American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2017 - 18

IndustryDigest
Most recently, BSEE says, Angelle
served as vice chairman of the
Louisiana Public Service Commission,
but his other positions in state and local
government include interim lieutenant
governor, secretary of the Louisiana
Department of Natural Resources, and
St. Martin Parish president. In the
aftermath of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico
oil spill, Angelle served as liaison to the
federal government and negotiated an
early end to the Obama administration's
offshore drilling moratorium.
The Louisiana Oil & Gas
Association and National Ocean
Industries Association are among those
applauding the appointment. "It's a
good thing . . . to have someone from
Louisiana who is familiar with the Gulf
Coast in that position," published
reports quote LOGA President Don
Briggs. "It's an important position for
companies operating in the Gulf of
Mexico."
"Angelle's unique combination of
political acumen, experience and
knowledge of the offshore industry
make him an excellent choice to lead
BSEE," NOIA President Randall Luthi
assesses. "Angelle's previous work
related to natural resources and offshore
safety will serve both the offshore
industry and American consumers well,
and he will no doubt add some Cajun
spice to the BSEE hallway at the main
Interior building in Washington." r

NRDC-Backed Study
Finds No Water Pollution
From Marcellus Wells

WHEELING, W.V.-Analysis funded
by the National Science Foundation and
the Natural Resources Defense Council
finds no evidence that unconventional
oil and natural gas extraction has
contaminated groundwater in five
northern Appalachian Basin counties in
West Virginia, points out law firm
Steptoe & Johnson PLLC.
The three-year study, published by
authors from Duke, Ohio State,
Pennsylvania State and Stanford
universities, and the French Geological
Survey Laboratory monitored
geochemical variations in drinking water
wells before and after nearby shale gas
development, Steptoe & Johnson
indicates. The findings provide "a clear
indication for the lack of groundwater

18 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

contamination and subsurface impact
from shale gas drilling and hydraulic
fracturing," the law firm quotes. "Saline
groundwater was ubiquitous throughout
the study area before and after shale gas
development, and the groundwater
geochemistry in this study was
consistent with historical data reported
in the 1980s."
According to Steptoe & Johnson,
although the study links elevated
chloride concentrations (and
bromide/chloride ratios) to geological
and topological features, it cannot tie
them to the proximity of shale gas
production. The analysis concludes that
both the biogenic and thermogenic
gases that occur in groundwater in the
Marcellus play regions studied are
unrelated to human activity.
The isotopic "fingerprints" of the
study's groundwater samples "were not
consistent with the signature of
hydraulic fracturing fluids," and
reflected local groundwater conditions,
the firm says. r

Study Debunks CO2
Endangerment Finding

WICHITA FALLS, TX.-A 2016
study that only recently has been
publicized contends that the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's socalled 2009 determination that carbon
dioxide posed a danger to human health
and welfare, and therefore could be
regulated under the Clean Air Act, is
false, according to the Texas Alliance of
Energy Producers.
EPA's so-called endangerment
finding is the basis for many of the
Obama administration's fossil fuel
regulations.
The Alliance cites a report by
"veteran researchers"-economist Jim
Wallace, climatologist John Christy and
meteorologist Joe D'Aleo-that is says
concludes there is "very, very little
doubt but that EPA's claim of a tropical
hot spot caused by rising atmospheric
CO2 levels simply does not exist in the
real world."
The Alliance explains that one of
EPA's lines of evidence was computer
models that predicted enhanced
warming would show up as a "hot spot"
in the tropical troposphere.
However, it says the study finds that
after naturally occurring events-solar,

volcanic and organic-are accounted for,
there is no record-setting warming to be
concerned about. "At this point, there is
no statistically valid proof that past
increases in atmospheric CO2 have
caused the officially reported rising,"
the Alliance quotes.
The Alliance says the study was
completed on behalf of the Concerned
Household Electricity Consumers
Council, which has filed the study with
the EPA and requested the agency
reconsider the 2009 endangerment
finding.
The report may be accessed at
https://thsresearch.files.wordpress.com/
2016/09/wwww-ths-rr-091716.pdf. r

AG Lawsuit Dismissed
When Boulder County
Moratorium Expires

BOULDER, CO.-A Colorado
district court dismissed the state
attorney general's lawsuit challenging
Boulder County's moratorium on oil
and gas development after the
moratorium expired on May 1,
according to published reports.
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia
Coffman sued Boulder County in
February over its then five-year-old
moratorium, declaring that "Boulder
County's open defiance of state law has
made legal action the final recourse
available to the state" (AOGR, March
2017, pg. 21).
The reports say the Boulder County
attorney's office filed a motion to
dismiss the state's complaint, noting
that the Boulder County Commission
had allowed the moratorium to expire
after it adopted new county land use
regulations for oil and gas drilling and
production on March 23. Boulder
District Judge Norma Sierra granted the
county's motion on May 2.
Coffman responded to the court's
action by stating, "Boulder County took
a positive step by finally lifting its
unlawful moratorium, and I strongly
believe that would not have happened
without my office taking action to
enforce state law," reports indicate.
"While my office will be watching
how Boulder's new rules are
implemented, we have agreed to the
dismissal of our court case since there
no longer is a moratorium in place,"
Coffman is quoted. r
https://thsresearch.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/wwww-ths-rr-091716.pdf https://thsresearch.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/wwww-ths-rr-091716.pdf
American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2017

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