Ruling

Nearly three weeks after ruling that portions of Act 13, Pennsylvania’s new omnibus Marcellus Shale law, were unconstitutional, the Commonwealth Court on Wednesday ordered that an injunction against the law’s preemption provision will remain in place pending appeal, while one affecting setback waivers is lifted.

Two separate polls conducted in New York State have found that public opinion of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) hasn’t changed much over the past year.

A forecast migration to the north and west in the sources of Canadian natural gas supplies has taken a stride ahead, thanks to a favorable pipeline regulatory ruling. TransCanada Corp. obtained approval from the National Energy Board (NEB) for a C$324 million (U.S. dollar at par) addition to its Nova gas transportation grid in northern British Columbia and Alberta.

A forecast migration to the north and west in the sources of Canadian natural gas supplies has taken a stride ahead, thanks to a favorable pipeline regulatory ruling (see Daily GPI, March 1). TransCanada Corp. obtained approval from the National Energy Board (NEB) for the C$324 million (U.S. dollar at par) addition to its Nova gas transportation grid in northern British Columbia and Alberta.

A couple from Susquehanna County, PA, at the center of a controversial mineral rights case wants the state’s Supreme Court to throw out a lower court’s ruling and end the anxiety shared by energy companies and landowners alike over uncertain ownership rights in the Marcellus Shale.

Canada’s environment minister indicated that the federal government in Ottawa was keeping a close eye on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and was prepared to intervene if it thought either the provincial or territorial governments weren’t doing enough to safely regulate the procedure.

The Supreme Court of Arkansas on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling dismissing a lawsuit against the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) for leasing thousands of state-protected wildlife acres in the Fayetteville Shale for gas exploration.

Noting that the companies are still in the “investigative phase,” a Michigan-based spokesperson for Fiat and Chrysler said the automakers aren’t ruling out any alternative transportation fuels for their future marketing efforts in the United States. Natural gas is just one of several options being explored, and electric vehicles (EV) and clean diesel are included in the mix.

Kerr-McGee attorneys say they are still “evaluating our options” as to whether to appeal last week’s court ruling ordering the producer, which is now part of Anadarko Petroleum, to pay $22.9 million for the alleged underreporting of oil and natural gas royalties.