Until about the 1st of May, there will be a break in posting.
See you in the Spring!
An Agency's Limits
Articles in this series examine the risks of natural-gas drilling and efforts to regulate this rapidly growing industry.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Summary of 2011 NM legislative session
"A summary of developments in the Legislature's 60-day session, which ended Saturday.
Gov. Susana Martinez has until April 8 to sign or veto bills passed during the final stretch of the session.
ENERGY-ENVIRONMENT(equals)
Passed: Governmental task force to investigate natural gas outages; create energy conservation bonds; tax credit for biofuels produced from algae; expand scope of cost cap for utilities in meeting with renewable energy requirements; update abandoned mine reclamation law to remain eligible for federal funding; Renewable Energy Transmission Authority bonding changes.
Failed: Invalidate state regulations on greenhouse gas emissions; allow severance tax fund investments in New Mexico renewable energy projects; tax credit for converting vehicles to run on natural gas; define ownership rights in underground pore space that can be used for storage of carbon dioxide." More>>>>
Friday, March 18, 2011
Biggest radioactive spill in U.S. history was in New Mexico (Listen again)
"Biggest radioactive spill in U.S. history was in New Mexico (Listen again)
(2011-03-18)
Follow KSFR News on Twitter and on Facebook.
Subscribe to KSFR News Podcasts.
As concern in the U.S. continues over the nuclear-reactor crisis in Japan, what few remember is that the biggest radioactive spill in U.S. history happened right here in New Mexico.
Listen.
© Copyright 2011, KSFR" Link>>>>
Charting the Human Cost of Different Types of Energy
"Since this time last year, we’ve seen a deadly mine disaster [1], the worst oil spill in U.S. history [2], and now a nuclear crisis in Japan [3]. That got us wondering—how does one compare or quantify the human cost of different sources of energy?
As it turns out, a Swiss research organization, the Paul Sherrer Institute, has been doing just that. Using data from the institute, we pulled together a few visualizations." More>>>>
Monday, March 14, 2011
States ask Supreme Court to dismiss utility-emission case
"Connecticut and five other states seeking to persuade the Supreme Court to allow greenhouse gas emissions to be regulated via federal common law have suggested the justices should avoid deciding the case and instead send it back to a lower court.
In their final brief filed in American Electric Power v. Connecticut, the states maintain their position that greenhouse gas emissions can be regulated as a "public nuisance" under federal common law.
But they say that the court should wait to see what happens to the ongoing efforts by U.S. EPA to regulate emissions before deciding the issue.
The states point in particular to the recent settlement in which EPA agreed to set new greenhouse gas limits for refineries and power plants (Greenwire, Dec. 23, 2010).
That announcement came several weeks after the Supreme Court decided to hear the case, which is due to be argued April 19." More>>>>
Environmental, construction rules top targets of state task force
Staci Matlock | The New Mexican
3/13/2011
"A task force established by Gov. Susana Martinez to review the impact of state regulations on small businesses has focused narrowly on environmental and construction rules, with an eye toward some major overhauls.
A "mid-point report" sent by the task force Feb. 18 to the governor's chief of staff, Keith Gardner, noted the group's review would focus on rules and regulations in the state Environment, Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources, and Game and Fish departments. The task force will "determine the best approach to rescind or revise the troublesome rules/regulations," according to the report.
The task force, which has met twice, noted that environment and construction are two areas "in which industries have been significantly and economically affected by rules and regulations." The task force is to make a full, formal report to Martinez by April 1.
So far, no one interviewed from the task force or asked to comment on the group's work has publicly produced anything concrete about how specific environmental and construction rules impact small businesses. "...
..."The task force is focusing on the revised pit rule for oil and gas waste, now 2 years old; a 5-year-old enforcement and compliance rule for oil and gas wells; and new building codes, among other things.:...
..."The report notes "the task force does not wish to present a laundry list of problems to the Governor but develop solutions. The goal is to provide the Governor and/or agencies cover when repealing or revising a rule or regulation thus avoiding litigation if possible."
The pit rule, first approved in 2003 and amended in 2008 and 2009, requires oil and gas producers to contain the waste products from drilling in a lined pit or a closed loop system from which the waste is hauled to a licensed facility. The updated rule in 2008 came after more than a year of public hearings, analysis of well samples near drilling operations and a report by a task force of representatives from state agencies, environmental groups, and the oil and gas industry. Former Gov. Bill Richardson ordered the rule amended after oil prices fell and the industry asked for help.
The oil and gas industry has maintained the rule has chased out well drillers and is too expensive to meet, statements not borne out by the level of drilling and production that has occurred in the last year around the state." More>>>>
Related posts:
Clearly New Mexico Feb 24 Are You Sitting Down? Here Are The Recommendations From The Gov’s “Small Business-Friendly” Task Force
Public Records Request Shows Gov’s “Small Business-Friendly Task Force” Met In Secret; Is Packed With Lobbyists for Oil and Gas, Mining and Dairy
Friday, March 11, 2011
Mexico, Canada eye imports of U.S. shale gas
Nathanial Gronewold, E&E reporter
"HOUSTON -- The United States' North American neighbors are considering importing U.S. natural gas to meet their burgeoning electricity needs.
Mexico's chief energy minister said yesterday that his nation is carefully eyeing the U.S. revolution in shale gas production to help fuel Mexico's fast-growing economy.
Mexico's new development of renewable energy resources and fossil-fuel power is not occurring fast enough to meet the growth, the energy minister, José Antonio Meade, told a major energy industry conference here. The U.S. shale gas boom and the potential for exporting U.S. drilling technologies has been a dominant theme at the gathering (Greenwire, March 10).
"Because of the new technology advances in terms of generating shale gas, now this continent is one of the cheapest in terms of using gas for generating electricity," Mede said. "Mexico, I think, is in a good position to take advantage of that."' More>>>>
Republicans Urge More Energy Production
"Is “drill, baby, drill” about to make a comeback?
With gas prices soaring, Congressional Republicans are clamoring for more domestic energy production, echoing the theme of an impromptu 2008 protest when Republicans occupied the floor of the House during the summer recess to demand that Congress lift a ban on drilling off of much of the nation’s coastline.
At a press conference on Thursday, Speaker John A. Boehner said Republicans were moving ahead with an umbrella initiative that would seek to spur more domestic energy production and end federal policies he said were contributing to rising gas costs.
“Through the American Energy Initiative, we will work to help lower gas prices, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create new jobs,” Mr. Boehner said." More>>>>
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Another One Of Those Small Business-Friendly Tactics?
"A bill that would bar the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board from making any greenhouse gas rules that are more stringent than federal law is making its way through Senate committees.
The bill, SB 489, sponsored by Clinton Harden, (R-Clovis), would not reverse the two carbon cap proposals that were approved in the waning days of the Richardson Administration. Those proposals drew strong opposition from the oil and gas industry and from Gov. Susana Martinez, who vowed during her campaign to reverse them if elected governor.
(A few weeks ago, Clearly New Mexico learned that Gov. Martinez had appointed a Small Business-Friendly task force filled with representatives of the oil and gas industry and other large corporate interests to evaluate regulations like the carbon caps. The group made it clear that rolling back regulations was their number one priority, and discussed a number of strategies to accomplish this that included legislation, executive orders, and other tactics.)
Though SB 489 wouldn’t reverse the current caps, it would severely hamper New Mexico’s ability to protect its environment in the future, opponents say.
Friends of the Environment Oppose It" More>>>>
Wyoming Air Pollution Worse Than Los Angeles Due To Gas Drilling
"CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Wyoming, famous for its crisp mountain air and breathtaking, far-as-the-eye-can-see vistas, is looking a lot like smoggy Los Angeles these days because of a boom in natural gas drilling.
Folks who live near the gas fields in the western part of this outdoorsy state are complaining of watery eyes, shortness of breath and bloody noses because of ozone levels that have exceeded what people in L.A. and other major cities wheeze through on their worst pollution days." More>>>>
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
NM governor nominates Bemis to head energy agency
Associated Press - March 8, 2011 7:25 PM ET
"SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - Gov. Susana Martinez has nominated an assistant commissioner at the State Land Office to serve as head of the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.
Martinez says John Bemis' experience in overseeing energy development at the Land Office makes him a qualified candidate.
Bemis joined the State Land Office in 2003 and has served as assistant commissioner for oil, gas, and mineral resources since 2004. He previously worked as senior attorney for the Farmington region at Burlington Resources, Inc." More>>>>
NM House Bills 297 & 422
CVNM: Protect New Mexico Twitter:
- HB297, which would jeopardize groundwater quality passes the House 48-20.
- HB422, the anti-cultural property bill, passed with no recommendation out of House Energy & Natural Resources 8-4.
NM SB 421 Tabled
Email from Jerry
"A substitute bill for SB 421 was tabled by the Senate Judiciary Committee at about 9:50 pm last evening. Many thanks to all who helped make that happen."
See:
Oil-slick sleight of hand
Monday, March 7, 2011
Oil-slick sleight of hand
Email from Kim:
"Hello friends
I wish there were an easier more predictable way for use to make ourselves heard, but here’s the update:
HB 422 and SB 421, the twin bill s that would allow mineral rights owners absolute veto over State historic listing of any property or district, did NOT get heard last week.
If you haven’t contacted legislators to oppose these, there is still time, especially for SB 421. See earlier e-mails for phone numbers.
If there’s any chance of attending a hearing, here is the most current info:
HB 422 is one of 4 bills up in front of House Energy & Natural Resources, (Egolf’s committee). They will meet Monday the 7th at 8:30 am, different room than usual: room 309.
The good news is that with the early schedule, they can be counted on to meet when they say.
SB 421 will be in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. They meet in Room 321, “at 2:30 or half an hour after the main Senate floor session ends”. It is one of 14 bills on their agenda.
I spent Friday from 2:30 till 6:00 when the committee actually convened, and then found they’d dropped 421 from the day’s agenda. It’s frustrating, but if you can spare the time, our voices are needed.
You may have seen the New Mexican editorial about how Bratton’s Brats (the HENRC GOP) maneuvered HB 297 (weakening the Oil Conservation Division) past HENRC using technicalities, contrived absences, and quorum manipulation. Read the editorial, then call or e-mail to express your disapproval and ask Reps to oppose it on the floor of the House.
We’re all getting tired, but only 13 more days to go. Do whatever you can, please.
Kim"
Friday, March 4, 2011
Pressure Limits Efforts to Police Drilling for Gas
By IAN URBINA
Published: March 3, 2011
" When Congress considered whether to regulate more closely the handling of wastes from oil and gas drilling in the 1980s, it turned to the Environmental Protection Agency to research the matter. E.P.A. researchers concluded that some of the drillers’ waste was hazardous and should be tightly controlled.
Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times
Carol M. Browner, left, the E.P.A. administrator in the Clinton administration, has argued both for and against exemptions for the oil and gas industry.
Drilling Down
Questions, additional information or related tips can be sent to urbina@nytimes.com.
Multimedia
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Green Blog: Pressure Grows for Answers on Fracking (March 2, 2011)
Left, Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press; Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
In its efforts to oppose new federal regulations, the oil and gas industry found allies in Senator James M. Inhofe, left, and Senator Tom Coburn, Republicans from Oklahoma.
But that is not what Congress heard. Some of the recommendations concerning oil and gas waste were eliminated in the final report handed to lawmakers in 1987.
“It was like the science didn’t matter,” Carla Greathouse, the author of the study, said in a recent interview. “The industry was going to get what it wanted, and we were not supposed to stand in the way.”
E.P.A. officials told her, she said, that her findings were altered because of pressure from the Office of Legal Counsel of the White House under Ronald Reagan. A spokesman for the E.P.A. declined to comment.
Ms. Greathouse’s experience was not an isolated case. More than a quarter-century of efforts by some lawmakers and regulators to force the federal government to police the industry better have been thwarted, as E.P.A. studies have been repeatedly narrowed in scope and important findings have been removed.
For example, the agency had planned to call last year for a moratorium on the gas-drilling technique known as hydrofracking in the New York City watershed, according to internal documents, but the advice was removed from the publicly released letter sent to New York.
Now some scientists and lawyers at the E.P.A. are wondering whether history is about to repeat itself as the agency undertakes a broad new study of natural gas drilling and its potential risks, with preliminary results scheduled to be delivered next year.
The documents show that the agency dropped some plans to model radioactivity in drilling wastewater being discharged by treatment plants into rivers upstream from drinking water intake plants. And in Congress, members from drilling states like Oklahoma have pressured the agency to keep the focus of the new study narrow.
They have been helped in their lobbying efforts by a compelling storyline: Cutting red tape helps these energy companies reduce the nation’s dependence on other countries for fuel. Natural gas is also a cleaner-burning alternative to coal and plentiful within United States borders, so it can create jobs.
But interviews with E.P.A. scientists, and confidential documents obtained by The New York Times, show long and deep divisions within the agency over whether and how to increase regulation of oil and gas drillers, and over the enforcement of existing laws that some agency officials say are clearly being violated.
Agency lawyers are heatedly debating whether to intervene in Pennsylvania, where drilling for gas has increased sharply, to stop what some of those lawyers say is a clear violation of federal pollution laws: drilling waste discharged into rivers and streams with minimal treatment. The outcome of that dispute has the potential to halt the breakneck growth of drilling in Pennsylvania.
The E.P.A. has taken strong stands in some places, like Texas, where in December it overrode state regulators and intervened after a local driller was suspected of water contamination. Elsewhere, the agency has pulled its punches, as in New York.
Asked why the letter about hydrofracking in the New York City watershed had been revised, an agency scientist involved in writing it offered a one-word explanation: “politics.”
Natural gas drilling companies have major exemptions from parts of at least 7 of the 15 sweeping federal environmental laws that regulate most other heavy industries and were written to protect air and drinking water from radioactive and hazardous chemicals.
Coal mine operators that want to inject toxic wastewater into the ground must get permission from the federal authorities. But when natural gas companies want to inject chemical-laced water and sand into the ground during hydrofracking, they do not have to follow the same rules.
The air pollution from a sprawling steel plant with multiple buildings is added together when regulators decide whether certain strict rules will apply. At a natural gas site, the toxic fumes from various parts of it — a compressor station and a storage tank, for example — are counted separately rather than cumulatively, so many overall gas well operations are subject to looser caps on their emissions.
An Earlier Reversal
The E.P.A. also studied hydrofracking in 2004, when Congress considered whether the process should be fully regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act.
An early draft of the study discussed potentially dangerous levels of contamination in hydrofracking fluids and mentioned “possible evidence” of contamination of an aquifer. The report’s final version excluded these points, concluding instead that hydrofracking “poses little or no threat to drinking water.”
Shortly after the study was released, an E.P.A. whistle-blower said the agency had been strongly influenced by industry and political pressure. Agency leaders at the time stood by the study’s findings.
Art Cashin On The Worrisome String Of Earthquakes Rattling The State Of Arkansas
Business Insider
Joe Weisenthal
..."The other concern is that the Arkansas quakes may be the result of man made activity. In particular, some think they may be triggered by hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”, a practice used to extract natural gas and even oil from sub-surface shale deposits. If a link between “fracking” and the Arkansas quakes is found, it could lead to bans around the nation. Could be very important." More>>>>
Joe Weisenthal
..."The other concern is that the Arkansas quakes may be the result of man made activity. In particular, some think they may be triggered by hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”, a practice used to extract natural gas and even oil from sub-surface shale deposits. If a link between “fracking” and the Arkansas quakes is found, it could lead to bans around the nation. Could be very important." More>>>>
Thursday, March 3, 2011
'We intend to do our jobs' on fracking, EPA chief vows
E&E News
Gabriel Nelson and Mike Soraghan, E&E reporters
"Put on the defensive by a new report claiming that U.S. EPA scaled back its study of the potential health threats of natural gas drilling in response to pressure from industry, Administrator Lisa Jackson insisted today on Capitol Hill that she won't let politics trump science.
A series published this week in The New York Times has investigated federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing, a technique that has opened up massive reserves of natural gas across the country. EPA is planning to launch a two-year study on the environmental and health impacts of the process, but some areas of study that were suggested by agency scientists were stripped from the final research plan because of pressure from the oil and gas industry, according to an article published today (Greenwire, March 3).
Tomorrow, Jackson is headed to Pennsylvania, one of several states that sit on top of the vast, gas-filled rock formation known as the Marcellus Shale, she told members of the House Appropriations Committee during a hearing on the agency's budget today.
She described the meeting with federal officials at EPA's regional office in Philadelphia as an effort to understand the "state of play" at the Region 3 headquarters, which has been at the center of the controversy. Despite what several agency attorneys and scientists told the Times, the agency is committed to sound science, Jackson said.
"I need to speak to the professionals out in the Philly office and ensure that they hear from the top of this organization that there is no 'Look the other way, stand down,'" she said. "We intend to do our jobs."' More>>>>
Dish sues gas firms over compressor stations
"The small town of Dish, which has previously sparred with natural gas drillers over its water quality, also thinks natural gas compressor stations are an unsightly and perhaps dangerous nuisance that harm local property values.
The town makes those complaints in a lawsuit filed Monday in District Court in Denton County against six natural gas pipeline companies.
The suit calls a complex of compressor stations that the companies operate near the town "a public nuisance." It also alleges that the compressor stations have harmed the emotional and financial well-being of the community, which is southwest of Denton.
Fort Worth lawyer Kirk Claunch, who is representing the town, filed the lawsuit and two others on behalf of 10 landowners. The suits claim that landowners and the town are entitled to collect monetary damages from the gas companies because of diminished property values.
The mere presence of the compressor stations, the truck traffic they generate and the potentially dangerous air pollutants constitute trespass on Dish residents' property and "makes it less desirable to live in that area," Claunch said Wednesday. Compressor stations typically employ huge engines to drive pumps to move natural gas through the big pipelines.
"The reality of it is, if people that live close to these facilities want to leave, they can't because of the decline in property values," Claunch said.
Ed Ireland, executive director of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council, an industry supported group, said he had not seen the suits and declined to comment on the specific allegations." More>>>>
High drama as film tax credit cap passes
Trip Jennings | The New Mexican
An interesting excerpt:
"Several attempts to change the $45 million limit were made. But every amendment suggested was voted down, including one that would have raised the limit to $60 million and another sponsored by Santa Fe Democrat Brian Egolf. Egolf's amendment would have made the adoption of the $45 million film limit contingent on the state's reduction to the same level — $45 million — of the amount of tax breaks New Mexico gives each year to the oil and gas industry. " More>>>>
An interesting excerpt:
"Several attempts to change the $45 million limit were made. But every amendment suggested was voted down, including one that would have raised the limit to $60 million and another sponsored by Santa Fe Democrat Brian Egolf. Egolf's amendment would have made the adoption of the $45 million film limit contingent on the state's reduction to the same level — $45 million — of the amount of tax breaks New Mexico gives each year to the oil and gas industry. " More>>>>
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
America's 10 Most Toxic Cities
"During the Revolutionary War Philadelphia served as one of America’s first capital cities. These days, however, Philadelphia could be considered the capital of toxicity, since the city and its environs ranked No. 1 on our 2011 Most Toxic Cities list. One big reason: The sprawling Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), including parts of four states (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and one county in Maryland), is pocked with more than 50 Superfund sites---areas no longer in use that contain hazardous waste.
While the East Coast metro, with its old industrial sites, grabbed the top spot, California metropolitan areas claimed four of the 10 spots on our Most Toxic list, primarily due to the chronic air quality problem known as smog." More>>>>
Wastewater Recycling No Cure-All in Gas Process
The New York Times
by Ian Urbina
Published: March 1, 2011
"As drilling for natural gas started to climb sharply about 10 years ago, energy companies faced mounting criticism over an extraction process that involves pumping millions of gallons of water into the ground for each well and can leave significant amounts of hazardous contaminants in the water that comes back to the surface.
Drilling Down
by Ian Urbina
Published: March 1, 2011
"As drilling for natural gas started to climb sharply about 10 years ago, energy companies faced mounting criticism over an extraction process that involves pumping millions of gallons of water into the ground for each well and can leave significant amounts of hazardous contaminants in the water that comes back to the surface.
Drilling Down
An Imperfect Solution
Articles in this series examine the risks of natural-gas drilling and efforts to regulate this rapidly growing industry.
Questions, additional information or related tips can be sent to urbina@nytimes.com.
Multimedia
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Drilling Down: Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers (February 27, 2011)
So, in a move hailed by industry as a major turning point, drilling companies started reusing and recycling the wastewater." More>>>>
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