Environmental Law ReSource : Environmental Lawyer & Attorney : Reed Smith Law Firm : Climate Change, Sustainability

This post was written by Nicolle Bagnell and Stephanie Hadgkiss.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has fined Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation $56,650 following three spills which occurred over the course of one week at Cabot's Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling sites in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. The fine was assessed as for violations of the Clean Streams law, Solid Waste Management Act and the Oil and Gas Act.

In addition to the fine, from September 24 to October 16, the DEP imposed a three-week halt of hydraulic fracturing performed by Cabot in Susquehanna County. Hydraulic fracturing is a drilling technique being used to maximize natural gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale. A mixture of water, sand and other substances (sometimes referred to as "frac fluid") is forced into tiny fractures in underground shale rock layers at high pressure in order to release trapped natural gas.

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This post was written by Tim Foster and Siobhan Hayes.

In earlier postings we have introduced the UK’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (“CRC”) which has been the subject of public consultation. The Government issued their policy decisions recently and a number of things will change when the Regulations come into force next April. To restate, headlines reporting the CRC was deferred were wide of the mark and the CRC will still start to apply in April 2010. To emphasise the impact of the CRC the first thing to note is that it will now be called the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme. Energy efficient businesses are to be rewarded for their good behaviour. 

This is a note on the main changes we expect to see when the next draft of the Regulations is published towards the end of this year.

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