Juneau Empire/AP by Mark Thiessen.  The federal government began the review process Friday on Royal Dutch Shell’s plans to continue a drilling program it halted in 2012 in Arctic waters off Alaska’s northern shore.


Today's relevant energy links from Consumer Energy Alliance: 

Jack Belcher, OCS, East Coast, Consumer Energy Alliance, Dave Harbour PhotoCarteret County News-TimesHearing focuses on seismic testing (working story) The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources has heard from a variety of people on proposals to conduct seismic surveys off the coast of North Carolina. Seismic surveys are a method of searching for offshore oil and gas deposits. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has received applications from four companies to conduct surveys off North Carolina.  …    Jack Belcher (NGP Photo) of the Consumer Energy Alliance also supported the surveys. He said he thinks it only makes sense to know what energy resources are off the coast.  “Sound energy policy needs to be made with good data,” he said, “and to get that we need to survey.” 

Wall Street JournalNew U.S. Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling Rules Seen Imminent
The Obama administration is expected to propose in the coming days an offshore oil and natural gas drilling regulation aimed at preventing the kind of explosion that erupted five years ago on BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig, killing 11 people and causing the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
 
The New York TimesNew Sea Drilling Rule Planned, 5 Years after BP Oil Spill
The Obama administration is planning to impose a major new regulation on offshore oil and gas drilling to try to prevent the kind of explosions that caused the catastrophic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, administration officials said Friday.
 
The Washington PostGreenpeace group leaves Arctic drill rig after six-day stay
Six Greenpeace activists opposed to offshore drilling in the Arctic have abandoned a Seattle-bound drill rig they boarded in the Pacific Ocean six days ago, the organization said Saturday. Rough seas prompted the decision, Greenpeace said in an email. The protesters rappelled off the rig and got into inflatable boats before returning to a Greenpeace ship stationed nearby.
 
Associated PressRough seas force Greenpeace activists to abandon Arctic drill rig after 6 days
Six Greenpeace activists opposed to offshore drilling in the Arctic have abandoned a Seattle-bound drill rig they boarded in the Pacific Ocean six days ago, the group saidSaturday. Rough seas prompted the decision, Greenpeace said in an email. The protesters rappelled off the rig and got into inflatable boats before returning to a Greenpeace ship stationed nearby.

FuelFixFeds launch review of Shell’s Arctic drilling plan
The Obama administration on Friday launched a formal, 30-day review of Shell’s broad plan for boring up to six exploratory oil wells in Arctic waters near Alaska, even as the company moves drilling rigs and equipment to the area.

Washington ExaminerObama climate agenda faces first big test
President Obama's legacy climate agenda faces its first major challenge next week as over a dozen states have their day in court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral arguments April 16 from states and industry contesting the Environmental Protection Agency's emission rules for power plants. The rules are at the center of the president's legacy agenda for battling the threat of global warming.

ForbesStates Ignoring Mitch McConnell, Working On Clean Power Plan: EPA
Last month Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged states to ignore the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, but the states are ignoring McConnell and working toward compliance, EPA Admninistrator Gina McCarthy saidFriday at the University of Chicago.

The Arizona RepublicEPA regulations good for economy? Bah!
Will it be good for Arizona's economy if (and/or when) the Environmental Protection Agency takes control of the state's energy production? To some of us, it's silly to even bother asking such a question. The EPA intends to force clean-air regulations on Arizona power plants intended to reduce carbon emissions by 52 percent within 15 years. The regulations would shut down coal-fired plants, which produce by far the highest percentage of Arizona's energy.

The HillAnti-fracking groups send a letter to Clinton
More than 100 environmental groups are pressuring former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to oppose hydraulic fracturing, days before her expected presidential campaign announcement. The coalition of mostly local anti-fracking groups noted that New York, the likely host to her campaign and the state she represented in the Senate for eight years, banned fracking in December.
 
NPRIn Pennsylvania, Employment Booms amid Oil and Natural Gas Bust
Lower oil and natural gas prices have the petroleum industry laying off tens of thousands of workers. It looks like a decade-long trend of job growth in the U.S. oil business may end. But there are parts of the country where those job numbers are still rising. Pennsylvania is one of them. Randy Stroup sees evidence of that where he lives in Williamsport, Pa. "You can drive down the road and see the amount of oil and gas trucks with their names on the side," he says.
 
Public Radio InternationalFracking is about to change, and almost no one is happy about it
The Obama administration recently announced new rules to regulate fracking. But no one, it seems, is entirely happy with them. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of drilling and injecting fluids into the ground at high pressure to break up shale rock formations and release natural gas that's trapped inside. The practice has helped make the United States the world’s top producer of oil and gas, and has spurred an economic boom in places like North Dakota.
 
Times RecordForestry Association OK with ‘Threatened’ Bat Status
The Arkansas Forestry Association says it can live with a recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to list the northern long-eared bat as a threatened species while allowing most forest management practices to continue unabated.
 
Arkansas Democrat-GazetteTanks full of oil, U.S. refineries to pump out cheap summer gas
The United States has so much excess oil — a product of booming production from the nation's shale formations — that it is running out of places to store it. But before storage tanks begin to spill over, relief is on the way as refiners are set to churn out record amounts of gasoline this year, turning the oil surplus into a gasoline glut.
 
24/7 Wall StreetLow Crude Oil Prices Leave Thousands of US Wells Uncompleted
There are roughly 2,500 to 3,500 drilled but uncompleted oil wells in the United States, according to analysts at IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS). As many as 1,400 of those wells are located in the Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas.
 
Fort Worth Star-TelegramCities concerned about state urban-drilling bill
Senior gas well inspector Tom Edwards weaves his van through the tight spaces of the drilling site, keeping a close eye on the tangle of pipes, hoses and valves pushing water, sand and chemicals deep into the ground to break up the tough shale rock below.
 
San Antonio Express-NewsPipeline bound for pristine Big Bend
In the wide-open Big Bend, where private property rights are sacrosanct and a “no trespassing” sign means just that, unwelcome interlopers, from nosy environmentalists to federal employees, always have been quickly sent packing. Thus, the news that a couple of billionaire businessmen intend to run a large natural gas pipeline through 143 miles of mostly private ranch land to the Mexican border has folks here in shock.
 
Midland Reporter-TelegramBig Bend pipeline proposal has residents riled up
In the wide-open Big Bend, where private property rights are sacrosanct and a “no trespassing” sign means just that, unwelcome interlopers, from nosy environmentalists to federal employees, always have been quickly sent packing. Thus, the news that a couple of billionaire businessmen intend to run a large natural gas pipeline through 143 miles of mostly private ranch land to the Mexican border has folks here in shock.
 
The Denver PostColorado's big coal-burning utilities take a turn to renewable energy
Most of the electricity produced in Colorado still comes from burning coal, but even the state's two largest coal burners are adding more renewable energy. The Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and Platte River Power Authority each recently announced plans for new renewable energy sources.
 
ColoradoanAnalysis: What's in Larimer County fracking fluid
More than 100 different ingredients have been used at 30 hydraulic fracturing sites in Larimer County since 2012. Missing from 80 percent of those jobs was an oft-cited cause for health and safety concerns: benzene, a known carcinogenic.
 
Casper Star-TribuneMead: Federal fracking rule is wrong approach
Wyoming has a proud history of leading the nation with responsible natural resource development. We have a state energy strategy that balances energy production and conservation. We support advanced energy research at UW’s School of Energy Resources and conservation projects through the Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust Fund.
 
The Detroit NewsFracking opponents try again
The wheels begin to turn in earnest next week on efforts to bring a ban on hydraulic fracturing before Michigan voters in 2016. When Michigan's Board of State Canvassers meets Tuesday, the four-member panel will review forms for the collection of signatures to initiate legislation.
 
Crain’s Detroit BusinessGroup seeks to put fracking ban on November 2016 ballot
A Michigan group is seeking to put a ban on horizontal hydraulic fracturing up for a statewide vote in November 2016. Secretary of State spokesman Fred Woodhams saysFriday that petition language will be discussed Tuesday at a Board of State Canvassers meeting.
 
Associated PressUtica shale gas to fuel new eastern Ohio power plant
A Swiss company says it's planning to use natural gas from the Utica shale formation to fuel an $899 million power plant that will be built in eastern Ohio's Carroll County.
 
Baltimore SunLegislature sends fracking ban to Hogan
Maryland lawmakers on Friday voted to send Gov. Larry Hogan a two-year ban on the natural gas extraction process known as fracking. The action marks the first time the legislature voted for a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing and its most decisive statement yet on curbing the controversial practice.
 
The Patriot-NewsCourt blocks environmental group's plea for radioactivity data on Marcellus Shale drilling
An environmental group can't have access to raw data collected during a state probe into potential exposure to radioactivity from Marcellus Shale gas and oil drilling operations, a Commonwealth Court panel ruled Friday.
 
Pennsylvania Business Daily: Marcellus Shale Coalition reports record base of natural gas
Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) President David Spigelmyer said Wednesday the Potential Gas Committee’s most recent assessment shows the U.S. had access to a recoverable resource base of 2,515 trillion cubic feet of natural gas at the end of 2014.
 
State JournalMarcellus tops U.S. gas fields reserves list
The Marcellus Shale area in West Virginia and Pennsylvania has been ranked first in the U.S. Energy Information Administration's top 100 U.S. gas fields list for 2013. The EIA called the addition of the Marcellus Shale to the top 100 “notable,” as the last time the data was updated, in 2009, the relatively young Marcellus region wasn't even part of the top 100.
 
Wheeling IntelligencerMarkWest Growing In Spite Of Market
Even faced with lower oil and natural gas prices, Marcellus and Utica shale processors continue building billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure throughout the Upper Ohio Valley.
 
The Charleston GazetteTest well in Putnam County leads to gas speculation
As gas companies continue to develop the Marcellus Shale in Northern West Virginia, recent gas exploration in Putnam County and Eastern Kentucky have people speculating about the possibility of a future gas boom in the southwest part of the state.
 
Breaking EnergyDon’t Blame Fracking for California’s Water Woes
It’s inevitable. In comments to nearly every story about California’s drought, someone will rage that if Gov. Jerry Brown really wanted to do something to save water, he’d put an end to fracking in the state.
 
NewsmaxNY Post: State Killing Job Opportunities by Rejecting Fracking
The Start-Up NY program, created to promote the state and its opportunities, has already spent $28 million, but only attracted 76 new jobs, a New York Post op-ed saysSunday, for a tally of $368,000 per job, but when it comes to the fracking industry, the state's government wants no part.