Legal petition seeks NY ban on outdated rail cars
A coalition of environmental groups and Albany residents filed a legal petition last week seeking a ban on older model rail tanker cars carrying volatile crude oil from North Dakota to the Port of Albany , citing their history of rupturing and exploding in a series of catastrophic derailments. The petition, filed by a group represented by Earthjustice, asks Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens to issue an order prohibiting receipt and storage of crude in DOT-111 tank cars at the port, which has become a hub for rail shipments of North Dakota ‘s Bakken crude bound for coastal refineries. DEC spokesman Peter Constantakes said the federal government has sole authority over interstate commerce, “which absolutely prohibits the DEC commissioner from regulating rail transport through a summary abatement order.” The petition argues that federal transportation law wouldn’t apply in this case because the abatement order would be against the two companies receiving the oil and transloading it onto Hudson River barges, not against the rail carriers.
Texas Panel Amends Hydraulic Fracturing Rules
AUSTIN , Texas (AP) — The Texas Railroad Commission has amended rules for disposal well operators amid concerns that high-pressure injections can trigger earthquakes. As of Nov. 17, disposal well operators must research U.S. Geological Survey data for a history of earthquakes within 100 square miles of a proposed well site before applying for a permit. The commission, the state’s oil and gas regulator, can also modify or rescind a well permit if scientists determine a well is likely contributing to seismic activity. The amendments come as states grapple with how to respond to growing public anxiety over the risks of disposing of vast amounts of wastewater from the hydraulic fracturing drilling process. http://austin.twcnews.com/content/news/305773/texas-panel-amends-hydraulic-fracturing-rules/
Poisoned by the shale? Investigations leave questions in oil tank deaths
KILLDEER, N.D. — Dustin Bergsing was 21 and six weeks a father when he arrived here at Marathon Oil Corp.’s Buffalo 34-12H well pad, a square of red gravel carved into a low hill. By dawn, he was dead. A co-worker found him shortly after midnight, slumped below the open hatch of a tank of Bakken Shale crude oil. It was Bergsing’s job to pop the hatch and record how much was inside. An autopsy found he died of “hydrocarbon poisoning due to inhalation of petroleum vapors.” An environmental engineer in Marathon’s Dickinson , N.D. , regional office heard about it a few days later. He’d been warning his bosses they were creating a dangerous buildup of lethal gases in their tanks. But, he said, they ignored him. “With that excessive gas, you get lightheaded,” he said in a sworn statement to the attorney for Bergsing’s family, Fred Bremseth. “It would be just like carbon monoxide. You’re gonna doze off, and Katy bar the doors, man — you’re dead.” An investigation of the drilling industry’s worker safety record and what it means for those living amid the boom. Click here to read the series. Bergsing died in January 2012. At least three other men have died this way during the Bakken Shale boom, found lifeless on steel catwalks, next to the hatches they’d opened to measure the bounty of the shale. In each case, authorities at first assumed the men had been poisoned by hydrogen sulfide, or “sour gas,” a well-known killer in the oil field (EnergyWire, Oct. 21). Most anyone in the oil and gas industry knows sour gas kills. Far fewer know the vaporous petroleum that collects in storage tanks can have the same effect — a quick death. After being told in each case that the wells didn’t emit hydrogen sulfide, authorities largely dropped the idea that the deaths were caused by their jobs, which in each case involved measuring the levels of the petroleum-laden tanks. But last month, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the employer of one of the four men $2,800, charging the company failed to train its workers in the hazards of petroleum vapors. http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060007896
North Dakota to Decide Whether to Put Oil Revenue into Conservation
North Dakota has a $450-million budget surplus and the nation’s lowest unemployment rate, but only about 725,000 people to enjoy it—less than one-fifth the population of Los Angeles . http://insideclimatenews.org/todaysnews/20141028/north-dakota-decide-whether-put-oil-revenue-conservation
New Report Casts Doubt on Fracking Production Numbers
Post Carbon Institute has published areport and multiple related resourcescalling into question the production statistics touted by promoters of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). By calculating the production numbers on a well-by-well basis for shale gas and tight oil fields throughout the U.S. , Post Carbon concludes that the future of fracking is not nearly as bright as industry cheerleaders suggest. The report, “Drilling Deeper: A Reality Check on U.S.Government Forecasts for a Lasting Tight Oil & Shale Gas Boom,” authored by Post Carbon fellow J. David Hughes, updates an earlier report he authored for Post Carbon in 2012. Hughes analyzed the production stats for seven tight oil basins and seven gas basins, which account for 88-percent and 89-percent of current shale gas production.
Shale gas could ignite U.S. politics
Shale gas could blow up U.S. politics. It is already playing a big part in the upcoming midterm elections. Coal’s downfall is an important issue in one race that could swing the Senate Republican. Fracking-related jobs and manufacturing could rock future votes. The seat being vacated by Jay Rockefeller in West Virginia is a prime example of how the shifting carbon landscape is reverberating at the ballot box. GOP challenger Shelley Moore Capito has built a big lead over Democrat Natalie Tennant in part by tying her to President Barack Obama’s energy and environmental policies, which favour gas over coal. It could turn out to be a decisive congressional referendum for the next two years. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/try-it-now/try-it-now-rob-insight/?contentRedirect=true&articleId=21327729
Poll: Most Canadians Say Environment Trumps Energy Prices
A majority of Canadians view environmental protection as being more important than energy prices and expect businesses to carry the burden of a carbon tax, according to a recent poll. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said protecting the environment is more important to them than the price of energy, according to a survey conducted by polling company Nanos Research for the Thousands Islands Energy Research Forum. Twenty-eight percent said energy prices were more important, while 10 percent were unsure.
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