Officials

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is urging the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to proceed with a proposal to revise water quality regulations, a move that could ultimately open the basin to expanded Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling.

A preliminary analysis released last Friday by state and federal energy officials has recast doubts about the future of a $4 billion project that involves what would be California’s first commercial carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility slated for the state’s oil patch in the southern end of the central valley west of Bakersfield.

Under pressure from San Bruno, CA, officials who have asked for an investigation, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last week reshuffled two key legal positions in the three consolidated penalty cases against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for the 2010 natural gas transmission pipeline tragedy.

Under pressure from San Bruno city officials asking for a state probe of its actions and growing internal tensions, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Wednesday reshuffled two key legal positions in the three consolidated penalty cases against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for the 2010 natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion in San Bruno.

After dancing around the issue for a few minutes last Thursday, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said federal officials plan to “move expeditiously” on applications to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries without free trade agreements (FTA) with the United States.

The Interior Department is moving at an “accelerated” pace on a programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) to allow exploration and production off the Mid- and South Atlantic coast, department officials told a Senate committee last Thursday. The agency also said it has given the public an additional 60 days for a total of 90 days to comment on the proposed hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rule.

Ohio government officials and industry experts met for a shale symposium hosted by law firm BakerHostetler LLP, offering their opinions of what the challenges will be in the Utica Shale as the play develops.

An affiliate of Chesapeake Energy Corp. is being sued by the U.S. government for failing to pay taxes in 2001 through 2003. Chesapeake Appalachia LLC is the successor company of Triana Energy Inc., which Chesapeake purchased in 2005 as part of a transaction with Columbia Natural Resources LLC. The deal gave Chesapeake entry into the relatively unexplored Marcellus Shale, with acreage in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, New York and Kentucky. According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, the United States assessed taxes against Triana in 2001 through 2003 for a total of $431,988, which as of May 17 it “has failed, neglected or refused to pay” (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia at Charleston, No. 2:13-cv-11988). Federal officials are seeking the tax assessment and statutory additions accrued.

Ohio government officials and industry experts met for a shale symposium hosted by law firm BakerHostetler LLP on Thursday, offering their opinions of what the challenges will be in the Utica Shale as the play develops.