Staff

The chair of the Railroad Commission of Texas has directed commission staff to look into its existing rules on water recycling in the oil and gas patch. “If we need to streamline our old rules and make amendments where necessary to encourage companies to expand their recycling activities, then that is what we will do,” said Chair Elizabeth Ames Jones. “…[W]e must maintain that hydraulic fracturing can continue to benefit Texas by allowing companies to manage water use and conserve when possible as it relates to this process of energy production.”

A handful of speakers showed up Wednesday at a Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) hearing to comment on a rule for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluid disclosure that the RRC is working to enact by the end of the year. Nearly everyone expressed support for the proposed rule and the commissioners’ work.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead has expanded his energy advisory staff in partnership with the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources and its director, Rob Hurless, who will serve as a member of Mead’s policy team. Mead said the continuing partnership allows his administration to “tap into the energy expertise already in place at the university, and to keep the focus there on issues that are relevant to the companies that employ so many people in Wyoming.” Hurless will join Mead’s Policy Director Shawn Reese, who will continue to focus on energy, a spokesperson for the governor said. “Energy industries produce the bulk of our revenue, so I want state government to support the industry to the benefit of citizens,” said Mead.

Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) is considering new rules to regulate hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) activities in the state and has scheduled a public hearing on proposed rules for June 15.

Information from a state regulatory commission staff audit released by a local congresswoman last week raised more questions about the thoroughness of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) maintenance repair and replacement work on its natural gas transmission pipeline system, and specifically Line 132, which suffered a tragic segment rupture in San Bruno, CA, last year.

Information from a state regulatory commission staff audit released on Monday by a local congresswoman raised more questions about the thoroughness of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) maintenance repair and replacement work historically on its natural gas transmission pipeline system, and specifically the Line 132 that had a segment rupture in a neighborhood of San Bruno, CA, last September.

Remote monitoring of offshore oil and natural gas drilling projects is being considered by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM), Michael Bromwich said Monday.

Regulators must take a harder line when it comes to natural gas drilling’s effects on Texas’ environment, and the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), “long the oil and gas industry’s lapdog, must become a watchdog,” as activity in the Eagle Ford Shale increases, according to a report released Thursday by Earthworks’ Texas Oil & Gas Accountability Project (OGAP).

With West Virginia’s Marcellus Shale industry still in its infancy and state regulators saying they need additional staff and funding to adapt to the burgeoning drilling business, more than a dozen candidates are seeking to be elected later this year to a 14-month term as governor of the Mountain State.