Energy & Environmental Law Blog : Energy & Environmental Lawyer & Attorney : Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease Law Firm : Oil, Gas & Green Technology

4Hoteliers has an interesting take on the impact of Marcellus drilling in Pennsylvania:  "The 4,374 square-mile region comprising four northeastern Pennsylvania counties—Bradford, Lycoming, Susquehanna and Tioga—experienced a hotel industry RevPAR growth of 37 percent from 2007 to 2010, and grew another 22.2 percent through August of 2011.  That’s not a misprint; rather, this remarkable growth is largely attributable to the exploitation of an old resource through the birth of a new industry: natural gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale."

Read the whole thing.

• Email This
• Print

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has an interesting report on natural gas futures prices ... interesting, but not necessarily encouraging if you're an operator:  "Natural gas prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) settled at $2.488 per million British Thermal Units (MMBtu) on Tuesday, January 17. A near-month contract has not ended daily trading that low since March 5, 2002, nearly 10 years ago."  Graphically:

Read the whole thing.

• Email This
• Print

That's the title of a report recently published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA):  "Prices at the Henry Hub, a key benchmark location for pricing throughout the United States, fell 9% to about $4 per million British thermal units in 2011, the second lowest annual average price since 2002."  They post an interesting graphic with the report:

• Email This
• Print

By now you know that the Administration has rejected the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline (see, e.g., NYT - "The State Department, which has authority over the project because it crosses an international border, said there was not enough time to draw a new route for the pipeline and assess the potential environmental harm to sensitive grasslands and aquifers along its path.").  Some of the commentary has been ... interesting.  See, e.g., this from the Washington Post's Robert Samuelson ("President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is an act of national insanity.").  Read the whole thing.

• Email This
• Print

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Governor Kasich wants to impose new impact fees and severance taxes on operators seeking to develop the Utica shale in Ohio:  "Ohio’s oil and gas industry would pay an 'impact fee' for deep-shale wells to cover the cost of infrastructure damage caused by oil and gas extraction, part of a package of taxes and fees for the industry that Gov. John Kasich soon will propose."

A word of caution:  Brings to mind one of Aesop's Fables ...

• Email This
• Print

Anthony J. Giuliani, a partner in the Columbus office of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP, analyzed  the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 1994 “Common Sense Initiative”  in an article published in the February edition of Products Finishing Magazine. Giuliani, a member of the firm’s energy and environmental practice group, found that – although the program was largely deemed a failure – a handful of valuable research and development projects came as a result of the initiative.

Read the entire article.

• Email This
• Print

As previously reported on this Blog, on December 14, 2011 USEPA a draft research report entitled "Investigation of Ground Water Contamination near Pavilion, Wyoming."  USEPA announced yesterday that it now "invites public nominations of scientific experts to be considered as peer reviewers of the external review" of this draft research report.  See the Federal Register Notice here. 

• Email This
• Print

The Marietta Times has an interesting article on the job creation potential of the Utica Shale in Ohio.  For example:  "Kvamme [president and interim chief investment officer with JobsOhio] noted chemical industries like local polymer plants will benefit from low energy costs but also from easy access to 'feedstock' gases like ethane, butane, propane and methane used in product processing.  He said the cheaper fuel and access to the feedstock gases could also help bring more companies into the area and that there have already been talks with a large steel company and other manufacturers."

Just thought you might like to know.

• Email This
• Print

Earlier this week the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a major environmental case, Sackett v. EPA.  The arguments concerned whether a U.S. EPA complaince order (requiring action and imposing penalties) issued without meaningful judicial review, is constitutional or not.  Attached is a link to the oral argument . . . very interesting reading.

• Email This
• Print