Rulemaking

Federal officials have won permission from a district judge to intervene in a New York lawsuit that would compel a full environmental review of the impact of natural gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin before proposed regulations for Marcellus Shale development are completed.

Industry officials last Wednesday accused the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) of rushing the rulemaking process under the Dodd-FrankWall Street Reform Act, and said the proposed rules issued so far are too prescriptive.

Industry officials Wednesday accused the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) of rushing the rulemaking process under the Dodd-FrankWall Street Reform Act, and said the proposed rules issued so far are too prescriptive.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on Friday issued a notice of proposed rulemaking aimed at updating its rules covering natural gas pipeline operations to bring them in line with federal safety requirements. The PUC proposal would amend the state’s current pipeline safety rules, but a commission spokesperson said the changes were not prompted by the recent pipeline accidents in North America.

Unless revised, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) proposed rulemaking on position limits for derivatives would have the unintended consequence of needlessly limiting commodity trading and harming liquidity and price discovery in the derivatives markets, the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) said in comments filed at the CFTC Monday.

In rolling out the Interior Department’s budget request of $12.2 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2011, Secretary Ken Salazar Monday said the department would initiate a rulemaking next year to increase onshore royalty rates for oil and natural gas production on federal land.

In rolling out the Interior Department’s budget request of $12.2 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2011, Secretary Ken Salazar Monday said the department would initiate a rulemaking next year to increase onshore royalty rates for oil and natural gas production on federal land.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is seeking comments on an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANOPR) that would review whether to eliminate the bona fide hedge exemption for swap dealers, which applied only to certain agricultural commodities, and replace it with a conditional limited risk management exemption that could extend to energy and metal commodities.

FERC last Thursday issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANOPR) that seeks to make several reforms to improve the operations of the organized wholesale power markets, as well as requests public comment on the proposals.