Nonprofit

Pennsylvanians believe that the benefits of natural gas drilling in the state’s shale plays outweigh any potential problems, but want the state to impose an extraction tax and require the disclosure of chemicals used by drillers, according to the results of a survey by the Muhlenberg Institute of Public Opinion and the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State and Urban Policy.

A nonprofit, nonpartisan group that represents all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties says it supports a local impact fee on natural gas development in the state but has “strong reservations” about counties being ultimately responsible for its levying and administration.

A dairy company with an oil and gas lease has filed a lawsuit against the Town of Middlefield, NY, accusing the municipality of overstepping its authority by enacting a ban on oil and gas operations.

A nonprofit environmental group recommends British Columbia keep a close eye on the shale gas industry, warning that expanding development in the Montney and Horn River shale plays could hamper the province’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and put stress on water sources.

Two multi-state organizations, with the help of oil and gas companies, are preparing to launch a website Monday that will provide the public with a comprehensive list of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.

State Review of Oil & Natural Gas Environmental Regulations Inc. (STRONGER), a nonprofit organization whose board is composed of state, industry and public interest representatives, will be conducting a review of the hydraulic fracturing portions of the oil and gas regulatory program of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Office of Conservation against guidelines developed by STRONGER. A report containing review team findings will be made available to interested parties. The organization recently conducted a similar review in Pennsylvania (see Daily GPI, Sept. 24).

Federal officials, utility workers, emergency response teams and nonprofit volunteer organizations descended on a normally quiet residential neighborhood in a San Francisco suburb Friday working their way deliberately through the rubble from a major natural gas transmission pipeline explosion and fire that destroyed dozens of homes, killed at least four residents and left more than 50 people injured, eight critically. Identifying the cause of the catastrophe, however, appeared to be out of reach until the water and power infrastructures in the immediate area were stabilized.

Noting that a “significant portion of the funding” will be allotted to natural gas infrastructure projects, a nonprofit energy and environmental education organization, American Clean Skies Foundation (ACSF), praised the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) decision to provide nearly $300 million for development of alternative fuel vehicles, including those using compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

“Bargain basement” severance taxes and a “dizzying array of exemptions and deductions” for the energy industry is costing Colorado a lot of money, according to a report by a nonprofit renewable energy group.