Moratorium

A loose coalition of anti-hydraulic fracturing (fracking) groups is calling for a moratorium on the drilling practice in California, and is lobbying against the lone remaining bill (SB 4) related to unconventional drilling in the state legislature, which is in its final weeks before adjournment.

Three years after the Macondo well blowout and resulting drilling moratorium, oil and gas exploration has been slowly but surely returning to the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). On Wednesday Royal Dutch Shell plc reported a successful exploratory well at Vicksburg in the deepwater GOM.

Oilfield services provider Flowserve Corp. will relocate some of its pump division operations from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, a 15-mile move that brings more than 100 jobs to a state much more supportive of the company’s bread and butter: oil and gas drilling.

In a stunning setback for shale development in the Empire State, the New York State Assembly voted 95-40 on Wednesday to enact a two-year moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF). The bill, A5424, now moves to the state Senate.

Just days before a 30-day public comment period in New York on proposed rules governing high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) expires, three influential state lawmakers are calling for the comment period to be suspended, citing a lost state report on the practice that surfaced earlier this month.

The New York Department of Health (DOH) conducted a draft assessment of high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) in early 2012 and concluded that, with appropriate regulation, the practice could be performed safely in the state, according to reports.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) says it has received more than 800 responses so far on proposed rules governing high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF), as the final 11 days of a 30-day public comment period tick away.

Three key lawmakers in New York say one month isn’t long enough for the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to receive public comments on proposed rules governing high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF), and they are asking the agency for an extension.

In two separate but related cases, the U.S. District Court or the Northern District of New York again has ruled that energy operators may not use the state’s de facto moratorium against high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) as an excuse to invoke force majeure to extend expiring oil and natural gas leases.