Voted

Pennsylvania’s new auditor general, Eugene DePasquale, will conduct a performance audit of the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) water testing and waste disposal programs to assess their effectiveness in regulating shale gas development.

The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) added two newly elected members and one re-elected member Monday. Bob Stump, the recently re-elected member, was voted by his colleagues as the ACC’s new chairman. He is joined by new member Bob Burns and Susan Bitter Smith, along with returning members, Gary Pierce and Brenda Burns. Pierce just completed two years as the regulatory panel’s chair. Stump serves on the board of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. On Friday, the ACC also named a new executive director, Jodi Jerich, who comes to the commission from a three-year stint as head of the Arizona Residential Utility Consumer Office. Jerich formerly served as policy advisor to ACC commissioner Mike Gleason.

The City of Dallas Plan Commission late Thursday voted unanimously to deny without prejudice an application by Trinity East Energy LLC for specific use permits to perform the first natural gas drilling within the city limits. The commission refused to recommend to Dallas City Council approval of the company’s plans to drill on two city-owned sites and one private site in northwest Dallas. The city-owned sites are in a floodplain, and the private site is near where a soccer complex is being developed. Drilling in a floodplain is against city ordinance, and council would need to amend the city’s floodplain ordinance before voting on zoning approvals for drilling. The city has yet to adopt a new ordinance to deal with gas drilling despite the completion earlier this year of a set of recommendations developed by the Dallas Gas Drilling Task Force (see Shale Daily, Dec. 10). Dallas City Council next month is expected to have the final say on Trinity’s request.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) voted unanimously on Thursday to clarify several portions of Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law, as to how it pertains to levying an unconventional natural gas drilling impact fee.

The Town Board of Onondaga, NY, voted Monday to extend its moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for three months, or until the board passes an ordinance either allowing or prohibiting the practice.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) voted 5-0 on Wednesday to issue a final rulemaking order for marketing and sales practices used by natural gas suppliers.

Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission voted to partially adopt federal clean air rules that target hydraulic fracturing (fracking) emissions and hold public meetings next year to consider full implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules.

Shareholders of Nexen Inc. last week voted to accept a $15.1 billion takeover offer by CNOOC Ltd., an arm of state-controlled China National Offshore Oil Co.

Shareholders of Nexen Inc. voted to accept a C$15.1 billion (U.S. dollar at par) takeover offer by CNOOC Ltd., an arm of state-controlled China National Offshore Oil Co.