas markets for gas produced in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.

A high-profile bill — written to shield royalty owners in Pennsylvania from post-production costs, but which has languished under the weight of special interests since April — will receive no further consideration until state lawmakers begin the fall legislative session.

Citing state policy that makes the state’s chief oil and natural gas regulator both a promoter and regulator for the industry, minority Democrat North Dakota state legislative leaders on Tuesday asked Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple to shake up the state Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) that oversees the oil/gas sector.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and 14 other House Democrats have called on Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to strike a balance among oil and natural gas development, the environment, and the public health in the department’s final hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rule.

A Pennsylvania lawmaker wants to repeal a controversial section of a new drilling law — as well as portions of state law dating back to 1961 — to protect landowners from what she says amounts to forced pooling.

NGI’s Shale Daily reported that lawmakers in Pennsylvania had passed a bill that the state chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) opposes because it would allow forced pooling, and that it was unclear if Gov. Tom Corbett, a foe of forced pooling, would sign it (see Shale Daily, July 5). Patrick Henderson, Corbett’s energy adviser, told NGI’s Shale Daily the administration still opposes forced pooling, but doesn’t believe SB 259 would allow the practice. “Nothing in SB 259 requires someone to lease their land; changes the terms of a lease; or reduces the royalties paid to landowners,” Henderson said. “SB 259 is not forced pooling and has no relation to forced pooling.” The governor, he said, has until Wednesday (July 10) to decide whether to sign the bill.