Risks

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), community representatives and Indian tribes will collaborate on the retesting of two water wells near hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations near Pavillion, WY, which were the subject of a controversial EPA report last December (see Shale Daily, Dec. 21, 2011).

It is a matter of when, not if, additional testing will be done in Pavillion, WY, where the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has two test wells that turned up suspected chemicals tied to the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of natural gas wells in the area. Gov. Matt Mead’s spokesperson has confirmed that additional tests are coming, but they are still not scheduled.

U.S. shale gas resources have proved to be a boon to the domestic economy and an aid to potential climate change policy, but there are risks in basing the country’s energy outlook on high expectations for recoverable reserves, according to a trio of energy economists.

U.S. shale gas resources have proved to be a boon to the domestic economy and an aid to potential climate change policy, but there are risks in basing the country’s energy outlook on high expectations for recoverable reserves, according to a trio of energy economists.

California regulators on Thursday remained focused on utility infrastructure safety for natural gas and electric transmission systems to lower the risks of pipeline tragedies in recent years.

Eastern markets used to look like the Promised Land to Rockies producers. But surging production growth from the Marcellus Shale amounts to a “keep out” sign planted along the side of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP’s (KMP) Rockies Express Pipeline (REX).

El Paso Corp.’s Ruby Pipeline and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP’s (KMP) Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) have linked “western and Northeast markets in a way that they were not linked historically,” according to Bentek Energy LLC. And with Kinder Morgan Inc.’s (KMI) pending acquisition of El Paso, the two pipelines are slated to be corporate cousins, at least for awhile.

Commerce City, CO, has invoked a 30-day “time out” on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to give city officials time to further discuss their concerns with the oil and gas industry. City officials took the action late Monday in lieu of a proposed six-month ban on fracking.

An advisory panel formed by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley will recommend that the state’s General Assembly impose a severance tax on natural gas production and a fee on gas leases, with the resulting revenue to be dedicated “to address impacts of gas exploration and production on the environment and natural resources” and to fund studies of issues related to the Marcellus Shale, according to a draft report by the state’s Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Commission.