Protests

Despite protests by state officials and the energy industry, the Boulder (CO) County commission on Tuesday extended a 16-month drilling moratorium now in place by another 18 months, following the lead of the Boulder city council, which earlier this month imposed a one-year drilling permit ban (see Shale Daily, June 7).

The re-emerging Mississippian Lime may be cheaper to drill than in some deeper formations, but an abundance of produced water has created a flood of innovative solutions by some operators.

FERC has rejected protests to an operational flow order (OFO) that Equitrans LP issued last November to determine whether lost-and-unaccounted-for (LAUF) gas was being caused by leaks on its Appalachian Basin gathering system.

Producers on Tennessee Gas Pipeline have filed protests to a tariff proposal that would elevate the scheduling priority for local distribution companies (LDCs) on the pipeline’s system, saying that it would discriminate against both producers and marketers.

Windsor Energy Corp. has found itself on shaky ground in New Brunswick after it allowed a contractor to conduct seismic testing in a town without its consent, violating the province’s Oil and Natural Gas Act.

The largest underground natural gas storage field in California, Southern California Gas Co.’s (SoCalGas) Aliso Canyon facility, is drawing protests over a proposed expansion project.

Protests and street closings preceded the first day of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearing in New York last week to determine the scope of a study it will be conducting on the impact of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracing) processes on drinking water.

Protests and street closings preceded the first day of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearing to determine the scope of a study it will be conducting on the impact of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracing) processes on drinking water.

As complaints and protests grew last week against the Gulf of Mexico moratoriums, both the six month ban on deepwater drilling and the indefinite suspension of drilling in shallow water, the Department of Interior backed off somewhat on the shallow water ban, issuing a directive for Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) activities implementing stronger safety requirements, and saying shallow-water drilling that is in compliance with the new requirements could continue.