Welcome back to The Link-Up, your weekly rundown of our favorite stories from the past seven days in the oil and gas industry!
Albuquerque Journal
Wow, using "fracking" instead of "[censored]," so creative, never seen that one before.
Dumb headline aside, here's a good column taking a freshman state representative to task for her proposal to ban fracking for four years to study groundwater... like people haven't been all over that one for a while now, inevitably flashing the green light at the end.
The Guardian
I have to plead ignorance on this one, because I honestly didn't know this was a thing - rules that say you have to stop fracking if you're triggering tremors that hit (in the case of the United Kingdom) 0.5 on the Richter scale. That, according to people who know way more than I do about it, is way too low - the energy of a 0.5 is about equal to a hand grenade under 3000 feet of rock. And because fracking is still relatively new in the UK after being un-banned last year, the whole situation ended up with people arguing about the usual "overall" stuff.
The Cascadia Advocate
In a related story, I'm withdrawing from the upcoming NFL Draft.
Here's something crazy though - I went to check on the status of this, whether it had hit the house or representatives yet, etc. and stumbled on what is apparently an ongoing push to split Washington in two states, the new, eastern-half one being called Liberty. Maybe they'll allow fracking.
Tallahassee dot com
Washington thinks it's so cool with their senate bill to ban fracking, but here's Florida with two bills. The version the house came up with is being criticized (by environmentalists... the industry isn't super huge on either one, obviously) for some ambiguous language that may or may not create a loophole. Specifically, it just bans injection at a "high" volume and rate? What's "high?" Exactly. The water tower here in Wooster isn't really high compared to the Empire State Building, but it's still pretty high if you fall off the top.
The Denver Post
One state that actually has flirted with de facto bans but escaped is Colorado, of course. But, new problem, people and communities fight the permitting process tooth and nail, creating a massive backlog. The good news, I suppose, is that roughly 30 percent of the applications are protested, so it's not an "all" or even a "most" situation. Still super annoying though.
Argus Media
Ready for some good news? Because same. So here it is: we will be able to get more of that sweet, sweet shale juice out to more places very soon, particularly the Gulf Coast in this case.
Here's another link with some fun facts and figures about the project.
S&P Global Platts
Hey you guys should build a pipeline or something.
WKSU
Encino Energy is making moves in the Shale Crescent, first buying up Chesapeake Energy's Ohio holdings and now establishing the headquarters for its Utica operations in Louisville, OH, near Canton. So go be an Encino Man/Woman if you need a job. No wheezing the juice though.
See you next week!
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