Offensive

Range Resources Corp. has gone on the offensive in its battle with a North Texas landowner and a controversial environmental consultant widely believed to have an anti-gas industry agenda. In its response to a lawsuit over alleged water well contamination, the company said it wants to be compensated for millions of dollars in damages caused by false allegations.

The shale industry might need to go on the offensive against its critics, the head of an advocacy group told an audience in Pittsburgh last Tuesday.

The shale industry might need to go on the offensive against its critics, the head of an advocacy group told an audience in Pittsburgh Tuesday.

Taking the offensive in what has become an increasingly stressful time for energy companies, Aquila Inc.’s CEO said last week the company may sell up to $1 billion in assets — twice as much as announced two months ago — in an effort to improve the company’s wobbling credit quality. It also has cut 200 employees from its merchant services and corporate staff and expects the previously announced reduction of 500 positions at its utility companies to be completed by July.

Taking the offensive in a never-ending quest to secure a natural gas pipeline for his state, Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles on Wednesday touted the gain from new investments, billions of new revenue and lower gas prices if Canadian leaders lend their support to a proposed U.S. tax credit to spur pipeline construction. The Alberta and the Yukon Territories premiers appear to support the Alaska plan, but Knowles still needs approval of other more wary leaders, including the Northwest Territories, which would rather spurn Alaska altogether.

Senate Republicans mounted a late-session offensive drive last week to bring energy legislation before the entire upper chamber, but by the end of the week, when the dust had settled, it wasn’t clear if they had gained any real ground.

Western legislators will be leading off one offensive of the newadministration’s energy strategy March 7, with a U.S. HouseResources Committee hearing on restrictions on exploration and gasdevelopment on public lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)and their impact on power markets.

Western legislators will be leading off one offensive of the newadministration’s energy strategy March 7, with a U.S. HouseResources Committee hearing that explores restrictions on gasdevelopment on public lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)and their impact on power markets.

The first of the marketers to bow out of natural gas deregulation in Georgia is going on the offensive almost a year after the company filed for bankruptcy. Peachtree Natural Gas which is still in bankruptcy court, filed a $50 million suit against AGL Resources, Atlanta Gas Light and billing provider Utilipro in the State Court of Fulton County.