Standards

Moving right along on the energy regulatory front, Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Wednesday launched a study of air emissions tied to oil and gas development.

The four top natural gas producing states in the Lower 48 states — Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Wyoming — are collecting severance taxes on their dry gas of between 14.7 and 18.5 cents/Mcf based on recent gas prices, according to a review of regulations and taxes by Washington, DC-based Resources for the Future’s Center for Energy Economics and Policy (CEEP).

A drop in northern Pennsylvania stream flow levels once again has forced the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) to suspend water withdrawal permits for more than 22 companies holding 37 separate permits in Pennsylvania and New York. More than half of the companies affected are energy operators working in the Marcellus Shale.

Singling out natural gas as an economic engine for the nation, President Obama Friday signed an executive order establishing a high-level, interagency task force to support and oversee the development of unconventional natural gas resources and associated infrastructure.

Citing more stringent federal mercury and air toxic standards (MATS), Akron, OH-based FirstEnergy said Thursday it plans to retire six older coal-fired electric generation plants representing 2,689 MW by Sept. 1.

As has been rumored for weeks, French energy giant Total SA is paying $2.32 billion to acquire a one-quarter stake in Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s massive Utica Shale leasehold in Ohio in the second big partnership targeting unconventional oil and gas between the companies.

A Pennsylvania Senate committee moved Marcellus Shale impact fee legislation forward on Wednesday, but observers suggest that the move is mainly procedural and say there is still much work to be done.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tried to clarify its plan to develop national pretreatment standards for wastewater before the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment on Wednesday.

A new report that slams the natural gas industry and state regulators for “widespread violations of Arkansas clean water standards” in the Fayetteville Shale is based on old data and overlooks the fact that some of the report’s recommendations already have been implemented, state regulators told NGI.