8-25-13

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (NGP Photo) will visit King Cove, Alaska this week to look at a congressionally approved land exchange that would provide the population of a thriving fishing community life-saving access to an all-weather airport in neighboring Cold Bay. Unfortunately, when the federal government created the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge 53 years ago, it cut off the traditional land route between the Aleut community of King Cove and the old World War II outpost of Cold Bay. The people of King Cove were never consulted.  For more information: Laura Tanis, spokeswoman for King Cove, (907) 947-5778, ltanis@aeboro.org

WASHINGTON, D.C.– The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) signed a Memorandum of Collaboration last week, "to coordinate the ongoing efforts of the two agencies on offshore research and technological improvement projects." 

“This Memorandum of Collaboration formalizes the interaction between our two agencies, and will help ensure that research and development executed by the Department of Energy is directly relevant to BSEE’s regulatory challenges.” said DOE Assistant Secretary Christopher Smith (NGP Photo). “This is research that makes offshore oil and gas operations safer and environmentally sustainable while promoting our Nation’s energy security.”  “This Memorandum of Collaboration will ensure that the ongoing activities of our two agencies will continue to be appropriately coordinated,” said BSEE Director James Watson.

Cook Inlet Natural Gas Shortage Turns Into Surplus, an ADN commentary by Tim Bradner (NGP Photo).  This turnaround happened so fast that at least one of the explorers, Buccaneer Energy, is worried about finding enough customers for its newly-discovered gas. A competitor, Hilcorp Energy, has also developed new gas and signed up to meet local utility needs into early 2018, beating out explorers like Buccaneer.

The Guardian by Daniel Kenealy.  A former Republican mayor of Valdez (Bill Walker, NGP Photo-L) and an incumbent Democratic state senator (Bill Wielechowski, NGP Photo) are considering joining forces to run for Governor and Lt Governor, respectively. Their mission: to defeat incumbent Governor Sean Parnell, who ascended to the governor's mansion following Palin's memorable, ahem, resignation in 2009 (to be fair, he was elected in his own right in November 2010).

Mining and oil development featured in Inuit Circumpolar Conference Dialogue.  Arctic Sounder by Carey Restino.  Among the other topics covered by the council at its Kotzebue meeting were issues of indigenous global sovereignty, said Aqqaluk Lynge of Greenland, the council's chair. With an upcoming United Nations meeting on the horizon, the council met to formulate its stance on issues that were likely to come before the UN. Arctic Council issues were at the forefront of the conversation, too, with shipping safety and environmental issues raised by increased vessel traffic through the Arctic of particular importance to the group. The group supported a recent disaster declaration for the St. Lawrence walrus harvest, which was the lowest in memory.  Lynge said last Wednesday that Kotzebue's hospitality was generous and the meetings productive. He was looking forward to a tour of the Red Dog Mine last week, saying it would be particularly interesting given the interest in development that is presenting itself in Greenland.   …   Lynge said in Greenland, large scale mining and oil development are being pursued, and given the country's small population base, the importance of developing those resources in a safe and beneficial way is critical. 

TODAY'S Energy In Depth Fracking Links:

• EID-National: How anti-fracking activists deny the science surrounding well integrity (8/23)
• EID-Texas: Dallas hearing showcases gap between the facts and anti-HF talking points (8/23)
• EID-Michigan: Judge dismisses phony lawsuit headed by anti-HF activist (8/23)

NATIONAL

New York's choice is a natural one. Albany Times Union, Cornell’s Larry Cathles. Amazingly, methane emissions — another greenhouse gas linked to climate change — from natural gas production have also dropped sharply. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, methane emissions held steady at roughly 2.5 percent of natural gas production from 1990 to 2007, but from 2007 to 2011 they declined to 1.7 percent. Any leakage below 3 percent means swapping gas for coal in electricity generation delivers a net climate benefit.
 
HF arguments were built on false research. Michigan Live, EID’s John Simaz. In the more than 60 years of vertical and horizontal hydraulic fracturing, there has not been one single case of drinking water contamination due to the fracturing process. Not one. Accusations? Yes. Rumors? Yes. Headline-grabbing stories? Yes. Proven cases? Not one.

Shale drilling bringing sales tax boost to eastern Ohio, but not many jobs. Columbus Business First. “The industry is still waiting on midstream infrastructure like pipelines and processing plants to be built out,”  said Shawn Bennett of Energy In Depth. “This is slowing development and thus slowing job creation. Once the bottleneck opens up, we will see more jobs created in the shale developing region.” Bennett also pointed out everybody also needs to look at jobs saved because of shale gas activity. Eastern Ohio is seeing job growth due to shale development, he said, while unemployment is up in non-shale regions of the state.

 
HF Debate Divides New York. Wall Street Journal. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s deliberative approach on hydraulic fracturing, even as neighboring Pennsylvania and other states have quickly adopted such drilling for natural gas, has drawn praise from environmentalists and some communities that oppose fracking. But it has frustrated many upstate New York residents and local officials, who have embraced fracking as a source of energy-industry jobs in a region suffering from population and employment losses.

Oil companies & environmentalists ask for changes in feds' fracturing rule. Houston Chronicle. Oil companies, environmentalists, hunters and state regulators are weighing in on new federal mandates proposed for hydraulic fracturing and drilling on public lands. Today is the deadline for commenting on the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed rule, and submissions were still streaming in this morning.
 
Domestic natural gas: From boom to overkill. USA TODAY. During President Obama's tenure in the White House, soaring production of natural gas from horizontal drilling and fracking has pushed supplies to record highs for many years. The boom in domestic production of both oil and natural gas even provided the United States with 84% of its energy requirements last year, the highest annual level since 1991.
 
Penn. fracturing health project puts numbers to debate. Associated Press. A project examining the local health impacts from natural gas drilling is providing some of the first preliminary numbers about people who may be affected, and the results challenge the industry position that no one suffers but also suggest the problems may not be as widespread as some critics claim. Patrick Creighton, a spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an energy industry group, said, “Air quality across our region, and the nation, is sharply improving thanks to expanded natural gas use.”
 
INTERNATIONAL

HF, a golden opportunity. The Independent, LTE. Fracking for shale gas has  the potential to help this country in so many ways that it is hard to comprehend why people are protesting against its extraction and not celebrating a golden opportunity for energy users.
 
The anger over HF is real: but the truth is, we can't manage without gas. The Guardian. It is easy to sympathise with the Balcombe protesters. But the hard reality is that local shale fuels, if they can be extracted safely, are better for the environment than imported ones.
 
CALIFORNIA
 
The need to regulate hydraulic fracturing. Santa Maria Times, LTE. Fracking has been done in the past but the nature of the operation has changed in recent years, and the number of wells could soon skyrocket.
 
Allow fracking, but also work to protect California's water. Bakersfield Californian, Editorial. Pavley's bill is a good starting point. Additional rules are being drafted by the California Department of Conservation's Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources. Allow fracking, but also protect California's water.
 
Environmentalists balk at Calif. anti-HF bill. Daily Caller. The Sierra Club and other environmental groups are bashing an attempt by California Democrats to impose more regulations on hydraulic fracturing, arguing the proposed legislation does not go far enough.
 
COLORADO
 
The global impact of US oil and gas development. Denver Post, Op-Ed. Speaking recently about the potential of U.S. gas exports, David L. Goldwyn, former U.S. State Department special envoy for energy, put it this way: "Lower prices, lower emissions