Town

A California state survey has found that cancer rates are not disproportionately high in Hinkley, CA, the high desert ranching town where Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) natural gas transmission pipeline operations dumped toxic water that contaminated local water supplies, resulting in a $333 million settlement. The case inspired the movie “Erin Brockovich.”

One New York county in the midst of the Marcellus Shale may be looking to promote natural gas drilling in an effort to regain jobs that have left the area since the Empire State instituted a de facto moratorium on drilling two years ago.

Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp. and cross-town rival Chesapeake Energy Corp., which both built their fortunes and their reserves by successfully drilling into shale gas formations, now have too much of a good thing and are building their liquids-rich portfolios to build their revenues, the companies said last week.

President Obama Tuesday signaled at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire that the Senate may not be able to pass energy legislation this year that includes the controversial cap-and-trade system for reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

President Obama Tuesday signaled at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire that the Senate may not be able to pass energy legislation this year that includes the controversial cap-and-trade system for reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

President Obama Tuesday signaled at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire that the Senate may not be able to pass energy legislation this year that includes the controversial cap-and-trade system for reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

More than a dozen families living in a northeastern Pennsylvania town in the heart of the Marcellus Shale on Thursday sued Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. and a service operator, claiming that their water wells became contaminated when the producer used hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracing) to stimulate production from area natural gas wells. The plaintiffs claim the hydrofracing “fluid and/or drilling mud includes hazardous chemicals that are carcinogenic and toxic.”

Forty-five residents of a northeastern Pennsylvania town in the heart of the Marcellus Shale on Thursday sued Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. and a service operator, claiming that their water wells became contaminated when the producer used hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracing) in the course of drilling and stimulating natural gas wells. The plaintiffs claim the hydrofracing “fluid and/or drilling mud includes hazardous chemicals that are carcinogenic and toxic.”

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has given the green light for Calgary-based Suncor Energy Inc.’s friendly takeover of cross-town rival Petro-Canada. Suncor has a refining and gasoline retail business based in Colorado, and Petro-Canada has unconventional natural gas operations in the Lower 48 states. The C$19.6 billion (US$15.5 billion) merger, which would create Canada’s largest energy company, was announced in March (see Daily GPI, March 24). The transaction still requires approval by the Competition Bureau in Canada, and both companies have overlapping retail gasoline operations in Ontario.