Told

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has told key state legislators that no additional requirements are needed to protect the air quality from horizontal oil and gas drilling.

An appeals court in Ohio upheld a local court’s ruling that an operator is not required to fully develop leased property, and disagreed with a landowner’s demand that the undeveloped portion be surrendered and subsequently leased to other oil and gas companies.

A U.S. District Court judge in Washington, DC, has dismissed a challenge by Bloomberg LP of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Dodd-Frank regulations of the multi-trillion over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market. At the same time, a coalition of associations urged the agency to maintain the $8 billion threshold for swap dealing activity that a participant may engage in before it becomes subject to the requirements.

While a majority of Californians support curbs on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), when they are aware of the economic advantages coming from the drilling practice a majority (56%) supports its use, according to a statewide public opinion survey released last Friday.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told a Senate panel Thursday that the public comment period on the proposed hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rule would be extended by 60 days, giving producers, state regulators and environmentalists a total of 90 days to pore over the 171-page document.

Spring has brought out the Colorado frack fanatics on both sides of the growing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) debate as evidenced by the “Showdown of the Century” scheduled Wednesday in Boulder, CO, when pro- and anti-fracking documentaries and their writer/directors meet head-to-head (almost).

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has allowed itself “to be co-opted by industry interests on the issue of hydraulic fracturing [fracking] for shale gas,” and does not speak for local communities on the issue, representatives of 67 grassroots organizations said Wednesday.

An executive with a Portland, OR-based heavy-duty truck maker told a Senate energy panel Tuesday that he and his competitors could manufacture as many natural gas vehicles (NGV) as needed if only Congress delivered on the refueling infrastructure.

While reiterating that brownfield liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects are likely to get U.S. regulatory approvals, Sempra Energy senior executives told financial analysts Thursday that the company’s natural gas storage infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) region is going to be more valuable when the export facilities start operating.