Gas at a glance

CHESAPEAKE SELLS SHALE ASSETS TO FRENCH COMPANY

Chesapeake Energy has reached a deal to sell a French company, Total SA, 25 percent of Chesapeake’s Barnett Shale holdings for $2.25 billion. Total, like Exxon before it, said that it would use the lessons learned in Texas to expand gas drilling around the globe. The deal was announced on January 4. Chesapeake’s CEO Aubrey McClendon told Business Week that this is a clear sign the world is looking to the United States to learn about how to exploit shale gas. Total is Europe’s third-largest oil producer. Christophe de Margerie, Total’s chief executive, said the deal would help the company move into the U.S. production market. The company views shale gas as an attractive long term resource.

EXXON DEAL HINGES ON FRACKING REGULATION

Exxon Mobil Corp said it can cancel its $30 billion acquisition of XTO Energy Inc. if U.S. lawmakers pass legislation making hydraulic fracturing “illegal” or “commercially impracticable,” according to the merger agreement filed by Exxon with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Exxon plans to buy XTO in an all-stock deal culminating in 8 million acres of shale gas, the largest in the industry. Hydraulic fracturing is currently regulated by state agencies. A bill pending in the House would subject “fracking” to federal regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act and require companies to publicly disclose chemicals used in the process.

DAMASCUS CITIZENS INFLUENCE CHESTER WASTEWATER PERMIT

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) removed a permit it had issued to allow toxic waste to be sent to a treatment plant in Chester, PA, diluted and then dumped into the Delaware River. The DEP reversal was ignited by the objection of the Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS) who noticed the application in late November and alerted the Campaign for Clean Water. Other organizations, such as the Delaware Riverkeeper, became involved in the fight. “We saw the notice listed on the docket of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC),” said Barbara Arrindell of DCS. Subsequently, a local Chester newspaper picked up the story and a firestorm of protest followed, both in Chester and Philadelphia. The waste contains toxic chemicals known to kill fish and other aquatic life and to have multiple adverse impacts on human health. The news that the DEP had approved the permit received the condemnation of the Chester Environmental Partnership’s chairman Rev. Horace Strand. Chester is a low-income community, southwest of Philadelphia, where a controversial incinerator was built. Activists call such practices a common pattern seen in poor communities and communities of color and an example of environmental racism.