Barnett Shale

Appeals court lets Range's defamation suit against Lipsky continue

A state appeals court said Fort Worth-based Range Resources can pursue a defamation claim against Parker County landowner Steven Lipsky, but it also dismissed several of Range's other counterclaims against Lipsky, his wife and their environmental consultant. The Texas Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth had been asked by the Lipskys and Wolf to dismiss Range's suit, which followed the Lipskys' lawsuit in 2011 that claimed Range contaminated a water well on the family's property. 

A link to the story in the Star-Telegram is here.

-- Jim Fuquay

Court documents in Range-Lipsky case resurface in EnergyWire report

In January 2012, the Star-Telegram reported (Download Richter testimony) that a former Texas Railroad Commission engineer offered an explanation into how Fort Worth-based Range Resources could have contaminated a Parker County resident's well. That information resurfaced Wednesday when EnergyWire cited petroleum engineer Thomas H. Richter's affidavit as a piece of evidence ignored by the Environmental Protection Agency when it withdrew an emergency order against Range over the wells.

The EPA's sudden and largely unexplained withdrawal of its order last March has continued to attract news coverage. The Associated Press reported last month that the EPA had a confidential report that said methane in Lipsky's well "could have originated from Range's wells," but still dropped its action. Earlier this month, EnergyWire, an online news service covering energy and environmental topics, reported that former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell lobbied EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on Range's behalf. The latest EnergyWire report largely recounts Richter's theory, but in the context of the EPA dropping its order against Range.

Range spokesman Matt Pitzarella called the EnergyWire story "a retread of a story fully addressed two years ago" when the Texas Railroad Commission held a hearing on the Parker County wells. Neither the EPA nor Lipsky participated in the hearing, and  the Railroad Commission found that Range was not responsible for Lipsky's contaminated well. While Richter didn't make his affidavit until December 2011, months after the commission's hearing, the points he raised were brought up and considered by the agency's examiners, Pitzarella said.

In short, Richter's affidavit, made on Lipsky's behalf, concludes that Range's wells should have been cemented deeper than they were, and that flaw was allowing natural gas from shallower formations to migrate upward into the water table. Railroad Commission examiners also found that the gas in Lipsky's well was from one of those shallower formations called the Strawn. But they ruled that Range's wells were not leaking and were not the source of the gas in the well.

Pitzarella points out that the EPA and the confidential report cited by the Associated Press both said the gas in Lipsky's well came from the Barnett, while Richter's says it came from other formations. They can't both be right, he said.

-- Jim Fuquay 

Another Barnett Shale monitor goes online at TCEQ

The latest air monitor in the Barnett Shale to start reporting its results on the website of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is in Rhome, in southern Wise County. It's the 11th active automated gas chromatograph (auto GC) monitor in North Texas. To see its exact locations and data, look for "Rhome Seven Hills Road" on the TCEQ's auto GC page.

The Star-Telegram on Sunday carried an extensive report on efforts by the TCEQ and Environmental Protection Agency to keep track of emissions in the Barnett Shale via a network of dozens of monitors. A link to the report is here.

-- Jim Fuquay

EPA releases hydraulic fracturing water study framework

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday released a report describing how it will pursue its study of the impact of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water supplies. "The EPA has designed the scope of the research around five stages of the hydraulic fracturing water cycle," it said. The five areas being studied for their impact on ground and surface sources of drinking water are: large water withdrawals; spills of hydraulic fracturing fluids; injection wells and the fracturing process; spills of flowback and produced water; and inadequate treatment of wastewater. It will examine each issue using "existing data, scenario evaluations, laboratory studies, toxicity assessments and case studies." 

The agency began its research last year. It's expected to complete it in 2014. As of September, it said it had information on fracturing chemicals and practices on 24,925 wells fractured between September 2009 and October 2010. It will also take data from FracFocus, an intergovernmental disclosure site of fracturing fluids supported by energy companies. "Two rounds of sampling at five case study locations in Colorado, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Texas have been completed," and water samples "have been collected from over 70 domestic water wells, 15 monitoring wells and 13 surface water sources," a summary of the progress report said.

-- Jim Fuquay

Environmental groups seek fracturing chemicals disclosure

Seventeen environmental groups on Wednesday asked the EPA to require the disclosure of all chemicals and emissions produced by oil and gas operations, including drillling, hydraulic fracturing and pipelining. Bloomberg News has a story here.

-- Jim Fuquay

EPA says latest Wyoming water tests "consistent" with agency's earlier results

The U.S. Geological Survey's tests of water around Pavillion, Wyo., are in line with the Environmental Protection Agency's previous test results that prompted EPA to conclude that natural gas protection contaminated water wells in the area, EPA said Wednesday. The USGS had said basically the same thing last month when it released its results, but made no further interpretations of the data. Encana Corp., a major producer in the area, still maintains the contaminants are naturally occurring. Bloomberg News has a report here. The EPA's website has a page following the results here.

-- Jim Fuquay

Industry groups say EPA emissions overstated

America's Natural Gas Producers and the American Petroleum Institute, two big energy industry organizations, today released their own study of methane emissions during natural gas production, which says the Environmental Protection Agency's overall estimate is perhaps two times too high.

"Specifically, the study found that methane emissions from natural gas operations such as liquids unloading (a technique used to remove water and other liquids from the wellbore to improve the flow of natural gas) are 86 percent lower than EPA estimated. In addition, the study shows that methane emissions from refractured wells (a technique used to prolong production of an existing gas-producing well) are 72 percent lower than EPA estimates. Overall, the study finds that greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas production are as much as 50 percent lower than figures used by EPA," says a summary.

The study is here.

-- Jim Fuquay

DOE official from Fort Worth heads federal committee on unconventional oil and gas development

Christopher Smith, a 1986 graduate of Southwest High School and now deputy assistant secretary for  oil and natural gas at the U.S. Department of Energy, heads a newly created steering committee charged with the safe development of the nation's shale and other unconventional petroleum reserves. Smith was in his hometown Thursday, where he addressed a breakfast group and planned a tour of the Fort Worth manufacturing facility of Frac Tech, a maker of hydraulic fracturing equipment. Smith told us the purpose of the committee is to set the priorities of environmental and technical concerns that its six members, two each from DOE, EPA and U.S. Geological Survey, should pursue. President Barack Obama issued an executive order establishing the committee in April with a mandate to create a multi-agency research plan "using each agency's core competencies" to advance the prudent development of U.S. oil and gas resources.

"This is a resource that can be developed safely," said Smith, a West Point graduate who holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge and previously worked for Texaco and Chevron. The goal is to "scientifically quantify" the risks and rewards of shale development.

-- Jim Fuquay

Reaction to Armendariz resignation continues

Today's resignation of Al Armendariz, Dallas region administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, sparked new reactions that began last week with the release of a 2010 video that shows Armendariz comparing the agency's enforcement efforts with those of Roman conquerors who crucified several random inhabitants to control occupied communities. Here is a sampling of responses issued today.

Texas Council on Environmental Quality:

"While we approve the decision by Dr. Armendariz to step down from his position as Region 6 Director, we are under no illusions that this will change the direction of the EPA.  That comes from EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C.  In the video that led to his resignation, Dr. Armendariz says as much, stating, “…that’s our general philosophy.”

This EPA administration has been unwavering in its determination to impose new regulations and new costs on Americans and American industry, often without any real scientific determination that new laws will result in any environmental benefits. Dr. Armendariz’s mistake was that he slipped and unveiled the EPA’s questionable and draconian enforcement philosophy.  The TCEQ hopes that perhaps the resulting nationwide cry of outrage will be heard in Washington, D.C."

Ken Kramer, Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter director

“The resignation of Dr. Al Armendariz as Region 6 EPA administrator is a major loss for Texas. He brought a breath of fresh air – literally and figuratively – to Texas in his vigorous enforcement of the federal Clean Air Act. He took the bold steps that have been needed for decades to move our state forward to achieving a clean and healthy environment for Texans. Dr. Armendariz was one of the best Region 6 EPA administrators who have served since the post was created in the 1970s. The only people who will celebrate this resignation are the polluters who continue to foul Texas air and the politicians who serve those special interests.”

Texas Railroad Commissioner David Porter

“In March, when the EPA vacated the emergency order against Range Resources, I called for the resignation of Dr. Armendariz. The EPA’s faulty science in persecuting Range
Resources, compounded by his inflammatory and prejudicial comments about
crucifying oil companies, is a very clear indication that Dr. Armendariz
is not the right person for such an important position.”

Steve Everly, Energy In Depth

"There’s a role for activists and there’s a role for regulators. When one becomes the other, that’s when you can run into problems. The bigger story here was always that his comments weren’t just made in isolation – they were made just before his agency did exactly what he described in this video, grabbing the first company he saw and issuing a groundless endangerment order, which would later be proven as such. We're hopeful that the next administrator’s decisions will be based more on actual science than the political stuff."

James Inhofe, R-Okla.

"It was only right for Administrator Armendariz to resign today, but his resignation in no way solves the problem of President Obama and his EPA’s crucifixion philosophy."

-- Jim Fuquay

 

EPA's Dallas region adminstrator Armendariz resigns

Al Armendariz, director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Dallas region, has resigned after being publicly rebuked by EPA chief Lisa Jackson for saying natural gas industry polluters would be “crucified” like Roman conquerors did to their enemies. The EPA today released Armendariz’s resignation, which was sent to Jackson the day before and is effective today. In it, the former Southern Methodist University professor repeated his apology for his remarks, made at a 2010 public meeting in the small town of Dish, which had become a hub for big natural gas pipelines serving the Barnett Shale. The videotape of Armendariz making the comment recently surfaced on the Internet.

A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity
because of the sensitivity of the subject, told The Associated Press
that Armendariz has since received death threats.

“As I have expressed publically [sic], and to you directly, I regret comments I made several years ago that do not in any way reflect my work as regional administrator,” he wrote Jackson on Sunday. “As importantly, they do not represent the work you have overseen as EPA administrator.” On Friday, Jackson told reporters that Armendariz’s 2010 statements “don’t comport with our record.”

Armendariz was named the agency's chief for Region 6, which includes Texas and four other states, in November 2009 after writing a controversial study that said the natural gas industry’s emissions in the Barnett Shale were more than those from all the cars and trucks in the region. The industry quickly contested his conclusions and has continued to criticize his assumptions. Armendariz’s office in December 2010 issued an emergency order against Fort Worth-based Range Resources claiming that two of its Parker County wells contaminated two nearby water wells with methane, the principal component in natural gas. The company immediately contested the order, and after more than a year of skirmishes in court and before state regulators, the EPA on March 30 withdrew the order.

The agency today named Sam Coleman acting administrator for the Dallas region. He is a
career official who led the agency’s response to Hurricane Katrina and
served as Armendariz’ deputy. That announcement is here.

-- Jim Fuquay