Shale Daily

After opponents of legislation to limit how much Texas municipalities may regulate oil/natural gas drilling activities had been rallying for hours at the state capitol, the bill’s author pulled it from the House floor Tuesday because of discrepancies in a committee report on the legislation and for further consideration of amendments.

The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on Friday released its proposed resource management plan (RMP) and final environmental impact statement (EIS) covering future leasing on more than 1 million acres in west-central Colorado. This does not include the more hotly contested White River National Forest (WRNF) and Thompson Divide lands.

The United States is expected to pivot from a net energy importer to a net exporter by 2030, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), with the transition coming even sooner — less than two years from now — for natural gas net imports/exports.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has selected attorney David Sweet to serve as his energy and manufacturing industry advisor. Sweet, a former state lawmaker from 1977 to 1988 and a campaign manager for former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, most recently worked at the law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney. He will report to the state Department of Community and Economic Development and oversee efforts to attract business to the state and advise the governor on development and other issues relating to the manufacturing and energy industries.

No natural gas was released at an Arlington, TX, well site on Saturday, when flowback of pressurized water during hydraulic fracturing occurred, city authorities said. A voluntary evacuation of area residents was enacted and, by Sunday afternoon, crews from well control company Boots & Coots had the Vantage Energy-operated well under control. The incident happened at the Lake Arlington Baptist Church site on Little Road. “This was a very serious situation,” said Arlington Fire Chief Don Crowson. “To get this incident under control, we worked closely with all city departments, Vantage Energy, Arlington Independent School District, the Red Cross and our faith-based organizations.” Arlington is near Dallas-Fort Worth, in the Barnett Shale play.

The issue of local control over oil/natural gas development is alive in California despite a new statewide regulatory process (SB 4) covering well stimulation practices, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) confirmed that at least one condensate pipeline in Marshall County was damaged during inclement weather that rolled through the region late last week, causing a spill into a nearby creek.

Four of six producers ordered by North Dakota regulators to reduce their production at certain wells as a penalty for burning off more natural gas than allowed have been taken off the cut-back list, a spokeswoman for the state’s Oil and Gas Division tells NGI’s Shale Daily.

In the latest legal challenge over pipeline development in the region, Rover Pipeline LLC has filed more than a dozen lawsuits in three southern Michigan counties against landowners who have denied the company access to their property for surveys.