Legislature

The North Dakota legislature is considering legislation that would impact exploration and production (E&P) companies, including offering incentives to eliminate natural gas flaring at the wellhead.

An interim study committee in the South Dakota state legislature has agreed to pursue as many as eight different bills this year covering oil and natural drilling, including one aimed at hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

An interim study committee in the South Dakota state legislature has agreed to pursue as many as eight different bills this year covering oil and natural drilling, including one aimed at hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Regulators in Alaska are proposing a comprehensive set of rules to govern hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the state, and will accept public comments on the proposals through early February, when a public hearing is also scheduled.

As the deadline for moving proposed bills out of finance committees came and went Thursday, the California state legislature again gave up on measures designed to more closely regulate hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Gas pipeline safety laws continue to swirl around in the current session of the California state legislature, with several bills still active, although at least a couple of proposals were declared dead in committee earlier in May. A new bill (AB 478) in the lower house Assembly was introduced Tuesday to redirect fines paid by natural gas utilities to help pay for pipeline upgrades mandated in the wake of the San Bruno, CA, pipeline rupture and explosion nearly two years ago.

Funding for a proposed study of the health impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is not included in a $132.5 billion state budget that the New York State Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to on Tuesday.

A bill that would extend tax credits and other incentives toward new liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facilities is advancing in the Alaska State Legislature.

A state lower house committee in the Idaho legislature last Tuesday approved a new set of rules for the oil/gas industry. The House Resources and Conservation Committee voted 16-1 in favor of the new rules that were hammered out with the industry and other stakeholders.