05 August 2020 New Mexico Proposes Crackdown on Oil and Gas Industry's Methane Emissions New Mexico has proposed rules that would require its oil and gas industry to capture at least 98% of its emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane by 2026, a standard it said would be among the strongest in the nation.
05 August 2020 Trump Administration Easing More Obama-Era Oil and Gas Rules The Trump administration is seeking to ease more rules for oil and gas drilling that were adopted under the Obama administration, with the latest changes projected to save energy companies more than $130 million over the next decade.
22 July 2020 The New Oil and Gas Governance This essay explores the overall trend toward an oil and gas governance regime increasingly focused on development risks and analyzes the growing divergence of state responses. In doing so, it assesses the conditions that have challenged previously universal legal doctrines.
16 July 2020 UPDATE: Appeals Court Stay Allows DAPL To Operate Temporarily Energy Transfer pursued the stay and expedited appeal after its emergency request for a stay was denied by the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
06 July 2020 US District Court Orders Dakota Access Pipeline Shut and Emptied The court said it was mindful of the disruption the shutdown will cause but said the seriousness of deficiencies from the US Army Corps of Engineers outweighs the negative effects of shutting down the pipeline.
26 June 2020 White House Gave IRS More Power in Carbon-Capture Rule Changes The White House review of proposed rules for an expanded credit for capturing and storing carbon dioxide resulted in changes that give the IRS more time to take back the credits in case of carbon leaks.
23 June 2020 Agriculture Secretary Orders Environmental Rollbacks for Forest Service US Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue ordered the US Forest Service to expedite environmental reviews on its land, paving the way for more grazing, logging, and oil development on public lands.
23 June 2020 Colorado Commissions Says New Well Rules Mean Strong Groundwater Protections The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission approved new rules governing well construction, testing, and related matters, which the agency says will result in the strongest rules nationwide to protect groundwater from contamination from oil and gas activity.
18 June 2020 Texas Eyes Gas-Flaring Curb To Allay Wall Street Climate Worries The Texas Railroad Commission’s chairman has said the commission will look into policies to “drastically reduce” natural gas flaring from the state’s shale patch as investors become increasingly sensitive to climate-change concerns.
09 June 2020 New Mexico Oil and Gas Regulators Remain Vigilant During Market Downturn New Mexico state regulators vowed to keep the oil and gas industry in check during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent market collapse, as some groups worried that shut-in wells and other cost-saving measures could lead to operators flouting environmental regulations.
19 May 2020 Alberta Suspends Environmental Monitoring Rules for Oilsands During Pandemic The Alberta Energy Regulator has suspended a wide array of environmental monitoring requirements for oilsands companies over public health concerns raised by the COVID-19 pandemic.
15 May 2020 Alberta Government Reaches Preliminary Methane Reduction Deal With Feds After years of negotiations, the province announced that it had reached a preliminary agreement with the federal government that it calls a “major step toward providing Alberta’s oil and gas industry a single set of strong rules to reduce methane emissions and protect the environment.”
12 May 2020 Examining State Oil and Gas Enforcement Across the West As the oil industry faces bankruptcies and shutdowns, a new analysis uncovers low inspection rates and almost no financial penalties—with a handful of exceptions.
27 April 2020 Oklahoma Energy Regulators OK Move Allowing Well Shut-Ins The Oklahoma Corporation Commission approved an emergency order that allows oil producers to stop or reduce production without losing their leases for nonproduction.
27 April 2020 US Supreme Court Sides With BP Unit To Curtail Superfund Site Cleanup Lawsuits The US Supreme Court handed BP unit Atlantic Richfield a victory, making it harder for Montana landowners to seek a more-extensive cleanup of a hazardous waste site than the federal government had ordered.
16 April 2020 US Judge Cancels Permit for Keystone XL Pipeline From Canada A US judge canceled a key permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline that is expected to stretch from Canada to Nebraska, another setback for the disputed project that got under way only recently following years of delays.
13 April 2020 Larimer County, Colorado, Adopts First Regulations on Oil and Gas Facilities The county commissioners approved regulations for new oil and gas facilities in the county that match or exceed state rules.
01 April 2020 EPA’s Relaxed Enforcement Amid Virus Draws Mixed State Reactions Most states are involved in the actual day-to-day work of enforcing environmental permitting programs based on federal rules and policies. While some states plan to defer to the EPA’s latest guidance, others indicated they will not.
30 March 2020 EPA, Citing Coronavirus, Drastically Relaxes Rules for Polluters The Environmental Protection Agency announced a sweeping relaxation of environmental rules in response to the coronavirus pandemic, allowing power plants, factories, and other facilities to determine for themselves if they are able to meet legal requirements on reporting air and water pollution.
12 March 2020 Minnesota Supreme Court Upholds County's Ban on Sand Mining The ruling comes after a 4-year legal battle between Winona County commissioners and Minnesota Sands, a local company that claimed the 2016 ban was an unconstitutional limitation on interstate commerce and amounted to the government taking its property without compensation.
10 March 2020 With Permian Flaring on the Rise, Regulation Remains Uncertain Flaring has roughly tripled in 2 years in the Permian. As flaring has skyrocketed, so have the calls to curb it. But there is little agreement on how that should be done.
27 February 2020 California Oil and Gas Legislation Takes Effect, Could Affect Production In general, this shift elevates the importance of public health and environmental considerations in the regulation of oil and natural gas production in the state. In turn, production in the state is likely—at least in the near and medium term—to face both longer odds and longer waits for permitting.
10 February 2020 Trump Credits Economic Progress to Environmental Rollbacks President Trump’s limited references to the environment in his State of the Union address included a plan to combat climate change with trees and a claim that his “bold regulatory reduction campaign” had boosted the oil and gas industry.
05 February 2020 Land Bureau May Exempt Plans From Environmental Review The Bureau of Land Management may stop studying how its long-term blueprints for millions of acres of public lands would affect the environment.
24 January 2020 Trump Removes Pollution Controls on Streams and Wetlands The Trump administration has finalized a rule to strip away environmental protections for streams, wetlands, and groundwater, handing a victory to farmers, fossil fuel producers, and real estate developers who said Obama-era rules had shackled them with onerous and unnecessary burdens.
22 January 2020 Two Years After Oklahoma Well Explosion Killed Five, Safety Rules Remain Much the Same Two years ago, an oil well near a small Oklahoma town exploded into a fireball that swept through a drilling rig, killing five in an accident deemed a needless catastrophe by investigators and casting a short-lived spotlight on a lack of regulation and oversight across the oil and gas industry.
22 January 2020 BLM: Drilling Pact Doesn’t Affect State, Federal Legal Authorities Following a further extension of an agreement between state and federal agencies regarding oil and gas industry oversight on public lands, the Colorado state director of the Bureau of Land Management is seeking to provide a better understanding of just what that agreement does and does not do.
06 January 2020 BSEE Panel Investigation Into Incident Yields Recommendations To Protect the Environment As a result of its investigation into the incident and its findings, the bureau recommends that operators increase scrutiny in the design, placement, and maintenance of their subsea infrastructure.
09 December 2019 Report Claims Tighter Climate Policies Could Erase $2.3 Trillion in Value of Companies Tighter government climate regulations by 2025 could wipe up to $2.3 trillion off the value of companies in industries ranging from fossil fuel producers to agriculture and car makers, an investor group warned in a report.
05 December 2019 API Updates Offshore Safety Standard The American Petroleum Institute has published a significantly updated version of a key safety standard aimed at enhancing the oil and natural gas industry’s commitment to worker safety, incident prevention, and environmental protection in offshore operations.
21 November 2019 California Halts Fracturing Permits in Oil Producer Crackdown California Gov. Gavin Newsom is cracking down on oil producers by halting the approval of hundreds of hydraulic fracturing permits until independent scientists can review them.
04 November 2019 Britain Imposes Moratorium on Hydraulic Fracturing The decision comes 2 months after UK shale operator Cuadrilla Resources halted stimulation work at its Preston New Road site in Lancashire because of a magnitude 2.9 seismic event.
28 October 2019 Colorado To Tighten Oversight of Oil and Gas Sites Near Homes in Wake of Study Finding Possible Short-Term Health Effects Colorado officials declared they will toughen their oversight of oil and gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing sites following the release of a multiyear scientific study that found industry operations may expose residents to unhealthy levels of benzene and other chemicals.
15 October 2019 California Governor Signs Bill Limiting Oil, Gas Development The measure bars any California leasing authority from allowing pipelines or other oil and gas infrastructure to be built on state property. It makes it difficult for drilling to occur because federally protected areas are adjacent to state-owned land.
06 September 2019 Adams County Becomes First To Enact Stricter Local Oil and Gas Regulations Since Passage of Colorado Law Commissioners adopt 1,000-ft residential setback rules, double the state’s mandate, as part of a package of measures passed after 5 hours of public comment.
03 September 2019 Trump’s Methane Rule Rollback Divides Oil and Gas Industry Oil and gas producers might have been expected to welcome a decision to loosen regulations affecting their business. But, their reaction to the Trump administration’s move to roll back methane-emissions rules revealed at least tactical divisions on climate policy.
29 August 2019 The Permian Boom Collides With a Governor's Climate-Change Push New Mexico’s Lujan Grisham pushes an ambitious pro-environment agenda for an industry whose receipts dominate the state budget.
20 August 2019 Oil Companies Persuade States To Make Pipeline Protests a Felony After protesters disrupted construction of an oil pipeline in North Dakota by chaining themselves to construction equipment and pitching tents along the route, oil and chemical companies found a way to keep it from happening again. They made it a crime.
15 August 2019 Trump Plans To End Methane Curbs That Oil Companies Want To Keep An EPA plan would end oversight of methane leaks at oil wells, a move that risks undermining the climate sales pitch for natural gas.
13 August 2019 Texas Regulators Say Yes to Flaring Over Pipeline Company’s Objections Texas regulators rejected a rare challenge to gas flaring in the state after an oil company argued that a flaring ban would force it to shut in wells, damaging the reservoir and reducing future oil production.
23 July 2019 Colorado Regulators Tell Weld County the State Still Has Authority Over Where Wells Can Go Colorado regulators are moving to rein in Weld County in the era of Senate Bill 181, the law that gives more power to local governments to manage energy extraction. At issue is whether cities, counties, and towns can enact rules for drilling that are less restrictive than those at the state level.
23 July 2019 Guyana Begins Building Oil and Gas Safety and Health Regulations A new package of regulations governing workers’ safety in the oil and gas sector in Guyana is being crafted, said the country's occupational safety and health consultant at the Ministry of Social Protection, Gwyneth King.
09 July 2019 Colorado’s Writing of New Oil, Gas Rules off to a Rocky Start Right at the start of what will be at least a year-long endeavor, the state agency tasked with implementing a comprehensive new oil and gas law has hit the pause button to sort out conflicting messages from the public.
28 June 2019 Kansas Regulators Struggle With Record-High 22,000 Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells The number of deserted oil and gas wells in Kansas blossomed during the past 5 years to 22,000. A Kansas Corporation Commission annual report revealed a fund created in 1996 to finance plugging of wells to be inadequate if the objective was to keep pace with demand for plugging.
25 June 2019 British Columbia Implements Mandatory Shutdown Timelines for Dormant Oil and Gas Sites A new regulation includes provisions related to the timely abandonment of "dormant sites," a new site classification that refers to inactive wellsites operated by solvent companies.
07 June 2019 More Tweaks Than Transformation in Rewrite of Well Control Rule The new well control rule is evidence that memories of the Macondo blowout remain a powerful force for caution. Despite the rhetoric on both sides of this hot-button issue suggesting big changes, the final changes were incremental.
31 May 2019 A Clean Start: Understanding the EPA’s Recent Audit Program for New Upstream Facility Owners The US Environmental Protection Agency recently finalized a voluntary disclosure program for new owners of upstream oil and gas facilities designed to encourage them to find, correct, and self-report violations of the Clean Air Act, in particular those associated with emissions from storage vessels.
28 May 2019 Colorado Regulators Won’t Halt Drilling as They Implement Law Prioritizing Safety Some environmentalists and community activists have demanded the commission stop issuing permits until the new rules are complete.
15 May 2019 New Colorado Environmental Law Stalls Oil Investment New environmental regulations in Colorado have chilled investment in the state’s oil and gas fields as companies grapple with how local officials will respond to a law giving them more power to restrict energy production.
09 May 2019 BSEE Finalizes Improved Blowout-Preventer and Well-Control Regulations The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement says its final well-control rule removes unnecessary regulatory burdens to responsible offshore development while maintaining safety and environmental protection.
30 April 2019 Colorado Has New, Stronger Oil and Gas Regulations. Now What? The law requires strengthening restrictions on pollution, and regulators are charged with writing new rules to enforce the policy.
30 April 2019 Opponents of Colorado’s New Oil and Gas Regulation Law Won’t Try To Repeal It—at Least Not This Year Opponents had planned to ask voters in November 2019 to repeal and replace the law, but the Colorado secretary of state's office has rejected four versions of their proposed ballot initiative.
16 April 2019 Colorado Lets Oil and Gas Companies Pollute for 90 Days Without Federally Required Permits That Limit Emissions State health officials say they will review whether exemptions for the fossil fuels industry violates the Clean Air Act.
05 April 2019 Colorado Lawmakers Pass Law Overhauling Oil and Gas Drilling Regulations Colorado lawmakers approved a bill overhauling regulations governing the state’s robust oil and gas industry to prioritize public health and safety, over opposition by Republicans and industry groups.
02 April 2019 Oregon Governor Signs Ban on Offshore Drilling Oregon has permanently banned offshore drilling in the midst of a federal push to open 90% of federal waters to oil exploration.
02 April 2019 Judge Rules Trump Executive Order Allowing Offshore Drilling in Arctic Ocean Unlawful A federal judge in Alaska has ruled an executive order by President Donald Trump allowing offshore oil drilling of tens of millions of acres in the Arctic Ocean is "unlawful and invalid."
20 March 2019 Wheeler Says EPA Will Issue Methane Rule This Year The US Environmental Protection Agency plans to issue a rule regulating methane emissions later this year, administrator Andrew Wheeler said.
14 March 2019 Shell Urges Trump White House To Tighten Methane Leak Rules Royal Dutch Shell urged US President Donald Trump’s administration to tighten restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas production, instead of weakening them as planned.
04 March 2019 Colorado Lawmakers Release Comprehensive Oil and Gas Bill, Setting Stage for Potentially Heated Debate Sponsors say bill will modernize laws, bringing them in line with changes in technology.
31 January 2019 New Mexico Governor Moves To Limit Methane Emissions, Combat Climate Change New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has ordered state officials to develop regulations to reduce methane emissions from its oil and gas industry and separately roll back statewide greenhouse gas output over the next decade.
31 January 2019 List of Regulation Rollbacks for Oil, Gas, and Coal Industry Under President Trump, federal agencies have moved to roll back regulations for companies that extract, transport, and burn oil, gas, and coal. Government analyses show companies will save billions in compliance costs, but the trade-off often will be adverse effects to public health and environment.
31 January 2019 New Guidelines Set Governing Framework for Flare Gas and Associated Gas Utilization Projects in Nigeria Recently, Nigeria's Department of Petroleum Resources issued guidelines in furtherance of the objectives of the Flare Gas (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations, 2018.
30 January 2019 New EPA Policy Would Offer Alternative to Penalties for Some Oil, Gas Polluters The New Owner Clean Air Act Audit Program, tailored specifically for oil and natural gas producers, will focus on offering more flexibility to new company owners who choose to self-audit their emissions and report any failures to meet EPA’s regulations.
21 January 2019 Colorado Town OKs 6-Month Drilling Moratorium Ahead of Policy Revamp Superior, Colorado, trustees approved a 6-month drilling moratorium ahead of plans to explore the town's oil and gas regulatory options.
10 January 2019 Former BSEE Director Fears Loosening Offshore Rules Ahead of the release of the Trump administration's changes to Obama-era rules governing offshore oil platforms, Michael Bromwich said he is worried. "I don't think they are in the public's interest," he said.
28 December 2018 New Mexico Oil Producers Brace for Tighter Regulation as Output Jumps Crude oil output has more than doubled in New Mexico over the last 4 years, making it the No. 3 producer among US states, but a January change in state leadership to Democratic control has industry executives fearing tougher regulations are coming.
18 December 2018 Interior Chief Zinke To Leave Administration David Bernhardt, the deputy Interior secretary, could take over as acting secretary in the interim.
11 December 2018 Report Says Trump Administration Set To Relax Obama-Era Water Protections The Trump administration is set to reduce the number of federally regulated waterways protected under the US Clean Water Act in a bid to help the energy and agriculture industries, according to a media report.
20 November 2018 America Votes on Environment and Energy Ballot Initiatives While control of Congress and the gubernatorial races garnered the most attention, the 2018 midterm elections also provided voters in several states the opportunity to craft environmental and energy policy directly through ballot initiatives.
14 November 2018 Keystone XL's Decadelong Slog to Reality Just Got Longer TransCanada’s $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline may face another 8 months of delay after a court ruling raised issues with a 4-year-old environmental review.
08 November 2018 After Colorado's Proposition 112 Failed, What's Next for Oil and Gas Setbacks? Had Proposition 112 passed, Colorado would have approved the country's largest mandatory buffer between new wells and homes, schools, waterways, and other areas deemed vulnerable: 2,500 ft, five times the existing standard of 500 ft.
31 October 2018 Oregon Governor Joins Other States in Offshore Drilling Ban Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued an executive order blocking offshore drilling, joining several other states trying to shield themselves from the Trump administration’s plan to drill for oil and gas off the US coast.
17 October 2018 EPA Poised To Relax Vapor Monitoring Deadlines and Streamline Bureaucratic Layers Proposed changes would modify EPA's August 2016 final rule, "Oil and Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources." The proposal has been submitted for publication to the Federal Register. Following that publication, the EPA will accept comments for 60 days.
16 October 2018 Intense Fight Over Colorado Oil and Gas Setbacks Could End With National Precedent A years-long fight in Colorado over how close oil and gas drilling can safely be to places where people live and work is coming to a head with an unprecedented November ballot measure that would ban such operations within at least half a mile of homes, schools, businesses, and waterways.
16 October 2018 Colorado Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Appeal Case That Could Determine Future of Oil and Gas Drilling Near Communities Colorado communities and pro-oil and gas industry groups are clashing in a Supreme Court case that could change the way the state handles decisions on allowing increased fossil fuels production near people.
16 October 2018 EPA Weighs Allowing Oil Companies To Pump Waste Water Into Rivers, Streams With concern growing that the underlying geology in the Permian Basin is reaching capacity for disposal wells, the Trump administration is examining whether to adjust decades-old federal clean-water regulations to allow drillers to discharge waste water directly into rivers and streams.
02 October 2018 BSEE Revises Oil and Gas Production Safety Systems Rule The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced updated Oil and Gas Production Safety Systems regulations. The revisions reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens while ensuring that operations remain safe and environmentally responsible.
17 September 2018 A New Oil and Gas Legal and Regulatory Framework for Quebec The government of Quebec has confirmed the coming into force of the Petroleum Resources Act and published the final version of the related regulations. The regulations will govern the development of the oil and gas resources in Quebec as of 20 September.
05 September 2018 Colorado To Vote in November on Proposal To Toughen Oil Drilling Rules A Colorado ballot initiative that would sharply increase the required distance between new oil wells and populated areas will go before voters in November, Colorado officials said.
21 August 2018 Critics Pan EPA Plan for Evaluating Studies of Toxic Chemicals Academic scientists and advocacy groups are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw and rewrite proposed guidelines for determining which scientific findings to use when evaluating the safety of toxic chemicals.
08 August 2018 Oil Well Setbacks Among Seven Initiatives To Turn in Petitions for Colorado’s Fall Ballot Initiative 97 would require oil and gas wells to be at least 2,500 ft away from homes and schools.
29 July 2018 US To Stop Taking Payments From Drillers, Miners for Damage to Public Land The Trump administration said it would no longer require oil drillers, miners, and other industries to compensate for damage they cause to public lands under their permitted projects, in a bid to speed up development on federal lands.
25 July 2018 EPA's Acting Head Vows To Carry Out Trump's Regulation Cuts The US Environmental Protection Agency’s acting chief said he would push to cut regulations on industry and speed up decisions on permits, echoing the policies of former head Scott Pruitt who stepped down.
10 July 2018 New EPA Boss Same as the Old; Pruitt Policies To Stay Intact The change at the top of the Environmental Protection Agency won’t mean a dramatic shift in policy. If anything, President Donald Trump’s EPA could become even more effective at undoing Obama-era environmental policies under its new boss.
03 July 2018 Occupational Health and Safety Under Newly Minted ISO 45001 With the intended outcome of providing and improving a safe and healthy workplace for workers and persons under an organisation’s control, ISO 45001 provides a structured framework for managing the prevention of work-related injury and ill health.
30 May 2018 Alberta Updates Occupational Health and Safety Rules An improved occupational health and safety system comes into effect on 1 June to better protect Alberta workers and ensure they have the same rights as other Canadians.
30 May 2018 Canada: New Oil and Gas Sector Regulations for Methane Emissions On 26 April 2018, Canada's minister of environment and climate change announced new regulations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, to reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas sector by almost half.
24 May 2018 Bureau Veritas Publishes UKCS Decommissioning Guide Bureau Veritas made available its guide to decommissioning regulations in the UK Continental Shelf.
16 May 2018 Scottish Government Denies Ban on Hydraulic Fracturing The Scottish Government has been urged to explain its position on hydraulic fracturing after telling a judge that no ban is in place and ministers still have to make up their minds.
02 May 2018 BSEE Proposes Revisions to Offshore Drilling Regulations The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is proposing to update regulations covering offshore oil and gas drilling operations.
25 April 2018 British Columbia Spills Regulation and Intentions Paper British Columbia is seeking to enhance its regulatory spill response regime across the province by way of a phased approach. Phase 2 is currently under way, and comments on this process are due by the end of April 2018.
17 April 2018 Australia's Northern Territory Lifts Hydraulic Fracturing Ban Australia’s Northern Territory on 17 April lifted a nearly 2-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing to extract gas, unlocking vast onshore reserves in the resource-rich region and raising the possibility of other provinces following suit.
16 April 2018 Trump Orders EPA To Speed Air Quality Permits To Aid Industry US President Donald Trump ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to speed up its decision-making on air quality permitting to make it easier for manufacturers to expand and open new plants.
11 April 2018 Oklahoma Orders Cut to Disposal Well Volumes Following Quakes Oklahoma regulators forced an oil and gas producer to reduce operations on a well used for disposing salt water following a large earthquake that set off a series of seismic activity in the state.
28 March 2018 BSEE Implements New Quality-Assurance Process To Increase Safety and Reliability of Offshore Energy Operations In an ongoing effort to increase responsible and efficient offshore energy operations, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has implemented a new quality-assurance process for reviewing and assessing its permitting systems.
19 March 2018 EPA Seeks Comments on Proposed Withdrawal of Oil and Natural Gas Control Technical Guidelines On 1 March 1, the US Environmental Protection Agency's administrator, E. Scott Pruitt, signed a notice seeking public comment on the proposed withdrawal of the control techniques guidelines for the oil and natural gas industry.
19 March 2018 Recent Changes Expected To Affect Environmental Enforcement Two recent developments have the potential to significantly affect governmental enforcement actions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act; the Clean Water Act; and the Clean Air Act, among other environmental programs.
05 March 2018 Oklahoma Toughens Hydraulic Fracturing Rules After Earthquakes Oklahoma is tightening its rules for hydraulic fracturing after studying a new cluster of earthquakes in one of the hottest US regions for drilling.
26 February 2018 Court: Trump Administration Must Enforce Obama Methane Leak Rule The Trump administration must start enforcing an Obama administration rule limiting methane leaks from oil and natural gas drilling on federal land, a court ruled.
15 February 2018 Trump Administration Proposes Repealing Most of Obama Methane Leak Rule The Trump administration is proposing to repeal most of the requirements of a 2016 rule meant to reduce wasted methane from oil and natural gas drilling on federal land.
15 February 2018 Column: Methane Regulation—Stay Pragmatic and Seek the Possible In November, ExxonMobil signed a commitment with several companies aimed at reducing methane emissions. That agreement built off earlier efforts the company had announced to enhance voluntary methane reduction.
12 February 2018 British Columbia Seeks Feedback and Engagement on Second Phase of Spill Response Regime The British Columbia government is moving forward with the second phase of spill regulations, announcing further stakeholder engagement on important elements such as spill response in sensitive areas and geographic response plans.
01 February 2018 Rocky Road for Colorado Drillers as Regulatory Clampdown Looms Months after a pair of deadly explosions in the Colorado oil patch, drilling stocks remain hobbled by the specter of a regulatory clampdown.
26 January 2018 EPA Ends Clean Air Policy Opposed by Fossil Fuel Interests The Environmental Protection Agency said it was withdrawing the “once-in always-in” policy under the Clean Air Act, which dictated how major sources of hazardous air pollutants are regulated.
26 January 2018 North Dakota Oil Output Cut Back To Meet Gas Capture Rules Fearing sanctions by the state, some North Dakota oil drillers have begun cutting output to control the amount of natural gas that’s being burned off at well sites and wasted as a byproduct of crude production, industry and state officials say.
09 January 2018 BSEE Proposes Revisions to Production Safety Systems Regulations In response to a Presidential Order to reduce undue burden on industry, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has completed a comprehensive review of the Production Safety Systems regulations.
20 December 2017 France Passes Bill To End Oil and Gas Production by 2040 France’s parliament passed legislation on 19 December requiring all oil and gas exploration and production on French territories to end by 2040, the first time any country has taken such a step.
15 December 2017 US Considers Weakening Offshore Safety Rules To Promote More Drilling The Trump administration is considering easing offshore oil and gas safety regulations, including eliminating certain requirements for Arctic drilling , and cutting testing requirements for rules developed in response to BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster, an Interior Department document showed.
12 December 2017 US Delays Rule on Methane Emissions From Federal Lands The Trump administration will delay an Obama-era rule limiting emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane from oil and gas operations on federal and tribal lands, it said, a move slammed by environmentalists.
12 December 2017 Ukraine: New Regulation on Environmental Impact Assessment On 23 May 2017,the Ukrainian parliament adopted the Law of Ukraine "On Environment Impact Assessment." The newly adopted law requires mandatory assessment of effect on the environment of certain industrial objects and activities.
05 December 2017 Overview Of British Columbia's New Spill Reporting Regulation On 30 October 2017, the British Columbia Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy repealed and replaced the Spill Reporting Regulation. The new regulation expands the circumstances under which spill reports must be provided to the province and increases the information they must contain.
01 December 2017 Commission Seeks Hydraulic Fracturing Ban in Watershed Supplying New York City A commission that oversees water quality for the watershed that supplies Philadelphia and half of New York City with drinking water took another step toward permanently banning natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing, despite industry opposition.
01 December 2017 Column: The Legislative Story of the Nigerian Petroleum Industry Bill The Nigerian Petroleum Industry Bill possibly ranks as No. 1 by a wide margin among the bills that have spent the most time with the legislature. It is also one of the most controversial and most discussed in the legislative history of bills within the Nigerian National Assembly.
14 November 2017 A Look Inside British Columbia's New Spill Preparedness and Response Requirements Some companies transporting certain petroleum-based products in British Columbia will have to comply with new spill preparedness and response requirements, after amendments made to the Environmental Management Act (EMA) came into force on 30 October.
14 November 2017 Illinois’ First Hydraulic Fracturing Permit Returned by Kansas Company The first company to obtain a permit for hydraulic fracturing in Illinois announced that it will not use it, citing market conditions and the state’s “burdensome and costly” regulations.
03 November 2017 Underground Natural Gas Storage Rule Comment Period Reopened The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has announced an additional comment period on its 19 December 2016 interim final rule that established minimum federal safety standards for underground natural gas storage facilities.
03 November 2017 Why Oil Producers May Actually Benefit From Stringent Carbon Emissions Policies Column: Oil consumption is expected to remain relatively high, even after assuming that worldwide climate change goals have been achieved.
03 November 2017 US Considers Overhauling Offshore Drilling Rules President Donald Trump's administration is considering revising parts of offshore drilling safety regulations intended to prevent the type of blowout that led to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
05 October 2017 Trump Administration Plans To Delay Methane Controls From Oil, Gas The US Interior Department will propose delaying parts of an Obama-era rule to limit methane emissions from oil and gas production on federal lands, a rule Congress upheld earlier in the year, a document showed on 4 October.
04 October 2017 EPA Asks Drillers and Miners for Advice on Regulating Them President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency is asking miners, oil drillers, and manufacturers to collaborate with the government on how best to regulate their industries.
17 September 2017 Regulators Take Step To Ban Hydraulic Fracturing Near Delaware River On September 13, the Delaware River Basin Commission voted to begin the process to ban hydraulic fracturing near the river to protect the drinking water of 15 million people.
14 September 2017 House Votes To Block Funding for EPA Methane Pollution Rule The House voted 218–195 to strip funding for an Obama-era EPA effort to limit methane emissions from new oil and gas drilling sites. Eleven Republicans voted against the amendment, and three Democrats voted to block funding for the regulation.
08 September 2017 AP Source: Permanent Delaware River Drilling Ban in Works A 7-year moratorium on natural gas development near the Delaware River would be replaced by a permanent ban under a proposal that’s being developed by the agency that oversees the water supply of more than 15 million people.
06 September 2017 Mexico Updates Rules for Water Use in Unconventional Projects The Mexican government continues to update its environmental regulations as authorities prepare for the first exploration and production (E&P) auction to feature blocks with unconventional oil and natural gas resources.
05 September 2017 Oil Firms That Cheered Regulatory Cuts Are Quaking on NAFTA The Trump administration is easing environmental regulations and opening up territory for drilling as part of the president’s bid to unleash the “vast energy wealth” of the US. Yet Donald Trump’s push to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could have the opposite effect.
17 August 2017 Appeals Panel Voids Exxon Pipe-Risk Order The appeals court ruled that, while regrettable, the fact that the spill occurred does not mean that ExxonMobil violated pipeline integrity regulations for risk assessment.
11 August 2017 Nigeria: Innovations Under the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill The hydrocarbon sector is one of utmost importance to Nigeria’s growing economy. Ranked among the top 10 producers, the country’s hydrocarbon sector has remained the country’s primary source of revenue, leading to calls for a review of the workings of the sector.
24 July 2017 White House Deregulation Push Clears Out Hundreds of Proposed Rules The Trump administration said it had withdrawn 469 planned actions that had been part of the Obama administration’s regulatory agenda published last fall.
24 July 2017 White House Details Plan To Roll Back Environmental Regulations The White House’s Office of Management and Budget detailed when and how agencies plan to repeal numerous Obama administration rules regarding air and water pollution, fossil fuel extraction, and more.
15 July 2017 Court Lets EPA Put Drilling Pollution Rule on Hold A federal appeals court is letting the Trump administration put on hold an Environmental Protection Agency methane pollution rule for oil and natural gas drilling.
14 July 2017 Advocates for Methane Rule Dominate EPA Hearing Public interest groups and local stakeholders at a public hearing on 10 July urged the Environmental Protection Agency to continue to enforce methane regulations.
14 July 2017 Canada: Emission Limit Implementation Recommendations From Alberta’s Oil Sands Advisory Group On 16 June 2017, the Alberta Oil Sands Advisory Group released its report Recommendations on Implementation of the Oil Sands Emissions Limit Established by the Alberta Climate Leadership Plan.
10 July 2017 EPA Asks Court To Let it Delay Obama Air Pollution Rule The Trump administration asked a federal appeals court on 7 July to allow it to delay enforcement of an Obama administration rule to limit methane pollution from oil and natural gas drilling.
05 July 2017 DC Appeals Court Orders EPA To Move Ahead With Methane Rule A federal appeals court in Washington ruled on 3 July that the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overstepped his authority in trying to delay implementation of an Obama administration rule requiring oil and gas companies to monitor and reduce methane leaks.
03 July 2017 Counseled by Industry, Not Staff, EPA Chief Is Off to a Blazing Start In the 4 months since he took office as the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt has moved to undo, delay, or otherwise block more than 30 environmental rules.
19 June 2017 Canada: New Federal Methane Reduction Regulations for the Upstream Oil and Gas Sector The government of Canada has released its proposal for the first federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions applicable specifically to the upstream oil and gas sector.
19 June 2017 Interior Set To Delay Methane Pollution Rule The Interior Department is preparing to delay implementation of a rule limiting methane waste at oil and natural gas drilling sites.
14 June 2017 EPA Proposes Longer Stay of Portions of Oil and Gas Standards The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking steps to ensure portions of the agency’s 2016 New Source Performance Standards for the oil and natural gas industry do not take effect while the agency works through the reconsideration process.
14 June 2017 Nigeria: Passage of Petroleum Industry Governance Bill a Step to Change The momentous passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill on 25 May 25 by the Nigerian Senate was heralded by many as a revolutionary step at creating a legal framework to address some of the perennial challenges that have plagued the oil and gas industry over the years.
14 June 2017 Trump Weighing Combining Agencies Separated After Gulf Spill, Sources Say After the 2010 Gulf oil spill, the Obama administration broke the scandal-plagued federal agency that policed offshore drilling into separate bureaus. Now, the Trump administration is considering putting it back together again.
06 June 2017 Trump’s EPA Hit With Lawsuit Over Suspension of Oil- and Gas-Drilling Rules A group of conservation organizations sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on 5 June, saying the agency unlawfully suspended Obama-era rules to cut methane pollution.
01 June 2017 Canada Proposes Methane Pollution Standards for Oil and Gas Drilling Canadian regulators are formally proposing rules to reduce methane pollution from the oil and natural gas sector.
01 June 2017 EPA Halts Obama-Era Rule on Methane Pollution The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has halted an Obama administration rule to cut down on pollution of methane, a greenhouse gas produced at oil and natural gas drilling wells.
23 May 2017 Court Pauses Lawsuit Over Obama Methane Rule A federal court on 18 May formally paused a lawsuit over an Obama administration methane regulation.
23 May 2017 Former Louisiana Official Tapped as Lead Offshore Drilling Regulator The Trump administration has tapped a former Louisiana utility regulator to lead the agency responsible for offshore oil and natural gas drilling safety.
18 May 2017 US Industry Seeks Faster Permits, Simpler Rules in Trump Regulation Reset US industry groups have told President Donald Trump’s administration that they want two main things from his promised regulatory overhaul: a speedier permit process and simpler environmental rules.
11 May 2017 Bid To Revoke Obama Methane Rule Fails in Surprise US Senate Vote The US Senate on 10 May rejected a resolution to revoke an Obama-era rule to limit methane emissions from oil and gas production on federal lands, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump’s efforts to free the drilling industry from what he sees as excessive environmental regulation.
01 August 2016 European Commission Strives Toward Reasonable Shale-Gas Regulation Following years of deliberation, the European Union (EU) released a recommendation on unconventional hydrocarbons and a related communication in 2014. This paper traces the origins and development of these documents, which provide vital clues for the road ahead in European shale-gas regulation.
