State

New Mexico’s revenue collections through the first 10 months of fiscal year (FY) 2019 are $273.5 million above forecast, according to the Legislative Finance Committee, which attributed the windfall to booming oil and gas production and strong tax receipts.

A dozen Oregon Republican state senators apparently remained out-of-reach of state troopers Tuesday, creating a standoff for a vote on House Bill (HB) 2020 to create programs related to climate change.

Part Two of Three. (see Part One; Part Three).

State and federal officials hope to finalize by year’s end a draft proposal about how arid New Mexico can better use oil and gas wastewater.

In a development sure to impact the oil and gas industry, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said state regulatory agencies should have a higher profile in protecting fish and wildlife, and asked his department to identify federal regulations that are more restrictive than those enacted by states.

California achieved its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets for 2020 four years ahead of schedule, state officials said, pointing to 2016 emissions data issued this month.

Williams Partners LP said Monday that it’s placed the second phase of its Garden State Expansion Project into service.

With a new year underway, the Appalachian oil and natural gas industry is focused on many of the issues it faced in 2017, but above all else the leading trade groups want to keep their thousands of upstream, midstream and supply chain members competitive in what remains a challenging environment.

The Republican-led Pennsylvania House energy committee has voted 15-11 along party lines for an amendment to change the name of the state’s “impact fee” to “severance tax.” The committee hasn’t voted to move the amendment to the House floor. In a procedural move, the amendment would block a resolution filed by Democrats to bring a severance tax bill to the floor for a vote. It also comes after the state Senate passed a revenue package to fund the state budget that calls for establishing a severance tax on unconventional natural gas production. The impact fee was established in 2012 and is charged annually on nearly all unconventional wells in the state during their first 15 years of operation. Producers have paid more than $1.2 billion in impact fees for distribution to local communities and state agencies since it was enacted. House energy committee Chairman John Maher told local news media that changing the impact fee’s name would help to demonstrate that producers have a significant tax burden in the state.