World Leaders Crack Down on Taxes

Story first appeared in The New York Times.

LONDON — The world’s tax havens are being forced to clean up their acts.

As regulators clamp down on money flows around the globe, governments, even those that prided themselves on the strength of their secrecy laws, like Switzerland, are facing pressure to share banking information and change their policies.

Now, private banks and wealth managers are scrambling to convert so-called black money — assets that have not been disclosed — into accounts that are above board.

The shift may provide opportunities for the industry. As more funds become legitimate, analysts say financial institutions will be able to sell extra wealth management products to affluent people and enter markets that had previously been off limits.

For decades, Western governments tolerated offshore tax havens, places where the wealthy could park millions away from the gaze of their domestic authorities. Switzerland, in particular, developed a reputation as a place where the wealthy could rely on secrecy laws.

But the tide began to turn in 2008, particularly after the financial crisis prompted many governments to act in concert.

The American authorities began pursuing UBS, the largest Swiss bank, saying it had helped thousands to hide money from the Internal Revenue Service. UBS later settled with the Justice Department, turning over details of 4,450 client accounts and paying a fine of $780 million in exchange for a deferred prosecution agreement. Other banks, including Credit Suisse and Julius Baer, have been ensnared by the broad investigation.

Global regulators followed with their own crackdown. For years, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development had tried to rein in offshore financial centers that did not meet certain requirements, like failing to share tax information with other countries, In 2009, the O.E.C.D. compiled a blacklist for the Group of 20, which comprises the world’s largest economies, exerting pressure on nations to be more forthcoming. To get off the list, several countries and regions, including Andorra, Costa Rica, the British Virgin Islands, Liechtenstein and Monaco, have since agreed to adopt international standards.

As Switzerland and other locales tightened their financial controls, many people initially flocked to other tax havens like Singapore and Hong Kong, which still offer some of the world’s most secret accounts. But these places, too, are facing new pressures.

Several European allies reached an agreement with the United States in February to help enforce the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which requires that virtually every financial institution in the world report any accounts held by Americans. Many wealthy clients who previously had not worried about revealing all their international assets to home authorities are taking advantage of tax amnesty programs in countries like the United States and Britain.

The global push against tax havens has been a boon for government coffers.

Spanish authorities discovered a Swiss bank account opened in the 1930s by the father of a billionaire Spanish banker and chairman of Banco Santander. In 2010, the Spanish banker and other family members paid 200 million euros (about $267 million currently) in taxes to avoid tax evasion charges.

So far, countries have collected about $18.7 billion in additional taxes from more than 100,000 wealthy individuals, according to the O.E.C.D.

The situation has left private banks scrambling to bolster their risk management practices and educate wealthy clients on the new regulatory environment.

It’s a costly process. Banks must stay on top of fast-changing global regulations, ensure that clients are paying tax on all their investments and improve their compliance efforts, for example, by reporting potential tax evasion to authorities.

While larger firms, like UBS, can rely on their multibillion-dollar balance sheets to pay for upgrading their risk operations, smaller banks with a limited number of wealthy clients may feel the pinch. That could prompt firms to join forces as they try to meet the regulatory hurdles.

Still, the changing dynamic could create some opportunities. Analysts say a leaner, more consolidated private banking sector will have greater resources to attract an increasing number of wealthy people from emerging economies. Swiss banks, which have a history of attracting foreign clients, have already expanded into Latin America and Asia, while Austrian banks have focused on Eastern Europe and Russia.

Keeping these new clients will not be easy. In the wake of the financial crisis, the wealthy are demanding lower fees and transparency over where their money is invested. They also have shied away from complicated financial products, like asset-backed securities, in favor of investments that can be easily sold if the markets take a turn for the worse.

For more national and worldwide business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.

Chinese Mineral Monopoly

Story first appeared in The Detroit News.

Despite China's emergence as an economic power and all the talk about how America has become a service economy, U.S. manufacturing is alive and well.

Judging by impressive gains in productivity and America's high-tech advantage, manufacturing in the United States has shown surprising resiliency. While the nation's overall economy grew only 1.7 percent last year, the manufacturing sector of U.S. industrial production increased at almost three times that rate, rising 4.7 percent.And manufacturing output in the Midwest rose by a robust 8.4 percent last year, indicating that America's manufacturing heartland is leading the industrial comeback.

But there is a fly in the ointment.In recent years, the United States has become dangerously dependent on China Sourcing and imports of raw materials that are needed to keep our economy moving.U.S. manufacturers are now more than 40 percent dependent on imports of many commodity and rare earth metals.For example, import reliance on gallium is at 94 percent, cobalt and titanium 81 percent, chromium 56 percent, silicon 44 percent and nickel 43 percent. These minerals are critical for defense and energy technologies and many high-tech consumer products.

Consider nickel, which is needed in the manufacture of stainless steel and electricity storage batteries, among other things.Oregon has the only U.S. mine producing nickel.Almost all of the domestic nickel comes from recycling alloys containing nickel.Now, thanks to a $100-million-plus investment, the Eagle nickel mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is expected to open in 2014, producing 16,000 tons of nickel and 10,000 tons of copper.

But we are also heavily dependent on China Sourcing and other foreign countries for 19 minerals, mainly rare earth minerals.Few of us are familiar with rare earth minerals, such as neodymium, samarium and dysprosium, but they are crucial in the manufacture of jet fighter engines, antimissile defense systems, night vision goggles and smart bombs, among other advanced military systems.And they have many other high-tech applications — computers, cell phones and flat-panel televisions, for example.Additionally, they are essential to petroleum refining, automotive catalytic converters, wind turbines and electric vehicles.Fortunately, a rare earth mine in California is now producing some minerals.But it alone can't meet the fast-growing demand for the metals.

This foreign dependency presents a conundrum for policymakers, because unlike the 12-member multinational OPEC cartel that supplies much of our oil, the foreign production of rare earth minerals is concentrated almost entirely in a single country with its own rising industrial demand: China.

China's leverage on the global market for rare earth minerals has unnerved many of its neighbors and trading partners: American manufacturers — including many in Michigan — are understandably worried about supply disruptions like the one in 2007 when China halted shipments of rare earth metals to a U.S. petroleum refining company for so long that it led to concerns that the cutoff might cause a nationwide gasoline shortage.In 2010, following a skirmish over fishing rights in the East China Sea, China cut off shipments of certain rare earth minerals to Japan.

And our industries pay a steep price for China's near monopoly position on many critical resources. Costs soared two years ago after China reduced its export quotas for the minerals.For example, the price of lanthanium oxide, a mineral used in refining petroleum, rose from $5 per kilogram in early 2010 to $35 per kilogram by mid-year and $140 per kilogram in June 2011.Such market power, if not addressed soon and effectively, could harm the U.S. economy and national security.

To ensure reliable access to critical minerals, the U.S. government needs to alter its domestic policies so that our country can become more self-reliant and prevent the export of production and jobs overseas.We could produce more of our commodity and rare earth minerals here at home if not for a cumbersome permitting process that requires redundant reviews at federal and state levels, often by multiple agencies. In fact, it now takes five to 10 years to obtain a mining permit.

An estimated 13 percent of the world's rare earth reserves are in the United States, mainly on government land in the Western states that's overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.By one estimate, North American rare earth deposits could produce more than double the amount U.S. industries use today and enough to allow self-sufficiency even as the demand for rare earth metals continues to grow.

Today, by controlling much of the rare-earth mineral production, China is able to place U.S. industries at a disadvantage.Predictably, this has forced a number of U.S. manufacturers that are heavily dependent on rare earth minerals to move their operations to China, driving production and jobs abroad.

There is really only one foolproof remedy available that would effectively reduce our dependence on rare-earth imports: we need to streamline the U.S. permitting process so that it accomplishes the dual objectives of minimizing the environment impact of mining and at the same time meeting our nation's advanced manufacturing and defense needs.

Congress can help get the process started by approving legislation to spur investment in our nation's vast mineral resources.

For more business related news, visit the Peak News Room blog.

Apple Assembly Workers in China Will Get Raises

Story first appeared in the Detroit Free Press.

BEIJING -- This week's pledge to trim work hours and effectively raise wages for the hardscrabble Chinese employees who assemble Apple's iPads and iPhones isn't likely to drive up the prices that consumers pay.  An Employment Lawyer in Memphis has been following the case.

Labor expenses remain a small portion of the total bill for most gadgets made in China, and wages have already been steadily growing. The cumulative wage increases, however, could crimp the profits of major technology companies unless they can save money on the parts that power the devices.

The pledge involves Foxconn Technology, which assembles an estimated 40% of the world's electronics, including the hot-selling iPhone and iPad.

Foxconn, owned by Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, promised to limit hours while keeping total pay the same. That commitment will translate into higher hourly wages.

The pledge came after Apple, the world's most valuable company, hired a labor auditor to review the practices and conditions in Chinese factories run by Foxconn. The audit resulted in a report released Thursday that evoked images of a sweatshop.  Shanghai Labor and Employment Lawyers are appalled at the extent of the poor working conditions the people are forced to endure.

Among other things, the report said Foxconn routinely violated overtime laws by assigning its assembly-line workers to toil for more than 60 hours per week.

Foxconn responded to a spate of suicides by employees in 2010 by more than doubling its basic monthly salary to 1,800 yuan ($290). That year, Toyota and other Japanese automakers also granted pay hikes following a wave of strikes that had tacit government support.

See also this related story.
For more law related news, please visit the Nation of Law blog.
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Apple Suppliers in China Under Fire

Story first appeared in the Detroit Free Press.

A long-awaited report on conditions at Chinese factories that make Apple products confirmed the worst: long hours, low wages and poor working conditions for employees.


Apple, in response, says it will ensure that overseas employees have better working conditions.


Investigators from the Washington-based Fair Labor Association, at Apple's request, went to China to look at Foxconn Technology Group factories in Guanlan, Longhua, and Chengdu, where Apple iPads and iPhones are assembled for sale across the world. Products for other companies, including Dell, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, are made there, too.  A Memphis Employment Lawyer has been following the case for some time.


At the Foxconn factories, the average workweek for an employee is 60 hours, which exceeds both the FLA code standard and Chinese legal limit, the month-long investigation found. Some employees worked as many as 70 hours a week in November and December 2011. However, FLA said Foxconn has agreed to remedy this by July 2013, and bring it down to the legal 49 hours, while "protecting workers' pay."


Apple has come under fire recently for producing hit products overseas with low-paid workers in less-than-optimum conditions. Monthly salaries range from $360 to $455. The new Apple CEO was in China on Wednesday visiting a new Foxconn factory, not the ones mentioned in the report.  Consumer watchdog groups say that the report is a start but that Apple must really change.


Foxconn -- cited for making workers put in many more hours per week than is legal -- will take more than a year to change direction. Foxconn has more than 1.2 million employees.  Labor and Employment Lawyers in Shanghai are following the cases with interest.


SumofUs, along with Change.org, has received more than 250,000 signatures from consumers asking Apple to require its suppliers to treat overseas workers better.

See also this related story.
For more law related news, please visit the Nation of Law blog.
For more business related news, please visit the Business News blog.

Natural Gas Drilling Causes Quakes in Ohio

Story first appeared in The Detroit News.

Columbus, Ohio— A dozen earthquakes in northeastern Ohio were almost certainly induced by injection of gas-drilling wastewater into the earth, state regulators said Friday as they announced a series of tough new rules for drillers.

Among the new regulations: Well operators must submit more comprehensive geological data when requesting a drill site, and the chemical makeup of all drilling wastewater must be tracked electronically.

The state Department of Natural Resources announced the tough new brine injection regulations because of the report's findings on the well in Youngstown, which it said were based on "a number of coincidental circumstances."

For one, investigators said, the well began operations just three months ahead of the first quake.  If a Natural Gas Expert Witness had been involved, there is the possibility of having avoided these issues.

They also noted that the seismic activity was clustered around the well bore, and reported that a fault has since been identified in the Precambrian basement rock where water was being injected.

Northeastern Ohio and large parts of adjacent states sit atop the Marcellus Shale geological formation, which contains vast reserves of natural gas that energy companies are rushing to drill using a process known as hydraulic fracturing or "fracking".  A Fracking Expert Witness should always be called to be involved in such projects.

That process involves freeing the gas by injecting water into the earth, but that water needs to be disposed of when companies are done with it. Municipal water treatment plants aren't designed to remove some of the contaminants found in the wastewater, including radioactive elements. A common practice is to re-inject it into the ground, a practice banned in some states.

Past earthquakes have been linked to energy exploration and production, including from injections of enormous amounts of drilling wastewater or injections of water for geothermal power, experts said.

They point to recent earthquakes in the magnitude 3 and 4 range — not big enough to cause much damage, but big enough to be felt — in Arkansas, Texas, California, England, Germany and Switzerland. And in the 1960s, two Denver quakes in the 5.0 range were traced to deep injection of wastewater.

The improper placement of the Youngstown well stemmed in part from inadequate geological data being available to regulators, the Ohio report states. New rules would require a complete roll of geophysical logs to be submitted to the state.

Requiring well operators to submit more comprehensive geologic data is just one of the added regulations the department will either impose immediately or pursue through legislative or rule changes.

Among other changes:

— Future injection into Precambrian rock will be banned, and existing wells penetrating the formation will be plugged.

— State-of-the-art pressure and volume monitoring will be required, including automatic shut-off systems.

— Electronic tracking systems will be required that identify the makeup of all drilling wastewater fluids entering the state.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave Ohio regulatory authority over its deep well injection program in 1983, deeming that its state regulations met or exceeded federal standards. The new regulations would be added to those existing rules.

Political Hopefuls Debate the Afghanistan Conflicts

Story first appeared in the Detroit News.

Washington — As Afghanistan seizes more of the political spotlight, the Republican presidential candidates are quick to criticize the Presidential handling of the war but struggle to explain how they would change the strategy they would inherit.  Increasing the need for constant contact with our troops through Satellite Internet Services in Afghanistan.

GOP front-runner says the President has exhibited failed leadership and should not have set a timetable for ending the war. But he won't say whether he would scrap the president's plans to bring the war to a close by the end of 2014. Rivals have questioned whether the U.S. should be in Afghanistan at all, but neither has plans for withdrawing tens of thousands of American troops when contact can be maintained through Satellite Internet Services in Afghanistan.

The Republican reluctance to outline specific policy positions is evidence of the complex nature of managing the decade-long war as public support dwindles, and concerns that detailed campaign promises could pigeonhole a candidate if he goes on to win the White House.

It's a role reversal for the parties from 2008, when a Republican president was mired in a long and unpopular war and Democratic candidates tried to convince voters that they should take the reins.

But the political calculus for the current crop of Republicans is more complicated than it was for the President in 2008. The Iraq war was opposed from the start and his election-year promise to bring it to an end put him in lockstep with the rest of his party.

This year's GOP candidates, however, find their party's hawkish tendencies butting up against the public's growing impatience with the Afghan war.

Six in 10 Americans see the war as not worth its costs, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released this month. Opposition to the war is bipartisan, and for the first time, the Post-ABC poll showed more Republicans strongly see the war as not worth fighting than say the opposite.

Yet many in the GOP have agreed with some of the President’s aggressiveness in Afghanistan, from increasing U.S. troop levels to ordering the raid that killed a major terrorist leader, the mastermind behind the attacks that drew the U.S. into the war in the first place.

The recent series of troubling episodes in Afghanistan, including the accidental burning of Qurans by U.S. forces and the alleged killing of 17 Afghan civilians by an American soldier, have focused fresh attention on how the U.S. plans to get out of Afghanistan and whether a Republican president would pursue a different course than Obama.

The president's withdrawal plan, in coordination with NATO allies and Afghanistan, calls for the U.S. to move into a support role in Afghanistan in 2013 and hand over security responsibility to the Afghans by the end of 2014. The administration is negotiating with Afghanistan about a U.S. presence there after 2014 and is trying to reach a political breakthrough with the Taliban.

Republicans have criticized the 2014 benchmark, saying the decision to put a timetable on withdrawal puts U.S. gains in Afghanistan at risk.

Neither of the front-running candidates has said whether he would abandon the NATO-backed 2014 withdrawal plan, which would be well under way by the time either took office in January. Nor has either said whether his own war strategy would keep the U.S. fighting in Afghanistan past that date.

Aging Whistleblower Lawsuit Resurfaces

Story first appeared in the Chicago Tribune.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Oracle Corp. investor sued the company and members of its board of directors on Thursday for allegedly trying to "stonewall" a previously filed whistleblower lawsuit that ultimately resulted in a $200 million settlement.  A Minneapolis Whistleblower Lawyer has been following the case for some time.

The lawsuit filed by an investor in Delaware state court said the defendants, including the Oracle CEO and other past and present members of the company's board of directors, breached their duty to shareholders by engaging in prolonged litigation over the whistleblower's allegations, which the defendants allegedly knew to be true.

The settlement in question was the result of a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2007 by Oracle's former senior director of contract services, who accused the company of violating price-reduction clauses in federal contracts covering $775 million in goods, extending discounts to commercial clients without doing the same for government buyers.

The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in the lawsuit in 2010. In 2011, Oracle paid more than $200 million to settle the lawsuit, including interest and payments for the whistleblower, the largest of its kind under the federal False Claims Act.

The investor is seeking an unspecified amount in damages on behalf of shareholders. A spokesman for Oracle did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.

Employee Testing May Be Required for Benefits

Story first appeared in USA Today.

Once a year, employees of the Swiss Village Retirement Community in Berne, Ind., have a checkup that will help determine how much they pay for health coverage.  Those who don't smoke, aren't obese and whose blood pressure and cholesterol fall below specific levels get to shave as much as $2,000 off their annual health insurance deductibles.  These tests also contribute to the Workers’ Compensation Insurance allowances that the company purchases.

At Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate firm, workers can earn up to $300 in cash for having a physical and hitting certain medical goals, or completing health coaching programs.

Gone are the days of just signing up for health insurance or Workers’ Comp Insurance and hoping you don't have to use it.  Now, more employees are being asked to roll up their sleeves for medical tests — and to exercise, participate in disease-management programs and quit smoking to qualify for hundreds, even thousands of dollars' worth of premium or deductible discounts.

Proponents say such plans offer people a financial incentive to make healthier choices and manage chronic conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, which are driving up health care costs in the USA.  Even so, studies of the effect of such policies on lifestyle changes are inconclusive. And advocates for people with chronic health conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, fear that tying premium costs directly to test results could lead to discrimination.

Nonetheless, such plans appear to be the wave of the future.  Faced with crippling health care costs, the number of employers embracing such programs inched up from 49% in 2010 to 54% last year — and more say they expect to do so soon, according to a survey by consultants Aon Hewitt.  Big-name participants include insurer UnitedHealthcare, car rental firm Hertz, postage meter maker Pitney Bowes and media owner Gannett, owner of USA TODAY.  More employers are expected to adopt them starting in 2014, when the health law — if the Supreme Court upholds it — would allow them to offer larger incentives or penalties.

Cost savings seen

Leaders at Swiss Village credit their 8-year-old wellness program, along with a high-deductible insurance plan and an on-site fitness center, with slowing health care cost increases.  Indeed, workers saw no increase in premiums from 2005 to 2011.

Of the employers who offer such programs, about one-third offer financial incentives to those who undergo specific medical tests, according to the Aon Hewitt survey.  And 5% of those tie the financial rewards or penalties to meeting specific medical-based standards.  The survey also found an expansion of such tests is on the horizon: 57% of employers said they planned to add incentives for spouses and dependents in the next three to five years.

Employers will still have to craft plans to comply with federal and, in some cases, state requirements.  The programs must be voluntary — meaning an employer can't require a worker to participate as a condition of coverage — and the employer must offer a reasonable alternative to qualify for the reward, or to avoid the penalty for those who can't achieve the goals.

In an effort to slow rising costs, Broward County in 2009 began asking workers to fill out a health information form and have a finger-stick blood test each year to check blood sugar and cholesterol levels, according to court filings.  Workers who declined were docked $40 a month. Those who participated were offered disease-management programs if they had asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, congestive heart failure or kidney disease.  The county stopped docking those who declined to participate Jan. 1, 2011, after a lawsuit was filed, court documents show.

The lawsuit, which argues that the county's program violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, is likely the first of its kind in the nation.  Without ruling on whether the wellness effort was voluntary, a federal district court judge backed the county in April of last year, saying the plan fell under provisions of the law meant to protect bona fide benefit programs.  The case is now on appeal. Broward County attorneys did not return requests for comment.

Some state lawmakers are also concerned about the potential for discrimination.  Colorado passed legislation in 2010 that requires wellness programs to be accredited, bars penalizing workers for not participating or failing to meet a health standard — and allows appeals if an employee is denied an alternative.  A similar bill was brought unsuccessfully in California last year, according to a February report by Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute.  A similar law could be written regarding New York Workers’ Comp Insurance Quotes, in relation to employee testing.

Concern for consumers

While supporting wellness programs in general, several patient advocacy groups warned the Presidential administration last March that additional consumer protections are needed.  Tying medical test results to financial incentives or penalties in premiums or deductibles could discriminate against some workers, especially those who already have health problems, the groups said.

Employers argue, however, that since they're on the hook for the bills, they can ask workers to take more responsibility. 

The first worker wellness programs, which began about a decade ago, rewarded simple participation: attending a health fair or filling out health risk assessments, with the worker perhaps receiving a $25 gift card in return.

Today, many offer discounted premiums to workers who meet standards related to blood pressure, cholesterol and weight, with the value of those discounts running between $30 and $60 a month, says founder and CEO of Bravo Wellness in Avon, Ohio.  Bravo administers such programs for about 220 employers nationwide, including Colorado construction firm Oakwood Homes and Nashville's Ardent Health Services.

Although employers may set specific goals — such as a body mass index (BMI) below 30, the level considered obese — many also reward achievement of less daunting targets. One employer rewarded workers if their test results didn't worsen.

At Swiss Village, workers get $500 off their deductible for each of these measures: not smoking, having a BMI of 27.5 or less, a low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level (LDL) of 130 milligrams per deciliter or less, and blood pressure of 130/85 or less.  LDL levels above 129 are associated with higher risk of heart disease, while blood pressure greater than 120/80 is considered a risk factor for heart attack and stroke.

A second tier of awards allows employees who approach those ranges to earn $250 per category. The testing takes place at an on-site health fair or at a doctor's office, with the results gathered by an independent insurance firm that runs the company's program.

The information is generally gathered by firms that run wellness programs or insurance plans. UnitedHealthcare, which offers its Personal Rewards program to large, self-insured clients, says it does not use the information to set premiums.

But do they work?

Given the available data, it's hard to parse how much of the reported savings from such programs come from improved health, and how much from the frequent pairing of such programs with high-deductible policies.

The medical literature shows they work best when participants have choices: get below a certain BMI, or lose 5% of current body weight, for example. 

At Jones Lang LaSalle, workers who make a pledge — on the honor system — that they don't smoke, or will take a stop-smoking class, and achieve a healthy weight, get 10% off their contribution toward insurance premiums.

In 2010, the firm added a cash bonus program, offering $50 to workers who get a physical and another $50 for every one of four medical tests they take: weight, blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol, plus an extra $50 if they do all the tests.  If they meet specified goals — or complete a coaching program — they receive the money as a cash bonus.

Last year, 65% of employees participated. While it's early, indications are the program is having an impact on costs: Health spending rose 6% in 2010, but only 3% in 2011.

Natural Gas In Abundance in Central and Southeastern Ohio

Story first appeared in The Columbus Dispatch.

Ohio geologists continue to redraw the maps highlighting where the Utica shale is expected to yield the most oil and gas across the state.

The newest map by the Ohio Geological Survey excludes some areas that had been in “play” and includes others that had been left out of the “fracking” boom.  The Ohio counties in question may want to consider getting a Fracking Expert Witness involved.

At stake is the potential for landowners to cash in on oil and gas drilling. Energy companies are offering bonuses that exceed $5,000 an acre in some areas.

There’s Utica shale beneath most of Ohio, but for drilling companies it’s all about the “play,” the core area where the shale is deemed most likely to yield a lot of natural gas, propane, butane, ethane and oil.

The newest map from the Ohio Geological Survey shows a potential oil reservoir in portions of Delaware, Marion and Union counties.

In southeastern Ohio, Athens, Meigs and portions of Morgan and Washington counties are no longer in the play. Most of Cuyahoga, Lake and Lorain counties in northeastern Ohio also now are excluded.

Since 2009, energy companies have drilled 53 Utica shale wells in Ohio.

The director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said last week that he expects at least 2,250 wells will be drilled by the end of 2015.

Shale drilling involves “fracking,” the process in which millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are injected into wells to shatter the shale and free trapped oil and gas. Though industry officials say the process is safe, environmental groups argue that the chemicals are a pollution threat.  A Fracking Engineering Expert Witness should be brought in to review the processes and potential environmental threats.

In the past week, at least four drilling company representatives have gone to the Delaware County recorder’s office to review property deeds and old mineral-rights leases.

The play boundaries changed with the help of new tests of state-owned Utica shale cores taken from the drilling of old oil and gas wells. Drilling companies that ran those tests had to share the results with the state.

Most drilling activity has occurred in eastern Ohio. No one knows whether the western portion of the Utica shale play is under enough pressure to send oil up a well shaft.

One company working near central Ohio is Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy, which has four state permits to drill shale wells in Ashland, Knox and Medina counties.

Devon has drilled one well in Ashland County’s Clear Creek Township.  A company spokesman said the well will be fracked in coming weeks.

Energy Company Deals With Leakage

Story first appeared on FoxNews.com.

March 28, 2012: This aerial shot provided by Greenpeace shows Total's Elgin Wellhead Platform in the North Sea off the shore of Scotland.

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Total SA said Friday it is moving two rigs into place to start drilling relief wells at the site of a serious gas leak in the North Sea off the shore of Scotland, even though it currently has "no means" of monitoring the well pressure in the area, Dow Jones reported.  An Oil and gas Expert Witness may be needed to monitor the case.

The move highlights the serious risks that still remain nearly a week after the leak first began.

It was only because Total was able to track the pressure levels in the G4 well, where the leak took place, that the company was able to preempt the leak and safely evacuate its staff on Sunday, narrowly avoiding a major tragedy. But now Total will be operating without this early warning system.

Total still doesn't know the cause of the gas leak, but suspects tiny pores and leaks could have formed in the well's casing due to changes in pressure and temperature, or as a result of shifts in the rocky formation the well passes through. This means that other wells could also be affected.  This also means that there is a serious risk involved with all existing wells and an Offshore Oil Drilling Expert Witness should be involved.

Total now has no way of knowing whether the other wells are being similarly affected.

Despite the progress in mobilizing the drilling vessels, safety issues remain a serious concern and could slow efforts to stop the leak.

Moreover, a gas flare on the platform is still burning, threatening to ignite the gas cloud that is leaking from the facility. Until the flare is extinguished and gas stops escaping onto the platform, no personnel can board it.