The Great Keystone Debate
President Obama’s veto of the Keystone XL project last Tuesday rekindled the debate that has surrounded the TransCanadian pipeline project since its inception in 2008. The Keystone XL project (the fifth piece of pipeline to be added to the already existing four) proposes to streamline the route of the existing pipeline to run from Hardisty, Alberta and ending in Steele City, Nebraska. This would be the final piece to finish the Keystone project which is a span of 3,800 miles
Local government’s authority to regulate fracking minimized, but not eliminated
On February 17th, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in Beck Energy v. Munroe Falls that local governments can not impose separate permitting requirements for oil and gas production activities.[1] A local Munroe Falls ordinance required a “conditional zoning permit” for excavation or construction and four other city ordinances imposed specific requirements on activities involved with oil & gas, including hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). Beck Energy received a drilling permit from
