Resolution

Like other cities and its own county in Colorado, the Boulder City Council is set to consider two actions related to the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on open space within the city limits.

Backers of the proposed High Prairie Pipeline for taking away burgeoning Bakken Shale play oil supplies fired two shots Tuesday in an attempt to untangle their 450-mile, 16-inch diameter pipeline project. They contracted with an anchor shipper for the line and filed a second complaint with a federal agency against Enbridge Energy Partners LP for blocking an interconnection of the proposed pipeline.

The Town Council of Chapel Hill, NC, has approved a resolution voicing its opposition “absent guaranteed public health and environmental protections” to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) because of potential threats to local water supplies. Creedmoor, NC, and the Town of Cary, NC, have also taken steps to regulate fracking locally (see Shale Daily, Jan. 9). In separate statements, North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue and the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources have said they believe fracking can be done safely if it is properly regulated (see Shale Daily, March 26; March 19). The North Carolina Geological Survey believes that technically recoverable gas exists in the state’s Sanford sub-basin (including Lee, Chatham and Moore counties in central North Carolina) and possibly the Dan River sub-basin (including Stokes and Rockingham counties in northern North Carolina).

Chesapeake Energy has revealed that it is cooperating with a grand jury proceeding and an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigation into the company’s Clean Water Act (CWA) compliance at certain sites in West Virginia.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Jesse White, a Democrat from the southwestern corner of the state, has introduced House Resolution 593 asking drillers to commit to a set of “Marcellus Shale Principles,” that include hiring local workers, protecting the environment and acting transparently in dealings with stakeholders. “Drilling for gas in the Marcellus Shale has created thousands of jobs, and has the potential to create thousands more at a critical time in our economy, and in areas that have historically suffered from high unemployment rates for many years…However, we can’t simply hand free reign over without any forethought to consequences and how our local communities could be affected for generations to come,” White said.

Not all the facts are in on the risks of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) well stimulation, so curtailing the practice would be a rush to judgment, according to a new report from the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI).

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has introduced a measure of uncertainty into some ownership claims for the resource rights to Marcellus Shale gas, ordering a lower court to consider whether the owner of the shale also owns the shale gas in the same manner that state law declares that coalbed methane belongs to the owner of the coal.

Rediscovered as an oil/gas industry practice that hasn’t been high on California’s radar, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is taking on a higher profile among state and local elected officials as the state’s legislature considers a new law (AB 591) that would require operators to disclose chemicals they use in the fracking process.

House Democrats last Tuesday slammed Republicans’ proposed budget cuts in the continuing resolution (CR) that could hamper the ability of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulate the $300 trillion derivative swaps market during the during the current fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1.