Quality

In an action watched closely by oil and natural gas interests, the Wyoming Air Quality Advisory Board in the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on Wednesday approved measures intended to reduce smog and improve air quality in the state’s Upper Green River Basin ozone nonattainment area.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which includes under its regulatory umbrella much of the state’s natural gas and oil industry, needs to open its doors wider to public scrutiny, said acting DEP secretary E. Christopher Abruzzo.

The skyline of Midland, TX (pop. 114,000) has a long way to go before it can rival those of Houston or Dallas, but the rebirth of the Permian Basin has sparked plans to develop what would be the sixth-tallest building in the Lone Star State.

Natural gas is a critical part of Colorado’s “all of the above” energy strategy, and it is encouraging its increased development, including the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), in a safe and responsible way that can be managed between government and industry, said Gov. John Hickenlooper as part of a Western Governors’ Association (WGA) three-part energy report.

The Texas Senate on Friday passed a bill (HB 788) intended to make the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) the state’s permitting authority for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions sources, sidestepping the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where permitting bottlenecks are said to be holding up projects.

Citing “intense pressure” from industry and its allies in Congress, a New Jersey congressman said Wednesday that the Interior Department appears to be making its proposed rules governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of oil and gas wells on public lands weaker, not stronger.

There are three major plays that have the full attention of Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s (Oxy) strategy to significantly grow its U.S. drilling operations — California, the Permian Basin and the Bakken — and they each have their different timetables and challenges, said Oxy CEO Stephen Chazen.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was put in the hot seat Friday as House lawmakers took the agency to task for its flawed reports on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), most notably the December 2011 report that found groundwater in Pavillion, WY, to be contaminated. That report was later retracted. And before directing any more funds to the EPA for reseach into fracking, the lawmakers demanded that the agency provide Congress with more information on their reseach activities so far.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, who is in her second week on the job, signaled Monday that new rules governing federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) are imminent.