Officials

A former steel plant in Steubenville, OH, is being redeveloped into an industrial park, a portion of which state and local officials say will be used to support operations in the Marcellus Shale.

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Tuesday that his office has opened an investigation of a crude oil spill near Mayflower, AR, which ExxonMobil was working to clean up. The cause of the spill is still under investigation, but Exxon said the spill did not involve tar sands oil.

Colorado state energy officials Thursday added new information surrounding a small hydrocarbon spill in the Parachute Creek area of the Western Slope. On Tuesday investigators focused on a valve box for a pipeline carrying natural gas liquids (NGL) away from a Williams Co. unit’s gas processing plant.

Colorado state energy officials Thursday night said a hydrocarbon spill in the Parachute Creek area of the Western Slope was essentially under control and there was no apparent impact on the creek, Todd Hartman, a Colorado Oil Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC) spokesman told NGI.

As part of its ongoing $100 million annual clean transportation program, California energy officials approved another $5.58 million in grants Wednesday to multiple projects, and separately a regional air pollution control board added $3.8 million for hydraulic hybrid gas-powered and other heavy duty fleet vehicles operating in the air quality region.

In a reversal not seen for a number of months, North Dakota oil/natural gas officials on Friday reported a decline in month-over-month production for both oil and gas in January, and some of the sour weather conditions attributed to the drop may keep production down well into May, according to Lynn Helms, director of the state Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).

In a reversal not seen for a number of months, North Dakota oil/natural gas officials on Friday reported a decline in month-over-month production for both oil and gas in January, and some of the sour weather conditions attributed to the drop may keep production down well into May, according to Lynn Helms, director of the state Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).

Springfield, MA, officials plan to ask Columbia Gas Co. of Massachusetts for $1 million to cover damages tied to the explosion on its natural gas system in late November. The explosion on the Columbia Gas system rocked Springfield in a three to four block radius, damaging 42 homes and businesses and sending 18 people, mostly first responders, to area hospitals (see NGI, Dec. 3, 2012). Human error by a utility employee was cited as the cause of the blast. According to the initial findings of the fire marshal and the state’s Department of Public Utilities, an unidentified employee of Columbia Gas “accidentally punctured” a pipe in the vicinity of a business on Worthington St., which was the epicenter of the explosion. The proposed settlement would be carved into three components, each carrying a $300,000 to $400,000 price tag. The first component would include fixed costs, such as damages to emergency vehicles, over-time costs and costs for clean-up activities, while the second component addresses personal injury costs and lost time for city workers. The third component would go toward a redevelopment effort of the area.

Officials in Robinson Township, PA, told leaseholders that they were welcome to contact Range Resources Corp. and try to convince the company to reapply for two Marcellus Shale drilling permits the township denied in February. But the company said it will not reapply, and was confident it would win a lawsuit against the township over the denied permits.