Today's relevant energy links from Consumer Energy Alliance:
 Dave, I’ve been meaning to tell you for a long time that your website is a great source of information on what is happening in the industry in our part of the world. – Tom Brennan (NGP Photo, autographing his book, Snowflake Rebellion) |
Bloomberg Business: New Yorkers Reap Lower Power Bills From Shale Gas Bonanza
The shale boom has reached the Big Apple. Wholesale on-peak electricity prices for Manhattan and its four neighboring boroughs averaged $40.99 a megawatt-hour since the start of July through Sept. 11. They’re headed for a record third-quarter low, based on Independent System Operator Inc. data going back to 2006.
NBC News: Meltdown: Where Is the U.S. in the Race for the Arctic?
In the vast Arctic, melting ice caused by global warming is bringing new opportunities, and new problems, to a region that could be the next front in a very cold war — a battle that some say America is losing to the Russians. It's the Coast Guard's job to navigate these turbulent waters — no easy task with an aging fleet stationed off the southern coast of Alaska and tight purse strings nearly 5,000 miles away in Washington, D.C.
Bloomberg: America's Shale Gas Supply Is Caught in its Longest-Ever Decline
America’s shale gas boom hasn’t exactly been booming lately. Natural gas production from the seven largest U.S. shale deposits will drop for a fourth straight month in October to average 44.784 billion cubic feet a day, the lowest since March, based on an Energy Information Administration forecast released Monday. That’s the longest streak of monthly declines in government data going back to 2007.
Bloomberg: U.S. natural gas glut could vanish in 2016, Bank of America says
The glut in U.S. natural gas could come to an end in 2016 as producers struggling with a sustained price slump cut back output. Total production in the lower 48 states may fall by 0.3 billion cubic feet a day compared with 2015, reversing the increase of 3.9 billion cubic feet a day seen in the past two years, Bank of America analysts including Sabine Schels and Francisco Blanch said in a note to clients Monday.
Fuel Fix: EIA: Shale output fell by 350,000 barrels a day since April
Oil production at four major U.S. shale plays is falling sharply. Government analysts say shale oil fields in Texas, Colorado, North Dakota and Ohio are set to decline by 80,000 barrels a day this month, bringing their combined daily output to 5.2 million barrels in October.
Associated Press: Republicans Oppose New Safety Rules on Offshore Drilling
Republican lawmakers on Tuesday criticized an Obama administration move to toughen standards for offshore drilling, saying the new rules would be costly for drillers and threaten to shut down oil and gas exploration off the nation's coasts.
Town Hall: 19 House Members Sponsor Articles of Impeachment against EPA Administrator
Nineteen members of the House of Representatives have co-sponsored articles of impeachment against Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy. According to the Dallas Morning News, the resolution accuses McCarthy of perjury and making false claims to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
Wall Street Journal: U.S., China Build on Plan to Cut Emissions
Next week, President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will add to earlier pledges to cut greenhouse-gas emissions with specific guidance on what the two countries will do at home to keep climate change at bay, officials said. The United States and China announced Tuesday that cities, states and provinces in both countries would commit to taking parallel steps to address climate change.
Washington Times: Obama set to push on with climate agenda
Despite bitter opposition in Congress, a series of legal setbacks and data showing its environmental regulations will drive up electricity rates, the Obama administration this week is moving full-speed ahead with its climate change agenda, prodding U.S. cities into new policies to reduce carbon emissions.
Washington Examiner: Republican governor faces pressure not to submit to Obama's climate plan
Free-market groups are putting pressure on Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to back down from his recent decision to comply with President Obama's strict new emission rules for power plants. Snyder made the decision Sept. 1, nearly a month after Obama finalized the rules, called the Clean Power Plan.
The Hill: Interior chief defends Obama against liberal fire
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell fought back on Tuesday against criticisms of her agency from environmentalists who say the fossil fuel production it allows goes against President Obama’s climate goals.
Washington Times: Obama announces new round of taxpayer money for solar power projects
The Obama administration on Wednesday announced $120 million in funding for solar power projects across the country, continuing its policy of using taxpayer dollars to fund the nation’s transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy.
Reuters: Water demand from fracking less than 1 percent of U.S. total: study
Fracking by the U.S. oil and gas industry has increased the burden on the nation's water resources, but still accounts for less than 1 percent of America's total industrial water use, according to a paper by researchers at Duke University published on Tuesday.
Wall Street Journal: Saudis Make Push for Nuclear Energy
While the world’s attention has focused on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, other players in the Middle East have been laying their own plans to develop nuclear power to meet future energy needs. Saudi Arabia, the most ambitious of the group, has announced plans to build 16 reactors over the next several decades, providing a projected 15% of the country’s electricity possibly as early as 2032, according to a Saudi government website.
Rigzone: Oil, Gas Works on Solution to Reduce Freshwater in Fracking
While the quantity of water used for hydraulic fracturing increases, essentially with each new well put into production, industry researchers are developing ways to diminish the quality of that water – eliminating freshwater from the solution.
Fuel Fix: House Majority Leader McCarthy announces vote to repeal crude export ban at GHP gathering
The U.S. House of Representatives will move a bill repealing the decades-old ban on exporting crude oil to a vote by the end of the month, the chamber’s majority leader announced in Houston on Tuesday. The vote is a victory for a coalition of Houston-based oil producers who have lobbied for the change since a glut of oil began flowing from U.S. shale.
San Antonio Express-News: Administration balks at GOP-led effort to lift oil export ban
The Obama administration signaled Tuesday that it would not back legislation to authorize widespread crude exports, as a Republican-led effort to lift decades-old restrictions on foreign oil sales gained steam on Capitol Hill.
Alaska Dispatch News: Activists target federal energy leases in climate change fight
President Barack Obama has been amping up his rhetoric about addressing climate change, but a coalition of environmental organizations released a letter on Mondaypushing his administration to do more.
Midland Reporter-Telegram: Congressman decries regulatory hurdles faced by energy industry
Permian Basin oil and gas operators working through the economic challenges presented by $45 crude oil prices are well aware of the other challenge they face. “This is the most unfriendly regulatory environment we’ve ever been in,” said Ben Shepperd, president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association.
Dallas Morning News: In U.S. shale fields, including in Texas, oil flow slows
The flow of crude from what had been the country’s fastest-growing oil and gas regions, like Texas’ Eagle Ford shale, is declining rapidly, according to data released by the federal government this week.
Midland Star-Telegram: Dramatic drop in Texas drilling permits continues
As if we needed another sign of the decline in oil drilling, the Texas Railroad Commission said Tuesday that it issued only 864 drilling permits in August, a 65 percent decrease from the same month last year. The August 2015 report shows that the agency processed 730 permits to drill new oil or natural gas wells, 14 to re-enter plugged well bores and 120 to re-complete existing wells.
Akron Beacon Journal: U.S. economy, auto sales boost growth in gasoline use
U.S. motor gasoline product supplied, a proxy for gasoline use in the United States, has been rising after reaching an 11-year low in 2012. Although lower gasoline prices have been an important factor in the increase in gasoline use so far in 2015, changes in the labor market and in the vehicle sales mix over the past few years also have contributed to the rise in gasoline use.
Columbus Dispatch: StatOil fined $223,000 over Ohio fracking-well fire
Ohio environmental regulators will fine an international oil and gas company about $223,000 for a blowout and fire last summer at a Monroe County fracking well that contaminated a nearby stream, killed fish for miles and forced about 25 people from their houses.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Amid trying times for industry, shale-gas conference returns
After shifting its annual conference to Western Pennsylvania last year, the shale-gas industry returns to Philadelphia on Wednesday for a two-day gathering amid an economic climate substantially subdued from the industry's early go-go years.
StateImpact Pennsylvania: Federal air rules force coal plants to clean up or shut down
John and Maureen Vilcek have lived exactly one mile from the coal-fired Homer City Generating Station in Indiana County, Pa. since the 1970s. They raised their children here, and hardly notice the constant rumble emanating from the plant up the road.
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