American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2017 - 22

IndustryDigest
from natural gas drilling around their
40-acre property in Wise County, Tx.,
was causing health problems. In 2014, a
jury awarded the Parrs $3 million
(AOGR, June 2014, pg. 20), which later
was upheld by the Dallas County Court
at Law.
But Texas' 5th District Court of
Appeals ruled, "None of the evidence
cited by the Parrs of the noise, light,
odors, and other claimed effects of
Aruba's operations established that
Aruba actually intended or desired to
create an interference on the Parrs' land
that they claim(ed) was a nuisance, or
actually knew or believed that an
interference would result," the Alliance
quotes published reports.
In Trinity East's case, the Alliance
says, Justice Elizabeth Lang-Miers
concluded the Dallas City Council had
entered a business arrangement that
should be honored, rejected the city's
claim of governmental immunity, and
sent the case back to district court.
Trinity East sued the city of Dallas in
2014 for breach of contract, fraud and
unconstitutional taking/inverse
condemnation after the city denied the
company drilling permits, even though
Trinity East had paid the city $19
million in signing bonuses for the right
to drill Barnett Shale natural gas wells
on 3,600 acres of uninhabited and
undeveloped portions of West Dallas
(AOGR, March 2014, pg. 19). ❒

Washington Top Court
Ruling Signiﬁcant For
Coastal Energy Projects
SEATTLE-A January ruling by the
Washington State Supreme Court that
two oil terminal facility expansion
projects near the state's coastal waters
are subject to review under the state's
Ocean Resources Management Act
(ORMA) could have broader impact on
petroleum projects in the state, advises
law firm K&L Gates.
"The case breaks new ground and
portends additional regulatory review
and approval processes-and capital
expenditure requirements-for oil and
other fossil fuel projects along
Washington's Pacific coastline and
associated areas," the firm relates.
According to K&L Gates, the 1989
Washington Legislature passed ORMA
after the Nestucca and Valdez oil spills.
22 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

It requires state and local permitting
authorities to consider coastal habitat
protection and limiting fossil fuel
production alongside economic benefits
of coastal development. The firm says
the case, Quinault Indian Nation, et al.,
v. Imperium Terminal Services et al.
constitutes the first time Washington's
top court has interpreted and applied the
statute.
The projects in Quinault involve
petroleum terminal expansions in the
Port of Grays Harbor in the city of
Hoquiam, Wa., K&L Gates explains.
According to the firm, a project by
Westway Terminal Company LLC
would expand the company's petroleum
products storage terminal by
constructing four aboveground crude oil
storage tanks, adding rail spurs for
trains carrying oil, and constructing
vapor combustion and structural hose
support systems for loading oil tanker
vessels. Imperium Terminal Services
LLC is advancing the other project,
which seeks to expand the company's
adjacent terminal facility by adding nine
storage tanks, new rail tracks and an
expanded rail yard, and enhanced
piping and vapor systems for marine
vessel loading, K&L Gates adds.
Both projects would be situated along
Grays Harbor and approximately 160
feet from the Chehalis River, K&L
Gates says, but the court's ruling points
to the likelihood of additional regulatory
review and approval requirements for
oil, gas and other fossil fuel projects in
Washington's Clallam, Jefferson, Grays
Harbor and Pacific counties.
"Given the court's application of
ORMA to out-of-water projects-at least
those with a nexus to Washington's
coastal waters-and the court's broad
reading of the statute, there remains the
potential for the decision to be used as a
vehicle to apply ORMA beyond the
statute's intended scope: review and
regulation of offshore fossil fuel
projects in the coastal counties of
Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor and
Pacific," the firm says. ❒

Gas Storage Levels
Decrease By 435 Bcf
WASHINGTON-Underground
natural gas storage in the United States
stood at 2.363 trillion cubic feet on Feb.
24, 14.3 percent above the five year
average, according to the U.S. Energy

Information Administration. That was
down 435 billion cubic feet from the
2.798 Tcf in storage on Jan. 20, which
was 0.7 percent below the five-year
average. The Feb. 24 storage number
was 187 Bcf less than a year ago, when
gas storage stood at 2.550 Tcf.
According to EIA, gas storage in the
East Region was 422 Bcf on Feb. 24,
2.8 percent below the five-year average
and 174 Bcf less than on Jan. 20, when
storage stood at 596 Bcf, which was 9.7
percent below the five-year average.
East Region gas storage on Feb. 24 was
78 Bcf less than it was a year ago.
Gas storage in the Midwest Region
stood at 608 Bcf on Feb. 24, 25.4
percent above the five-year average, but
149 Bcf less than the 757 Bcf in storage
on Jan. 20, which was 2.2 percent above
the five year average. Feb. 24 gas
storage in the Midwest Region was 20
Bcf less than a year ago.
In the Mountain Region, EIA says,
gas storage was 146 Bcf on Feb. 24,
10.6 percent above the five-year average
and 27 Bcf less than the 173 Bcf stored
on Jan. 20, which was 9.5 percent above
the five year average. Gas storage in the
Mountain Region was the same as a
year ago.
Gas storage in the Pacific Region
was 205 Bcf on Feb. 24, 12.8 percent
below the five-year average and 30 Bcf
less than the 235 Bcf stored on Jan. 20,
which was 13.0 percent below the fiveyear average. Pacific Region gas storage
on Feb. 24 was down 50 Bcf from a
year ago.
In the South-Central Region, gas
storage levels on Feb. 24 were 982 Bcf,
25.6 percent above the five-year average
and down 55 Bcf from the 1.037 Tcf in
storage on Jan. 20, which was 4.9
percent above the five-year average. The
Feb. 24 gas storage level for the SouthCentral Region was down 39 Bcf from a
year ago. ❒

Coming In April
AOGR's Drilling Technology special reports look at the toolkits operators are applying to maximize
drilling performance in horizontal resource plays, including advanced bits
and BHA components, directional
surveying tools, and extended-reach
architectures.

American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2017

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