Mead

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead on Monday reiterated his dislike of the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed Regional Haze Plan, noting the agency denied his state’s haze plan after entering into a consent degree with environmental group WildEarth Guardians, which had filed a lawsuit in Colorado.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead last week signed into law advances to use natural gas for transportation in a state rich in gas reserves.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead on Wednesday signed two laws that are designed to help advance the use of natural gas for transportation in a state rich in gas reserves. The measures, Senate Files (SF) 23 and 52, were less than the industry originally requested.

The U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would require companies drilling on public lands to disclose the chemicals used in their hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations, according to a draft of proposed BLM regulations acquired by NGI’s Shale Daily.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead named a new Wyoming State Geologist, Tom Drean, formerly ConocoPhillips’ president for Iraq. Drean will serve on the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and the Wyoming Board of Professional Geologists. The state geologist leads the Wyoming State Geological Survey. Drean worked for ConocoPhillips for more than 26 years, serving in various areas of the world. He replaces Wallace Ulrich.

Northwest is reducing the available capacity at the Spokane Mead throughput point to 130,000 Dth/d effective Friday, saying demand in the Spokane, WA, area is not sufficient for it to schedule full design capacity at Starr Road. “This reduction is necessary to ensure operational reliability on the Spokane Lateral,” the pipeline said. “If necessary, Northwest will also cut alternate gas at other points on the lateral to maintain operational integrity. As the weather turns colder and the Spokane area can effectively burn the gas being nominated at Starr Road, Northwest will return all points on the lateral to design capacity.”

Wyoming reported receiving a $10.4 million grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to help support Gov. Matt Mead’s sage grouse protection executive order issued earlier this year. The funding is in addition to $17 million the state has already received for conserving sage grouse from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. Emphasizing that the program is voluntary, the state head of the implementation team said the USFWS funds will be used to deal with sage grouse habitat fragmentation.

As the White House ponders a successor for outgoing FERC Commissioner Nora Mead Brownell, a municipal gas distributor group has called on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to act promptly on the pending nominations of Jon Wellinghoff and Phillip D. Moeller to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

FERC Commissioner Nora Mead Brownell has named three top aides to her personal staff: Mary C. Morton, James A. Pederson and Jamie L. Simler.