Today's Consumer Energy Alliance Energy News Clips:

EnergyWire: EPA plan gives no credit for Southern states' strides, utility regulators say in Atlanta

Eliminating coal-fired power plants in Alabama and the South will be devastating to thousands of middle-class working families, mostly union members who mine coal, truckers and railroad workers who haul coal, farmers, electricians and laborers. … These are solid, middle-class jobs in the poverty-ridden South," said Al Henley, president of the Alabama AFL-CIO, speaking at a Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) press conference.

 

Denver Business Journal: Denver EPA hearing on carbon cuts draws big crowds, strong stand

Colorado groups on hand for the hearing, such as the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), voiced similar concerns. “If enacted, EPA’s proposed rules would significantly squeeze the nation’s energy infrastructure, cause substantial reliability concerns and ensure higher electricity prices across the board,” said the CEA in a statement.

 

Beaver County Times: Public relations war begins as emissions hearings approach

With public hearings on proposed federal rules limiting carbon emissions from power plants starting this week, including two in Pittsburgh, both sides on the issue are locked in a pre-emptive public relations war to galvanize support

 

KRAI: Ray Beck to Speak at Energy Press Conference

Craig City Councilor and Club 20 member Ray Beck will speak at a press conference this morning at 9 in Denver.  Beck’s appearance is in relation to the EPA hearings going on in Denver today and tomorrow.  Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), an advocate for energy consumers, will host a press conference with key consumer groups, labor, businesses and public officials to highlight reliability concerns and higher electricity prices stemming from the EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan Rules. 

 

KTEK – Houston: Price of Business

 

Capitol Soup: ICYMI: CEA Statement at the EPA Hearing Today on Proposed Rule on Carbon Emissions

Access to affordable energy is of utmost importance to our members, because every dollar spent on energy is a dollar that cannot be spent on capital investments, payroll, savings, groceries, or next year’s family vacation. In order to create economic growth, it is important for the government to implement policies that will ensure affordable, reliable energy supplies to America’s families, farms, factories and small businesses.

 

Wall Street Journal: Energy Regulators Say EPA's Climate Rule Poses Challenges

Companies will likely seek out natural gas and to a lesser extent renewable energy and nuclear power as ways to comply, along with energy-efficiency measures. Propelled by the shale natural-gas boom and other environmental rules, this transition is already underway. "I think the biggest driver of change is the domestic abundance of natural gas," said FERC Acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur.

 

Associated Press: EPA hears praise, criticism of new air rules

To retired coal miner Stanley Sturgill, the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rules limiting pollution from power plants doesn’t do enough to protect the public’s health. Sturgill, a retired coal miner from Harlan County, Kentucky, who traveled to a public hearing about the rules Tuesday in Denver, told the EPA that coal-fired plants are crippling his health and that of the public. Sturgill said he suffers from black lung and other respiratory diseases.

 

Fox Business: Advocates line up to cheer or jeer new EPA power plant pollution rules at Denver hearing

Hundreds of people will tell the Environmental Protection Agency what they think of proposed rules to cut pollution from power plants during public hearings Tuesday and Wednesday in Denver. With just five minutes each to make their case to the EPA, opponents and supporters also are staging rallies around the city.

 

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: EPA regulation hearings draw interest groups to Pittsburgh

Hundreds of people from environmental organizations and the coal and electric power industries are scheduled to testify at federal hearings in Pittsburgh on Thursday and Friday about controversial proposed regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions from coal-burning power plants.

 

The Christian Science Monitor: White House climate change report: Act now, or pay later (+video)

The longer the world waits to act on climate change, the more costly it will be to rein in the environmental impacts of releasing heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. That's the conclusion of a White House report on climate change released Tuesday.

 

USA Today: Build more oil pipelines: Our view

The recent boom in U.S. oil production has always come with an asterisk: The nation now has more crude than it can move through existing pipelines, which don't yet connect refineries with oil from non-traditional oil-producing areas such as North Dakota. There's no way to move much of the oil except by train.

 

Post Bulletin: Our view: As oil trains increase, so must oversight

The disclosure that each week about 50 trains are carrying crude oil from North Dakota through Minnesota adds much-needed context to a public safety issue. Under pressure from news organizations, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety released the train traffic summaries that the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railways and the Canadian Pacific Railroad had asked state officials to keep private.

 

The Hill: House passes bill to amend Endangered Species Act

The House passed legislation Tuesday that would modify the Endangered Species Act. Passed 233-190, the bill would require federal agencies to publish data they use to determine whether a species should be designated as "endangered" or merely "threatened."

 

Washington Examiner: 20 congressmen who vote against energy jobs in their districts

If not for the current boom in oil and gas exploration, the U.S. could be in the middle of a second Great Depression. Fortunately, the industry is probably enjoying its greatest influence in the West, as well as Texas and North Dakota. But the members of Congress who represent large oil and gas communities are not necessarily all friendly to the cause.

 

Sacramento Bee: Ban on hydraulic fracturing would cost jobs

When it comes to oil regulation, California’s rules are the toughest in the nation. One would think that these stringent protections, adopted last year by the Legislature and governor under Senate Bill 4, would be a cause for celebration among the environmental community. But instead of claiming victory, extremists are pushing for energy bans that would make our state more dependent on costly imported oil.

 

Citizen Tribune: Keystone XL pipeline vs. ocean drilling

The Obama administration won’t allow construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the United States, citing environmental concerns. But it is willing to allow ocean drilling off the Atlantic coast – a risk to the environment and to the economic well-being of states like South Carolina that depend on coastal tourism. Indeed, the administration is willing to let the anticipated Atlantic oil boom start off with a bang. Exploratory work preparatory to sinking offshore wells will be done with sonic cannons, which help determine where oil might be located.

 

WNCN: Lawmakers hope rules ease concerns in NC

When it comes to energy, natural gas is on fire. The United States is now producing more natural gas than any other country on the planet. Part of the reason the U.S. is producing so much natural gas is hydraulic fracturing.

 

Bismarck Tribune: Technically recoverable oil in Monterey downgraded

A May 2014 report by the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) has dealt a serious blow to the long-term growth of California's oil and natural gas industry. Based on new resource evaluations, EIA has severely downgraded recoverable reserve estimates in the state's Monterey shale formation, which was earlier thought to contain more oil than any other American unit.

 

Pittsburgh Business Time: Marcellus companies look to hire 2K employees this year

Marcellus Shale Coalition member companies expect to hire more than 2,000 people this year, according to results of the organization’s annual year-end workforce survey.

 

Patriot-News: Federal report says better oversight needed

The Environmental Protection Agency needs to ramp up its review of the effect fluid injection into wells in the oil and gas industry has on underground drinking water sources, says a report issued by the Government Accounting Office.

 

Canton Repository: Conventional drillers feel the shale squeeze

Ohio’s shale-drilling boom and the surge in natural gas production are putting pressure on conventional drillers, who are confronted by rising costs, increased scrutiny and low natural gas prices. Last year, the state’s 352 horizontal shale wells produced more natural gas than approximately 51,000 conventional wells.

 

San Antonio Business Journal: Oil production was up substantially in these two formations last month

Oil production from Texas and North Dakota shale formations — including the Eagle Ford Shale near San Antonio — increased by more than 33 percent in June, according to Bentek Energy, an analytics and forecasting division of industrial information firm Platts.

 

Dallas Morning News: Texas drilling slips in June, production continues to rise

New data released by the Texas Railroad Commission shows oil drilling fell in June from a year ago. The state’s oil and gas regulator reported that 1,739 oil wells were drilled in June, a 5 percent drop. The decline, while modest, stands in stark contrast to statistics that have been on a steady rise in recent years.

 

Texas Tribune: Texas A&M Group Offers Help With Shale Concerns

The Texas A&M Water Conservation and Technology Center is offering help as a neutral go-between to address water concerns in the Eagle Ford Shale formation. According to a spokesman for the center, there is a lack of communication between communities in the Eagle Ford region and the oil companies whose activities may be affecting the area's water supplies. 

 

WFSB: Debate over seismic testing off NC coast on the horizon

A plan by the federal government could change the landscape of the North Carolina coast. While millions of people flock to our beaches each year, the Obama administration has approved the use of seismic testing to conduct research on the ocean floor along most of the East Coast, including here in North Carolina.