Unhappy

While critics and environmental activists are unhappy, the oil and natural gas industry is celebrating long-awaited changes in New Mexico’s rules for disposing drilling waste known as the “pit rule.” Fighting for changes in tougher requirements imposed by a previous governor, the New Mexico Oil/Gas Association (NMOGA) hailed changes made earlier this month.

The number of parties unhappy with the low level of industry representation on President Obama’s new hydraulic fracturing (fracking) advisory panel continues to grow as answers are sought and questions surrounding the Department of Energy’s (DOE) motives arise.

California officials are openly unhappy with the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) projected 18-month timetable for the investigation of last Thursday’s natural gas pipeline explosion, which killed at least four and left several people still unaccounted for. Officials are pushing Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) and their own investigators to accelerate inspections and investigations that will eventually include all of PG&E’s pipelines in the state.

With a backdrop of unhappy local citizens and a river preservationist group gunning for any liquefied natural gas (LNG) proposed terminals, NorthernStar Natural Gas, Inc., noted late last week that the regulatory clock at FERC now officially is ticking on its proposal to build an LNG receiving terminal at Bradwood Landing, OR, 38 miles up the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, the opposing resolve of the Columbia Riverkeeper, a partner with Astoria, OR-based Columbia RiverVision, has intensified.