Statement

The Interior Department is moving at an “accelerated” pace on a programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) to allow exploration and production off the Mid- and South Atlantic coast, department officials told a Senate committee last Thursday. The agency also said it has given the public an additional 60 days for a total of 90 days to comment on the proposed hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rule.

The Interior Department is moving at an “accelerated” pace on a programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) to allow exploration and production off the Mid- and South Atlantic coast, department officials told a Senate committee Thursday.

Sempra Energy, Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. have signed 20-year tolling capacity and joint venture (JV) agreements to support the development, financing and construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility at the site of the Cameron LNG receipt terminal in Hackberry, LA.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is raising “environmental objections” to the State Department’s draft environmental impact statement for the northern portion of the $7 billion, 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline that would carry Canadian crude to Cushing, OK. Sponsor TransCanada Corp. had no comment. A southern portion, not requiring a federal review, is under construction between Cushing to the Gulf Coast.

A tanker truck driver was killed after a storage tank at an EQT Corp. natural gas well in West Virginia exploded on Friday morning.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed slashing the Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) budget by more than one-sixth for the upcoming fiscal year, dashing hopes that the agency could hire additional oil and natural gas drilling inspectors.

Gulfport Energy Corp. Tuesday reported production results for two more Utica Shale wells and said it plans to have natural gas and liquids flowing to pipelines this spring.

Elected officials in the Town of Chenango, NY, voted 3-2 to reject a moratorium on local ordinances that, if enacted, would have delayed permitting for oil and natural gas activities, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking), within the Broome County town’s limits.

The University of Texas at Austin has pulled a 2012 UT Energy Institute report that was supportive of hydraulic fracturing and shale gas development following a review of the study by an independent panel that found researchers failed to disclose a conflict of interest.