Regulations

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) continues to move forward slowly with a set of proposed regulatory updates for the state’s oil and gas drillers with a series of public hearings scheduled throughout this month.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has less than 11 months to finalize regulations for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in the state, a task made more challenging after receiving thousands of public comments, including many from those opposed to high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF).

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is proposing a permitting program for liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and LNG transport within the state in light of increasing interest in the development of LNG facilities. Such a move could lift a 40-year ban on new LNG storage in the state.

Top industry executives from Colorado, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Texas on Wednesday told a crowd at the Shale Insight 2013 conference in Philadelphia that states and not the federal government should continue to be the primary oil and natural gas enforcers.

While Gov. Jerry Brown already has declared he will seek to fine-tune its provisions next year, California’s new law (SB 4) regulating hydraulic fracturing (fracking) will not have final rules implemented for the industry to follow until 2015, although the law will be effective on Jan. 1 (seeShale Daily,Sept. 24).

A rulemaking designed to strengthen environmental protection performance standards governing the natural gas industry has been given a cautionary green light by Pennsylvania regulators, with the final outcome to be determined following an extended public comment period.

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental and Enforcement (BSEE) has proposed a rule aimed at implementing industry best practices and updating regulations governing production safety systems and equipment used to collect and treat oil and natural gas from offshore production facilities.

The Wyoming congressional delegation Monday asked Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to exempt Wyoming and other western states currently regulating hydraulic fracturing (fracking) from the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) final rule on the practice, saying not to do so would delay permitting and discourage production on public land.

Driven by more stringent environmental regulations and low-priced natural gas, many aging coal-fired generation plants will be closed during the next seven years, creating a business for decommissioning services that will exceed $5 billion, according to a report by Boulder, CO-based Navigant Research.