Public comment period closes May 5th. Public scoping meetings set for April 22 in Corpus Christi and April 24 in New Orleans.
2014-07514-1
Special thanks to Richard Charter
Category Archives: energy policy
New Times: DEP Advisory Committee Says No to Oil Drilling in Big Cypress Swamp
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2014/04/big_cypress_swamp_advisory_com.php
Broward Palm Beach
By Fire Ant Tue., Apr. 1 2014 at 8:51 AM
Environmentalists took heart yesterday when a Texas oil company’s request for official permission to drill deep into the Big Cypress watershed got a thumbs-down from an arm of the Department of Environmental Protection.
How great was the enviros’ victory remains to be seen, however. Yesterday’s panel, the Big Cypress Swamp Advisory Committee, has no veto power, and the well has already won preliminary approval from the DEP. The enviros’ hopes now rest with state administrative law Judge D.R. Alexander, who must rule on legal challenges to the permit and who has indicated an interest in the advisory committee’s opinion.
The well is a project of the Dan A. Hughes Co. of Houston and would occupy but a small part of the 115,000 acres of mineral rights the company has leased from Collier Resources. Collier is the deepest pockets the enviros are up against ultimately, the owners of more than 800,000 acres of mineral rights in Southwest Florida.
Up in arms over the Hughes proposal is Preserve Our Paradise, a group of Collier County citizens’ whose homes are not far from the well site and who are lead petitioner in the administrative challenge to it. Their concerns center on air and groundwater pollution, traffic congestion, and hazardous waste. They and their supporters attended yesterday’s hearing en masse, according to media reports, peppering the panel with statements and questions and cheering the final 3-1 vote.
Also party to the administrative challenge is Matthew Schwartz, of the South Florida Wildlands Association. His special concern is the project’s impact on the Florida panther, whose habitat it adjoins. “There may be 100 to 160 Florida panthers remaining,” Schwartz told New Times. “And the 160 is a high-end estimate. They’re living in a very small area for a big cat with a big range, so even without the intrusion of the oil industry, their fate looks grim.”
One of those in attendance yesterday, Dr. Karen Dwyer, a leader in the citizen activist group Stone Crab Alliance, described the advisory committee’s vote as “something to smile about.”
“The exact wording of the denial is something to look for when it comes out,” Dwyer wrote on the group’s Facebook page. “It’s historic in holding Collier Resources accountable and in citing a statute that includes cumulative impacts to water, wildlife and more… A tiny victory, but a victory nonetheless that will spend a powerful message!”
See also:
– Oil Companies Are Planning to Drill in Florida Panther Habitat
Special thanks to Richard Charter
Prior 2-D Seismic Atlantic Planning Area Chart
BOEM Extends Public Comment Period on Environmental Review for Geological and Geophysical Survey Activities Off the Atlantic Coast
Latest on comment extension about the Atlantic Seismic Final PEIS, which includes up to three deep stratigraphic test wells and up to five shallow test wells…..
Note to Stakeholders
March 31, 2014
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is extending the public comment period for the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for geological and geophysical (G&G) survey activities off the Mid- and South Atlantic coast. The comment period will be extended for 30 days and will now end on May 7, 2014.
The comment period is being extended in response to requests from the public asking for additional time to provide input.
The PEIS assesses G&G activities conducted under BOEM’s oil and gas, renewable energy and marine minerals programs through 2020, including deep-penetration and high-resolution seismic surveys, electromagnetic surveys, magnetic surveys, gravity surveys, remote-sensing surveys and geological and geochemical sampling. The PEIS also evaluates reasonably foreseeable environmental effects in adjacent state waters.
The PEIS is available for public comment at: www.boem.gov/Atlantic-G-G-PEIS/.
The February 27th news release announcing the original completion of the EIS and request for public comments can be found here: http://www.boem.gov/press02272014/
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) promotes energy independence, environmental protection and economic development through responsible, science-based management of offshore conventional and renewable energy resources.
About the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) promotes economic development, energy independence, and environmental protection through responsible, science-based management of offshore conventional and renewable energy resources.
For More Information:
Caren Madsen or Blossom Robinson BOEM Office of Public Affairs (202) 208-6474
Please visit us at www.BOEM.gov
Special thanks to Richard Charter
Reuters.com: U.S. review of LNG export plant should weigh shale gas impact -EPA
By Ayesha Rascoe
WASHINGTON, March 31 Tue Apr 1, 2014 3:30am IST
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/03/31/sempra-cameron-environment-idINL1N0MS0TS20140331
(Reuters) – The U.S. environmental regulator has raised concerns that a federal review of Sempra Energy’s proposed liquefied natural gas export project did not include an assessment of the potential effects of more natural gas drilling. The Environmental Protection Agency issued its finding earlier this month. It urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to weigh indirect greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental effects that would flow from the increase in gas drilling needed to support exports from the Cameron plant in Louisiana.
The Department of Energy approved exports from the project in February, but the plant must still get clearances from FERC. The EPA’s assessment is a fresh angle in the long running debate of how much LNG the U.S. should export. FERC should “consider the extent to which implementation of the proposed project could increase the demand for domestic natural gas extraction, as well as potential environmental impacts associated with the potential increased production of natural gas,” the EPA said in response to the commission’s draft review of the project.
The finding, dated March 3, was released by FERC late on Friday. FERC has long resisted calls from environmental groups such as the Sierra Club to consider the effects of shale gas production in its review of the safety and environmental impacts of LNG export facilities.
A spokeswoman said FERC would take the EPA’s comments and other public input into consideration as it crafts its final environmental review, currently set for release by April 30. Energy analysts said FERC will probably decide there is no need for an extensive analysis of the indirect greenhouse gas emissions that would be caused by one LNG export project.
A federal appeals court ruled in FERC’s favor in 2012 in a similar case regarding Crestwood Midstream Partner’s Marc 1 natural gas pipeline. In that case, environmental groups argued that the commission should have done a more expansive review of the impact of natural gas production.
“I don’t think FERC will defer to Sierra Club’s or EPA’s issues on the upstream unless or until regulations change,” said Christi Tezak, energy analyst for ClearView Energy Partners.
The shale gas boom, spurred by advances in drilling techniques such as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has led to record U.S. natural gas production and paved the way for the United States to become a major gas exporter.
Fracking involves injecting water, sand and chemicals underground at high pressure to extract fuel. Critics have blamed the practice for water contamination and say that increased drilling is polluting the air. (Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe, editing by Ros Krasny and David Gregorio)
Special thanks to Richard Charter