Protect

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is slated to hire 68 additional personnel to ensure that drilling companies obey state laws and protect water supplies as they ply the the Keystone State’s portion of the prolific Marcellus Shale play. Gov. Edward Rendell directed the staff increase. DEP also is to strengthen oil and gas regulations to improve well construction standards, Rendell’s office said.

After more than a year of negotiations, a landmark agreement to protect Utah’s cultural resources while permitting “orderly and environmentally responsible” natural gas development on the West Tavaputs Plateau near Nine Mile Canyon by Bill Barrett Corp. is to be finalized Tuesday (Jan. 5) with a signing ceremony at the state capitol in Salt Lake City, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Utah said.

Northwest notified shippers that due to the current shut-in of Questar’s Clay Basin storage facility (see Daily GPI, Oct. 8) and the need to protect its own Jackson Prairie storage account for the upcoming winter season, “Northwest is no longer able to mitigate the overscheduling of Kemmerer” Compressor Station. Thus a recall advisory and realignment OFO were to become effective Saturday (Oct. 11) until further notice, Northwest said. It will issue the daily OFO obligations to affected parties if the primary firm scheduled quantity through Kemmerer is above the design capacity of 655,000 Dth/d. Shippers with OFO obligations must realign nominations from receipt points south of Kemmerer to receipt points north of Kemmerer, “or may elect to voluntarily reduce their nominations through Kemmerer by the OFO volume or take other mutually agreeable action to alleviate the problem,” the pipeline added.

Two conservation groups want the federal government to impose wider restrictions on western oil and natural gas development to protect the greater sage grouse.

Two conservation groups want the federal government to impose wider restrictions on western oil and natural gas development to protect the greater sage grouse.

As pressure mounts from prospects for new gas supplies in British Columbia and the Rockies, NorthernStar Natural Gas moved aggressively last week to protect its proposed Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas (LNG) project along the Columbia River in Oregon, asking FERC to reject state officials’ call for reissuing a draft environmental impact report (EIR).

As pressure mounts from prospects for new gas supplies in British Columbia and the Rockies, NorthernStar Natural Gas moved aggressively late Tuesday to protect its proposed Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas (LNG) project along the Columbia River in Oregon, asking FERC to reject state officials’ call for reissuing a draft environmental impact report (EIR).

A group led by The Conservation Fund has struck a deal to permanently protect 1,042 acres of sage grouse habitat on a working cattle ranch southwest of Daniel, WY, and improve habitat conditions on more than 25,000 acres of adjacent land owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the fund said last week.

A group led by The Conservation Fund has struck a deal to permanently protect 1,042 acres of sage grouse habitat on a working cattle ranch southwest of Daniel, WY, and improve habitat conditions on more than 25,000 acres of adjacent land owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the fund said Wednesday.