Natural Gas Bidding War Puts Spotlight on a Billionaire

New York Times, BY Petter Lattman and Michael De La Merced:

A multibillion-dollar takeover battle broke out last week over a Houston company that owns 20,000 miles of natural gas pipelines running from the southeastern tip of Florida to the Oklahoma Panhandle.

The man at the center of the fight is a New York billionaire who runs the energy business from offices on the top floor of the General Motors Building on Fifth Avenue overlooking Central Park.

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Lawmakers Seek Inquiry of Natural Gas Industry

“Given the rapid growth of the shale gas industry and its growing importance for our country’s energy portfolio, I urge the S.E.C. to quickly investigate whether investors have been intentionally misled,” wrote Representative Maurice D. Hinchey, Democrat of New York, in one of three letters sent to the commission by four federal lawmakers, all Democrats.

The calls for investigations came amid growing questions about the environmental and financial risks surrounding natural gas drilling and especially a technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, used to release gas trapped underground in shale formations.

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Steward shows support for home rule bill

If the state strengthens home-rule authority, municipalities will have less risk of being sued and seeing their local laws overturned in court, he said.

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Two Oil and Gas Drilling Operators Sentenced on Felony Convictions for Violating The Safe Water Drinking Act

Acting United States Attorney Robert S. Cessar announced today, June 24, 2010, that a resident of Sheffield, Pennsylvania and a resident of La Quinta, California, have been sentenced in federal court in Erie as a result of their felony convictions for violating the Safe Drinking Water Act by unlawfully injecting brine produced from an oil drilling operation.

United States District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin imposed the sentences on John Morgan, age 54, of Sheffield, Pennsylvania, and Michael Evans, age 66, of La Quinta, California.  Mr. Morgan received a sentence of three years probation, a $4,000 fine, eight months home detention and eighty hours community service.  Mr. Evans received a sentence of three years probation, a $5,000 fine, ten months home detention and one hundred hours community service.

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Ohio Senate OK of drilling in state parks upsets Mohican residents

Opponents -- which include the Mohican-Loudonville Visitors Bureau, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation and other groups -- say the state parks historically have been off-limits to drilling and allowing it would harm vistas and groundwater.

Democratic amendments on where and how drilling would be done failed to gain traction. The party holds 10 seats in the 33-member chamber.

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Incidents where hydraulic fracturing is a suspected cause of drinking water contamination

Ohio: In 2007, there was an explosion of a water well and contamination of at least 22 other drinking water wells in Bainbridge Township after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Ohio Valley Energy Systems. According to the State investigation, one of the contributing factors to this incident is that: “the frac communicated directly with the well bore and was not confined within the “Clinton” reservoir.”

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Transient work force a problem

While there was optimistic discussion of jobs, concerns turned to the impact of hundreds of new workers on community services and what to do about chemical-laced water that drillers pump underground to crack the shale and release natural gas.

Douglas Hill, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, said some counties and municipalities are starting to struggle with an increase in out-of-state workers and specialized legal work accompanying a transient work force. He said some employees are on probation in other states, wanted on other states' warrants or involved in domestic disputes.

"When you come from out of state, you don't have the community support -- the family, the church, the friends -- to keep you out of the system," Hill said.

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