Leasing

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed into law Wednesday legislation reducing the amount of roll-back tax that owners of farmland must pay when leasing land and mineral rights for natural gas development.

Pennsylvania should impose a temporary moratorium on leasing additional forest land for new natural gas development until a comprehensive environmental and community impact assessment can be completed, a report released last Tuesday argues. Such a moratorium should not affect existing leases, though, said the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC).

Pennsylvania should impose a temporary moratorium on leasing additional forest land for new natural gas development until a comprehensive environmental and community impact assessment can be completed, a report released Tuesday argues. Such a moratorium should not affect existing leases, though, said the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC).

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to clarify jurisdictional responsibilities for leasing and licensing renewable energy projects on the Outer Continental Shelf OCS). The MOU clears the way for developing wind, solar, wave, tidal and ocean current energy sources.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to clarify jurisdictional responsibilities for leasing and licensing renewable energy projects on the Outer Continental Shelf OCS). The MOU clears the way for developing wind, solar, wave, tidal and ocean current energy sources.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s decision earlier this month to delay completion of a review of the new five-year (2010-2015) leasing program (see Daily GPI, Feb. 11) had the same effect as reinstating the moratorium on oil and natural gas drilling in the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), a high-ranking Republican told a House panel Wednesday.

Activity in British Columbia’s (BC) Horn River Basin has been contributing to leasing records in the province, spurring new pipeline proposals and a proposal for a new gas processing plant, which EnCana Corp. filed recently with provincial regulators.

Producers paid $9.12 million for leasing rights and rental fees on parcels in mostly southern and eastern Wyoming that were offered by Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in its bimonthly federal oil and lease auction earlier this week. The receipts will be shared almost equally between the federal government and the state of Wyoming.

The Louisiana Oil and Gas Association (LOGA) has launched a website section dedicated to the state’s Haynesville Shale. The section will provide information about drilling and leasing activity in the emerging natural gas field, located in northwestern Louisiana, according to LOGA’s Gifford Briggs. LOGA also has a forum about the shale play on its website, which will be moderated by LOGA staff “with no financial interests in the shale,” said Briggs. Jodee Niswanger also was tapped to serve as LOGA’s North Louisiana director and will be based in Shreveport, LA.