The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued the final air quality permits necessary for Shell Oil Co. to conduct oil and gas exploration drilling in Alaska’s Arctic region. In August the U.S. unit of Royal Dutch Shell plc was awarded conditional approval by the Department of Interior to drill up to four exploratory wells over two years in the Beaufort Sea, where it has invested more than $3.5 billion in leases and predevelopment. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement said Shell may begin exploring the area in July 2012 once it obtains required permits (see NGI, Aug. 8). Shell said it is “still pursuing permits and authorizations from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service” and “later in the process, we will file our applications for permits to drill, largely considered the final permitting steps before drilling commences.”
Quality
Articles from Quality
Dueling 1987 Letters Debate Hydrofracking Safety
The current debate over the impact of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) on water supplies got stirred up Wednesday by decades-old documents touted by both proponents and critics of the process.
Transportation Notes
With gas quality issues resolved at South Marsh Island 184, ANR said it had lifted all associated capacity restrictions.
EPA Claims Progress on Texas Air Permitting
Companies holding “flexible air permits” granted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) — all 136 of them — have agreed to apply for permits approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the federal agency said.
Transportation Notes
Barring a late announcement to the contrary Thursday, Southern California Gas was expected to lift a high-linepack OFO Friday.
Louisiana Must Rethink Produced Water Discharge
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) must modify permitting for the discharge of produced water and other offshore oil and gas industry waste to the Gulf of Mexico to “insure that the environmental costs of discharging produced water directly into the territorial seas of Louisiana are being minimized or avoided as much as possible…” an appeals court said Friday.
Transportation Notes
Due to a gas quality problem, NGPL said the Superior Inter Wheeler receipt point in Wheeler County, TX, will be unavailable effective Thursday until further notice.
Shales Behind $1B in ONEOK NGL Infrastructure Plans
Natural gas liquids (NGL) production from the Woodford Shale, Cana-Woodford Shale and Granite Wash, as well as NGL market developments in the Gulf Coast, have inspired ONEOK Partners LP to announce plans to spend $910 million to $1.2 billion between now and late 2013 on new liquids infrastructure.
Idaho Sets Temporary Fracking Rules
Using Wyoming’s approach as a model, a rarely convened panel in Idaho Tuesday adopted some temporary rules for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for natural gas. The state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, consisting of Idaho’s five statewide elected officials, including its governor, unanimously took its action that was prompted by natural gas drilling in a single county, Payette.
DRBC’s Draft Water Rules Draw Deluge of Responses
Ahead of a midnight deadline Friday to comment on the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) draft water quality amendments, those for and against the proposed changes attempted to make their voices heard by delivering thousands of responses to the commissioners.
