Material

New rules for the handling of waste that could impact oil and natural gas well sites are being examined by the North Dakota Department of Health (DOH) and should be effective in the latter half of 2015.

Salt Lake City, UT-based Savage, a supply chain solutions company, on Tuesday introduced bulk material handling and rail transloading services at the Ohio Commerce Center (OCC) in Lordstown, OH.

Continuing its strategy to take advantage of cheap U.S. natural gas and natural gas liquids, The Dow Chemical Co. plans to build several specialty material production units for its performance plastics franchise on the U.S. Gulf Coast, the company said last week. The plan further connects Dow’s U.S. manufacturing operations with cost-advantaged feedstocks available from shale gas.

Continuing its strategy to take advantage of cheap U.S. natural gas and natural gas liquids, The Dow Chemical Co. plans to build several specialty material production units for its performance plastics franchise on the U.S. Gulf Coast, the company said Monday.

Lawsuits have been filed in federal and state courts over a part of North Dakota’s prosperous Bakken Shale that lies under the Fort Berthold Reservation, which according to the state’s latest statistics makes up nearly 20% of the play’s ever-growing oil production.

Independent researcher Battelle is deploying scientists and engineers to Ohio to collaborate with state regulators about solving water issues at Marcellus and Utica shale drilling sites with new technology.

U.S. steel and iron producer Nucor Corp. last week said it is taking a half-stake in some of Encana Corp.’s U.S. natural gas wells in Colorado to guard against an expected increase in U.S. gas prices.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) has proposed changes to its Part 190 procedural rules to broaden enforcement powers as called for in a bill that President Obama signed into law earlier this year (see NGI, Jan. 9). Congress passed the legislation following fatal pipeline explosions in San Bruno, CA, and Allentown, PA (see NGI, Feb. 14, 2011; Oct. 18, 2010). Key proposed changes include: increase in the administrative civil penalty caps to $200,000/violation/day and up to $2 million for related violations; authority to seek civil penalties for obstructions of inspections or investigations; more power to issue subpoenas; prohibits ex parte communications; and adds references to PHMSA’s new authority under the Clean Water Act to enforce its oil spill plan regulations. Comments on PHMSA’s notice of proposed changes are due on Sept. 12.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) has proposed several changes to its Part 190 procedural rules that would broaden its enforcement powers as called for in a pipeline safety bill that President Obama signed into law earlier this year (see Daily GPI, Jan. 4).