Archive for May, 2015

Republicans confront Obama over global warming, EPA rules

Republicans confront Obama over global warming, EPA rules

Obama fighting GOP-dominated Congress over his environmental legacy The Obama administration says a new federal rule regulating small streams and wetlands will protect the drinking water of more than 117 million people in the country. Not so, insist Republicans. They say the rule is a massive government overreach that could even subject puddles and ditches […]

US energy boom fuels economic growth – by the numbers

US energy boom fuels economic growth – by the numbers

US energy boom generating investment, created jobs, spurred spin-off growth in many industries The US energy boom that took off in 2008 fuelled economic growth and boosted hiring, at least through the end of last year. Yet production was thrown into reverse by a plunge in oil prices – from about $110 a barrel last summer […]

Barnett Shale fracked gas wells tested, no harmful emissions

Barnett Shale fracked gas wells tested, no harmful emissions

Beacon E&P tested 5 Barnett Shale fracked wells, compared against baseline testing from 2012 A battery of air tests during the simultaneous hydraulic fracturing of five Barnett Shale natural gas wells and the subsequent initial flowback period is one of the largest scale air testing projects of its kind. Modern Geosciences, a respected environmental testing […]

Alaska LNG: $60 billion project gets condition approval

Alaska LNG: $60 billion project gets condition approval

Alaska LNG production not expected for 10 years The Alaska LNG project, one of the largest in the world, cleared a major hurdle Thursday as the DOE granted it an export licence. The $50 billion project will export natural gas from Alaska’s massive North Slope resources to non-free trade countries like Japan, China, India and Taiwan. Approval for […]

Baker Hughes rig count: Texas down 4, USA down 10 to 875

Baker Hughes rig count: Texas down 4, USA down 10 to 875

Baker Hughes rig count up in Colorado, Oklahoma, Alaska, New Mexico Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. declined by 10 this week to 875. Houston-based Baker Hughes said Friday 646 rigs were seeking oil and 225 explored for natural gas. Four […]

Plains All American pipeline leak response scrutinized

Plains All American pipeline leak response scrutinized

Critics say Plains All American leak response was inadequate Firefighters, emergency workers and officials from Plains All American Pipeline had gathered last week at a fire station preparing to train for the worst – an oil spill – when a 911 call came in reporting a noxious smell in the air at a nearby beach. The Santa […]

American coal facing tough competition from shale natural gas

American coal facing tough competition from shale natural gas

American coal companies partly blame Environmental Protection Agency for their woes American coal producers expect declining production and plenty of job losses as their product is battered by the shale revolution in states like Texas, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. West Virginia University researchers predict that state coal production will drop 39 per cent compared with the industry’s last […]

EPA proposes lowering requirements for ethanol in American gas

EPA proposes lowering requirements for ethanol in American gas

Ethanol supporters accuse EPA of selling out to oil companies The nation’s gasoline supply likely will have more ethanol in coming years – but not as much as was required by federal law. The Obama administration’s proposed renewable fuel standard won’t have much of an impact on gas prices, but could become an issue in the […]

Renewable energy revolution? More like a crawl

Renewable energy revolution? More like a crawl

Energy transitions are slow and create own technical, economic and social challenges America in 2015 finds itself almost in a new energy reality. It recently became the world’s second–largest extractor of crude oil, and since 2010 has been the leading producer of natural gas, whose abundant and inexpensive supply has been accelerating the retreat from coal as a national source of electric power.  Some see this as […]

Natural gas revolution sparks rapid American industrial consumption

Natural gas revolution sparks rapid American industrial consumption

Industrial use of natural gas use feedstock growing by 3% annually Thanks to the shale revolution, cheap natural gas is igniting an explosive growth in American industry, which is the fastest growing consumer of natural gas, according to the US Energy Information Administration. A large portion of both consumption and anticipated growth is in the […]