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U.S. Won't Tighten Pipeline Rules

The U.S. Transportation Department doesn’t plan to change regulations to better protect underground pipelines from riverbed erosion, a year after Congress ordered it to evaluate its policies in the wake of pipeline breaks that spilled hazardous liquids into waterways. The department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said its review found that over the past two decades, riverbed erosion contributed to just one in every 200 significant hazardous-liquid incidents involving pipelines. The agency, which oversees pipeline safety, said in a recent letter to Congress that its "existing legislative authority is adequate to address the risks of hazardous liquid pipeline failures at major river crossings." The agency said that after its review, it sees no need to change existing regulations. The letter could spell the end of efforts by pipeline-safety advocates to enhance protections against "scouring," in which flooding or rapid currents strip away layers of earth from a river’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. Won’t Tighten Pipeline Rules

The U.S. Transportation Department doesn’t plan to change regulations to better protect underground pipelines from riverbed erosion, a year after Congress ordered it to evaluate its policies in the wake of pipeline breaks that spilled hazardous liquids into waterways. The department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said its review found that over the past two decades, riverbed erosion contributed to just one in every 200 significant hazardous-liquid incidents involving pipelines. The agency, which oversees pipeline safety, said in a recent letter to Congress that its "existing legislative authority is adequate to address the risks of hazardous liquid pipeline failures at major river crossings." The agency said that after its review, it sees no need to change existing regulations. The letter could spell the end of efforts by pipeline-safety advocates to enhance protections against "scouring," in which flooding or rapid currents strip away layers of earth from a river’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Court Finds Pa. Gas Drilling Rule Violates State's Constitution

Court Finds Pa. Gas Drilling Rule Violates State’s Constitution The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Thursday that several provisions of Act 13, signed last year by Gov. Tom Corbett to overhaul the state’s oil and gas laws, violates the Environmental Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution. The court ruled 4-2 that Act 13 violates Section 27 of the declaration of rights in Pennsylvania’s constitution, which states that citizens have a right to clean air, pure water and the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille noted that “we agree with the citizens that, as an exercise of the police power, Sections 3215(b)(4) and (d), 3303, and 3304 are incompatible with the Commonwealth’s duty as trustee of Pennsylvania’s public natural resources.” Justices Castille, Debra McCloskey Todd and Seamus P. McCaffrey stated in the ruling that Act 13’s zoning provisions, which […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Court Finds Pa. Gas Drilling Rule Violates State’s Constitution

Court Finds Pa. Gas Drilling Rule Violates State’s Constitution The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Thursday that several provisions of Act 13, signed last year by Gov. Tom Corbett to overhaul the state’s oil and gas laws, violates the Environmental Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution. The court ruled 4-2 that Act 13 violates Section 27 of the declaration of rights in Pennsylvania’s constitution, which states that citizens have a right to clean air, pure water and the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille noted that “we agree with the citizens that, as an exercise of the police power, Sections 3215(b)(4) and (d), 3303, and 3304 are incompatible with the Commonwealth’s duty as trustee of Pennsylvania’s public natural resources.” Justices Castille, Debra McCloskey Todd and Seamus P. McCaffrey stated in the ruling that Act 13’s zoning provisions, which […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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British official: Shale could reduce Europe's dependence on imports

British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey said shale natural gas may help reduce the European energy sector’s dependence on Russia. It’s unlikely European countries would duplicate the U.S. shale progress because the geology and regulatory regimes are more complex "but exploiting shale gas Europe-wide has the potential to contribute significantly to energy security whilst reducing dependence on imports from outside the European Union, most notably from Russia," Davey said Thursday at University College London. Shale natural gas won’t be a "silver bullet" for members of the European community but will add diversity to the base of energy resources, he said. European consumers get about 20 percent of their natural gas needs from Russia. The British government this week published policy guidelines meant to provide energy companies with the information they need to exploit the country’s fledgling shale natural gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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British official: Shale could reduce Europe’s dependence on imports

British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey said shale natural gas may help reduce the European energy sector’s dependence on Russia. It’s unlikely European countries would duplicate the U.S. shale progress because the geology and regulatory regimes are more complex "but exploiting shale gas Europe-wide has the potential to contribute significantly to energy security whilst reducing dependence on imports from outside the European Union, most notably from Russia," Davey said Thursday at University College London. Shale natural gas won’t be a "silver bullet" for members of the European community but will add diversity to the base of energy resources, he said. European consumers get about 20 percent of their natural gas needs from Russia. The British government this week published policy guidelines meant to provide energy companies with the information they need to exploit the country’s fledgling shale natural gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Pa. gas drilling decision leaves future uncertain

The energy industry and policy makers in Pennsylvania, the heart of the nation’s gas drilling boom, are thinking about their next moves after the state’s highest court threw out significant portions of a law that limited the power of cities and counties to regulate the industry. The state Supreme Court voted 4-2 on Thursday to strike down portions of a 2012 law that had been crafted by Gov. Tom Corbett and his industry-friendly allies in the Legislature. Republican leaders in the General Assembly said the decision raised more questions than it answered and could damage the growing industry. They said they were not sure, for example, what the ruling would mean for the millions in impact fees being collected under the law. Pennsylvania has over the past five years seen a boom in drilling and related industries rushing to exploit the deposits in the rock […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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EIA: Pennsylvania Fastest Growing Gas Producer Thanks to Marcellus

Pennsylvania Fastest Growing Gas Producer Thanks to Marcellus Marcellus shale gas production boosted Pennsylvania from the seventh-largest to third-largest marketed U.S. natural gas producing state from 2011 to 2012, and may lift the state to the rank of second-largest natural gas producer this year, according to a Dec. 17 report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The state’s marketed natural gas production, which includes natural gas plant liquids, rose by 72 percent from 2011 to 2012, according to the EIA report Natural Gas Annual 2012. Earlier this month, EIA said that the Marcellus shale gas area in the eastern United States may account for 18 percent of total U.S. gas production, United Press International reported Dec. 10. Texas topped the list for marketed natural gas in the top 10 producing states from 2011 to 2012, followed by the Louisiana and Pennsylvania. Oklahoma, Wyoming, Colorado, federal offshore, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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The Natural Gas Glut Is, Like, So Over. Price Soars!

Someone must have known something. Natural gas jumped over 2% this morning before the Energy Information Administration released its Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report at 10:30 a.m. The report would show how much natural gas was in underground storage nationwide on December 13, and how much had been withdrawn from storage during that week. Every Thursday, the report sends gas futures gyrating up or down. But today, they gyrated up from the start of trading. "Unusually" cold weather had swept parts of the country. Natural gas consumption reacts sharply to cold temperatures. So analysts surveyed by Platts had jacked up their estimates for a withdrawal of 260 to 264 billion cubic feet, far above the 70 Bcf during the same week last year and above the five-year average of 133 Bcf for the week. Gas has been rising in anticipation for days. When the EIA report hit at 10:30 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural gas saves water, even when factoring in water lost to hydraulic fracturing

Natural gas saves water, even when factoring in water lost to hydraulic fracturing Page added on December 20, 2013 For every gallon of water used to produce natural gas through hydraulic fracturing, Texas saved 33 gallons of water by generating electricity with that natural gas instead of coal (in 2011). Credit: University of Texas at Austin A new study finds that in Texas, the U.S. state that annually generates the most electricity, the transition from coal to natural gas for electricity generation is saving water and making the state less vulnerable to drought. Even though exploration for natural gas through hydraulic fracturing requires significant water consumption in Texas, the new consumption is easily offset by the overall water efficiencies of shifting electricity generation from coal to natural gas. The researchers estimate that water saved by shifting a power plant from coal to natural gas is 25 to 50 times […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple