Brian Nearing writes in the Times Union - “A former executive with the timbering and forest products industry — who a decade ago helped the state preserve hundreds of thousands of acres of timber company land in the Adirondacks — is the new regional director for the state Department of Environmental Conservation in the eastern Adirondacks, DEC announced Friday.

Robert Stegemann replaces former Region V director Betsy Lowe, who resigned last month. Stegemann is a former executive at International Paper and was part of efforts last decade that led the company to sell conservation easements on more than 250,000 acres in the Adirondacks to the state.”

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Former Governor George Pataki authored the following op-ed, which appeared in the NY Daily News:

“Few issues have elicited a greater reaction from New Yorkers recently than the development of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. As the state Department of Environmental Conservation seeks public comment this month, it is important to cut through the political rhetoric and understand exactly what is at stake — and why extracting this resource, with strong oversight by the state, is the right thing to do.

This past summer, the Department of Environmental Conservation issued draft rules, along with an environmental impact statement, analyzing possible ramifications of high-volume horizontal drilling extraction of natural gas, called hydraulic fracturing.”

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According to an article on www.pressconnects.com:

“A research team from Cornell University finds that shale gas is better for the climate than coal, a conclusion that rebuts the earlier findings of other Cornell scientists.

During a Nov. 29 roundtable discussion with industry experts hosted by the American Clean Skies Foundation, Cornell’s Lawrence Cathles III outlined the findings of a soon-to-be published study asserting that shale gas has a greenhouse gas footprint half or perhaps a third that of coal.

The Cathles study identified three errors in the widely cited study by Cornell’s Robert Howarth, Renee Santoro and Anthony Ingraffea. Cathles and other researchers said Howarth’s findings were “seriously flawed” because of erroneous methane leakage data, a too-short methane global warming potential and because it compared coal and gas in terms of heat rather than electricity generation.”

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Many hazardous waste generators have expressed concern upon learning that the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will be issuing two hazardous waste generation invoices during the 2011 calendar year.

The Business Council after some investigation agrees with the DEC although two invoices will be issued in 2011, that they cover separate annual periods (2010, 2011). The first invoice will be based on the average hazardous waste generated in 2007, 2008, and 2009. The billing year on that invoice will indicate “0789.” The second invoice will be based on actual amounts generated in 2010 and will cover the 2011 annual period.

Additionally, The Business Council strongly supports the DEC’s determination not to asses any fees for generators who did not generate any waste during calendar year 2010. Under some interpretations of the current law waste generators, who generated waste in 2007, 2008, or 2009 would have been assessed a few in 2010 even if they did not generate waste in 2010.

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For information on The Business Council’s 2011 Annual Industry-Environment Conference click here.

Jon Campbell of Gannett News (Albany Bureau) writes:

“While scores of environmental groups have loudly expressed their concerns with the state’s proposed rules for shale-gas drilling, industry representatives are making clear they aren’t pleased, either.

While initially remaining quiet when the Department of Environmental Conservation released its latest review of hydraulic fracturing in September, the gas industry has started publicly pushing back against proposed regulations that some say are “onerous” and could keep drillers out of New York.”

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Brian Tumulty of Gannett News (Washington Bureau) writes:

“The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it plans to regulate the disposal of wastewater derived from shale gas drilling starting in 2014.

New technology has increased use of a drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, which uses millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals to crack open shale deposits filled with natural gas.

The Energy Department estimates hydraulic fracturing represents 30 percent of U.S. natural gas production and will represent 46 percent by 2035.”

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New state government data further underscores the enormous economic impact tied to the responsible development of clean-burning American natural gas from the Marcellus Shale across the Commonwealth. Currently, 214,000 jobs across the state are tied the natural gas industry, according to a new Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry report, available online here.

“While our nation continues to face historic economic challenges, our industry - made up of tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians - continues to grow at unprecedented rates, helping to provide good jobs at a time when they’re most needed,” remarked Kathryn Klaber, president and executive director of the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC). “This new data further reinforces the undeniable fact that responsible American natural gas production is an unmatched private sector job creation machine. We take seriously our important work in the Commonwealth, and realize we have an historic opportunity and responsibility to build on this progress in a way that ensures our environment is protected, our economy is strong, and our nation is more secure.”

This week, a bipartisan group of the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation wrote to the White House’s top economic advisor, Gene Sperling, reinforcing the need for the federal government to encourage - not unnecessarily discourage - American natural gas development as a means to create private sector jobs. The bipartisan group of lawmakers, as reported by the Patriot-News, writes:

A discussion to address regulatory roadblocks and an extended general session on shale gas development will take center stage at The Business Council of New York State, Inc.’s 2011 Annual Industry-Environment Conference.

The event will be held Oct.26-28 at the Holiday Inn Saratoga Springs.

The conference will feature The Heritage Foundation’s Nicolas Loris and Pradeep Haldar of the University at Albany, who will discuss solar energy development and incentives. Participants will hear remarks from Joseph Martens, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Francis Murray, President and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Engineers attending the conference may earn up to six New York State Education Department continuing education professional engineering credits. One and a half credits are awarded for each 90-minute session. A certificate is sent at the completion of the conference.

For information on registration and sponsorship opportunities click here.

Dan Gearino reports in the Columbus Dispatch - “Chesapeake Energy is reporting substantial output of oil and gas from four of its wells in the Utica shale, the first announcement of its type related to this largely untapped resource that covers much of Ohio.

The greatest output was at a well in Harrison County, in eastern Ohio, which is yielding daily averages of 9.5 million cubic feet of natural gas and 1,425 barrels of natural-gas and oil liquids.

Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake’s CEO, said in a statement this morning that he was pleased to announce “very strong initial drilling results.”

The company also drilled two wells in Carroll County, also in eastern Ohio. The first is producing an average of 3.1 million cubic feet of natural gas and 1,015 barrels of natural-gas and oil liquids. The second is producing 3.8 million cubic feet of gas and 980 barrels.”

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Jon Campbell writes on pressconnects.com - “The state Department of Environmental Conservation on Wednesday released a set of proposed regulations for hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale, a move that would bolster the agency’s regulatory authority but has left conservation groups angered.

The agency said the proposed rules take the recommendations from its ongoing environmental review of the natural gas extracting process and gives them the force of law, if finalized. But environmentalists said the state is trying to “fast-track” the review process by developing the regulations before its analysis is complete.

A public-comment period will be open until Dec. 12 for both the regulations and the DEC’s latest study, which was released earlier this month. Public hearings are scheduled for four locations across the state, including The Forum Theatre in Binghamton on Nov. 17 and Dansville Middle School in Livingston County on Nov. 16, the department also announced Wednesday.”

To read more click here.