PA Court Overturns Lower Court on Zoning Compressor Plants
A new ruling in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court will have far-reaching implications for municipalities that try to apply zoning regulations to a select part of the drilling process, like compressor stations. Compressor stations are necessary to move gas along pipelines—from the well to a point where the gas can be processed and eventually sold. A three judge panel has just overturned a lower court’s decision on whether or not townships can regulate compressors separately from other drilling activities.
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The rumor mill continues to churn with regard to Carl Icahn’s investment in Chesapeake Energy. The latest rumor, being circulated by the venerable Bloomberg News, says that Icahn has taken a 4 percent stake in the company. Is that good? Is it bad? Meaningful or not? Let’s give you the “news” (or rather rumor) first, and then some perspective…
Ohio legislators have been working to craft new shale oil and gas drilling rules that will do more to protect the environment, and at the same time, help protect the fledgling shale drilling industry in the state. New legislation passed in committee yesterday that will now go to the full House includes a provision to help prevent frivolous lawsuits brought by deep-pocketed anti-drilling groups, like the Ohio Environmental Council and the Sierra Club. These groups, who are opposed to expanded use of fossil fuels, use the legal system to tie up shale drillers in court and force them to spend huge sums of money as a tactic to reduce fossil fuel mining and use.