CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

The Obama administration supports a full study of the effects of gas drilling in the watershed that provides drinking water for Philadelphia and New York City, but it doesn't want to wait until it's finished for drilling to begin.

Gen. Peter "Duke" DeLuca of the Army Corps of Engineers outlined the position in a letter (pdf) written to Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) and released today.

The letter offers the first indication of the administration's position on gas drilling in the Northeast since the day after the Nov. 2 midterm election when President Obama highlighted gas drilling as a potential area of common ground with Republicans (Greenwire, Nov. 4).

DeLuca, the Army Corps' North Atlantic division engineer, is the federal representative on the Delaware River Basin Commission, which is developing regulations for gas drilling in eastern Pennsylvania and upstate New York.

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Fired as DEC commissioner almost two months ago, Pete Grannis has joined Environmental Advocates of New York as “special counsel.” Just after his canning — primarily the result of Grannis’ pushback against the Paterson administration’s DEC layoffs — EA Executive Director Rob Moore called it “the final insult of the Paterson administration toward environmental protection.”

At that time, Grannis said he believed the circumstances of his departure would allow him to lobby his former employer without the standard two-year bar. Even so, EA spokesman Erica Ringewald said Grannis wouldn’t be appearing before DEC.

Former Park Commissioner Carol Ash made a similar move by joining the Alliance for New York State Parks, although since she jumped instead of being pushed from her state post, Ash will not be able to lobby her old agency.

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Environmental groups and energy companies both claimed victory after Gov. David Paterson ordered a seven-month moratorium on some natural gas drilling in the state, although environmentalists would have preferred the broader ban that the Legislature had approved.

The outgoing Democratic governor vetoed a bill on Saturday that would have suspended all new natural-gas drilling permits until May 15. Instead, he issued an executive order prohibiting high-volume hydraulic fracturing of horizontally drilled wells, such as those in the Marcellus Shale region of southern New York. The order stands until July 1.

High-volume hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, involves blasting millions of gallons of chemical-laced water thousands of feet underground to crack shale and release natural gas trapped inside it. The Environmental Protection Agency is examining the process to see if it imperils drinking water supplies, as opponents claim.

Permitting of gas wells in New York’s part of the Marcellus region, which also underlies parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, has already been on hold for two years while the state Department of Environmental Conservation reviews its potential effects on the environment.

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ALBANY - Gov. David Paterson on Saturday vetoed a bill to temporarily ban natural-gas drilling in New York, but issued an executive order to prohibit the hydraulic fracturing process until at least July 1.

In doing so, Paterson sought to find a middle ground between environmentalists concerned about the potential harm of the so-called hydrofracking and business groups critical that the moratorium bill would impact all gas drilling in the state.

Both sides praised Paterson for his decision - a rare sign of agreement in the contentious battle over natural-gas drilling.

The executive order requires the state Department of Environmental Conservation to continue its review of the effects of hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale, a formation that stretches across the Southern Tier.

The order would essentially ban high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing until at least July 1, the outgoing Democratic governor said.

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ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The agency that oversees water quality and quantity in the four-state Delaware River basin issued proposed regulations on Thursday for the natural gas drilling industry, launching what is certain to be a heated debate pitting energy companies and leaseholders against environmentalists, sporting groups and residents worried about their drinking water supplies.

The Delaware River Basin Commission published the long-awaited regulations on its website. They govern a range of drilling activities, including water withdrawals, well pad siting and wastewater disposal. The proposed rules also require drilling companies to post a bond of $125,000 per well to cover the plugging and restoration of abandoned wells and the remediation of any pollution.

The commission — a powerful federal-interstate compact agency that monitors water supplies for 15 million people, including half the population of New York City — has declared a moratorium on Marcellus Shale drilling projects in the Delaware River basin until the rulemaking process is complete.

The regulations proposed Thursday are meant to protect “an incredible regional resource for the mid-Atlantic area,” said Carol Collier, the DRBC’s executive director.

Smart Grid Policy Handbook 2010: Major Government Policies, Regulations and Incentives

http://www.reportlinker.com/p0336623/Smart-Grid-Policy-Handbook-2010-Major-Government-Policies-Regulations-and-Incentives.html

Smart Grid Policy Handbook 2010: Major Government Policies, Regulations and Incentives

Summary

Governments around the world have realized the potential benefits that can be derived from smart grid technology. A key benefit of a modernized electricity network through the adoption of smart grids is the ability to reduce power consumption at the consumer end during peak hours via demand management. In addition, smart grids enable grid connection of distributed power generation such as photovoltaic arrays, wind turbines, micro hydro and combined heat power generators. A smart grid also allows grid energy storage for distributed generation load balancing, and contains or eliminates failures such as widespread power grid cascading failures. Further, it drives the adoption of energy efficient appliances by modifying consumer behavior through in-home displays and variable electricity rates. In this report, the policy and regulatory steps that have been taken by various countries to implement smart grid roll-out are analyzed.

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Newly elected Rep. Tom Reed, RCorning, said Wednesday that he plans to pull together like-minded members of Congress to push for fuller development of the natural gas reserves in the Marcellus Shale.

Only a day after the State Legislature approved a six-month ban on the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing to release the shale’s gas, Reed — in his first media conference call as a congressman—told reporters that the shale has great economic potential.

He also said Congress has a role in clarifying the debate, which has ground drilling to a halt in New York State while producing a boom in neighboring Pennsylvania.

“I am a promoter of developing the Marcellus Shale,” Reed said. “I believe we can do it responsibly. Now is the time to move forward.”

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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday that he's considering a requirement that natural gas drillers who use a process called hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, must identify the chemicals they inject into the ground when they drill on federal lands.

About 90 percent of federal drilling leases granted over the last decade have involved hydraulic fracturing operations as part of their initial well completion, according to the Bureau of Land Management.

Salazar's announcement of a new federal review of the practice came at a forum called by the Interior Department to gather comments from industry groups and environmental advocates.

Current regulations require only that drillers using public lands use "standard prudent operating practice."

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Local environmentalists are praising the passage of a bill that could lead to a temporary ban on hydrofracking across the state. Those who support the process say the Empire State could lose out on jobs if the ban stays in place. Our Kaitlyn Ross has more on the debate.

After months of debate and several bill drafts, a moratorium on natural gas drilling in New York State has passed both the Senate and the Assembly. But as it waits for the Governor's approval, at least one local voice thinks the issue should be decided outside the Capitol.

"We need to take the politics out of this issue. We need to let the scientists and the engineers, let them do their job," said Broome County Executive Barbara Fiala.

A full report from the Department of Environmental Conservation is pending and Broome County Executive Barbara Fiala thinks the state should support the agency's effort to make sure it's done right.

"I think we need to have confidence in this organization. Fund them. Fund them so they will have the staff to monitor," Fiala said.

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Environmental activists and their allies in the Assembly held a news conference to praise last night’s Assembly passage of the moratorium on new natural gas wells statewide. Now on Gov. David Paterson’s desk, the measure runs through May 15 and covers the controversial hydrofracking method as well as the more conventional vertical drilling technique.

Not surprising considering the length of the debate and the possible environmental/economic impacts of hydrofracking, each side was describing the ban as — depending on who you talk to — a major common-sense victory for environmentalists or a job-killing piece of politicized hysteria.

Paterson, however, described it as “really not that big a deal” in a Tuesday-morning radio interview with Susan Arbetter of the “Capitol Pressroom.”

He acknowledged that the DEC’s work on the draft regulations wouldn’t be completed by the end of his administration — and possibly not even by the end date of the moratorium.

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