Chemical Engineering Trends, Intellectual Property Litigation, & Industry Predictions – IMS Insights Podcast Episode 50
What to Expect in Chemicals Policy and Regulation and on Capitol Hill in 2023
U.S. Global Change Research Program - Fourth National Climate Assessment - "Impacts, risks and adaptation in the United States Report-in-Brief" Why this is important: The assessment posits the U.S. will lose 10 percent of...more
Iran's Latest Terrorist Attack Matters More than OPEC's Latest Meeting, RBC's Croft Says - "Oil market attention was focused on an OPEC meeting in Algeria this weekend, but it was Saturday's terrorist attack in an oil-rich...more
China Energy Investment Signs MOU for $83.7 Billion in West Virginia Projects "China Energy Investment Corp, the world's largest power company by asset value, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to invest $83.7...more
EPA Denies Petition To Ban Triclosan: On May 13, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied a petition submitted in January 2010 by Food & Water Watch and Beyond Pesticides seeking to ban triclosan, an...more
In the past ten days, the federal government has articulated different views on the utility and effectiveness of FracFocus, a website used by many operators to report the chemicals used to fracture their wells. In its final...more
New regulations setting standards for hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, in oil and gas wells drilled on federal lands were issued recently by the Obama administration through the U.S. Department of the...more
EPA’s current estimate of the completion time for a draft of its study of the risks posed by hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) to drinking water is now projected by the agency to be developed in early 2015. This is based on...more
In Powder River Basin Resource Council v. Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the Wyoming Supreme Court held that the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has the burden of justifying the use of trade secrets...more
The General Assembly passed noteworthy bills on six diverse environmental and land use subjects. Hydraulic Fracturing Waste - A deceptively simple bill concerning hydraulic fracturing waste, PA 14-200, emerged...more
On Friday, July 11, 2014 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”) extended the public comment period for its advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (“ANPR”) for hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure rules. The...more
As many states and the federal government look towards calling for greater disclosure and regulation of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, state senators in North Carolina appear to be pushing against the tide in...more
Senate Bill 186 passed the House today 64 to 50 largely along party lines. Members debated 16 amendments. A key point of debate is that chemicals used in fracking are considered trade secrets and state officials privy to...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the May 19, 2014, Federal Register an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to seek comment on the information that should be reported or disclosed for...more
On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency took the first step toward requiring drillers to disclose the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations, releasing an “advanced notice of proposed rulemaking” seeking...more
On April 22, 2014, a six-person jury in Dallas awarded a Texas family $2.925 million in a trial based on medical problems allegedly caused by natural gas development. While the case involved gas wells that had been...more
On Monday, the Colorado Supreme Court granted a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in Antero Resources, et al. v. Strudley, et al. The Strudley case involves claims relating to alleged injuries from natural gas drilling...more
Research and Markets, a leading international market research and market data firm, has released its report on Global Trends and Forecasts for Fracking Chemicals and Fluid Markets. The report estimates that the global...more
Parties advocating public disclosure of the chemical makeup of fracking fluids may have won a recent battle in Wyoming, but are they losing the war? On March 12, 2014, the Wyoming Supreme Court in Powder River Basin Resource...more
On March 12, 2014, the Wyoming Supreme Court issued a highly anticipated ruling in a case concerning the scope of trade secret protection available to exempt certain fracking chemical information—which Wyoming requires to be...more
On October 30, 2013, the United States Coast Guard published a “Proposed Policy Letter: Carriage of Conditionally Permitted Shale Gas Extraction Waste Water in Bulk” (“Proposed Policy”) pertaining to the barging of “shale...more
On January 9, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 9, announced that it will require oil and gas operators engaged in hydraulic fracturing off the southern California coast to disclose any chemicals...more
The Florida House Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee voted 8-4 on Tuesday in support of two bills that would require disclosure of chemicals used in fracking. While not as shale rich as its neighboring states to...more
The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced that starting on March 1, 2014, oil and gas operators performing offshore hydraulic fracturing operations must maintain an inventory of chemicals used to formulate frac...more
Last month, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (“IDNR”) published its first draft of the regulations (62 Ill. Adm. Code 245) (the “HFRA Draft Regulations”) under the Illinois Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act (225...more
Oil and Gas Update - Hydraulic Fracturing Regulations - Bureau of Land Management: On May 16, 2013, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a Supplemental Notice of Proposed...more