Biden administration finalizes the solar lands plan and touts progress
The administration of U.S. president Joe Biden announced on Thursday that it had finalized plans to expand solar power on federal lands across 11 western states. This is part of an overall push to accelerate the permitting and construction process for large infrastructure projects. The White House is looking to speed up the approval of projects ranging in scope from wind and solar farms to power transmission as part of its efforts to combat climate change and decarbonize the energy sector. It also wants to promote the "Investing in America' agenda in advance of the November election. The U.S.
US Grants Royalty Relief to Hard-hit Drillers
The Trump administration has granted royalty relief to several drilling companies producing oil and gas on federal lands in recent weeks, according to a government database, as the industry seeks help weathering low energy prices.The move shows drillers are taking the government up on its offer to consider royalty cuts on a case-by-case basis after the Interior Department rejected industry calls for blanket relief covering all federal leases.The U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved royalty rate cuts on at least 76 federal drilling leases in the state of Utah in recent weeks, according to the database.
Drilling Ban Proposals Divide Democrats
In the southeast corner of New Mexico, new houses, hotels and jobs are sprouting like flowers in the desert. Trucks hauling equipment and laborers jam once-barren highways on the way to thousands of oil rigs.The Democrats who control the state's government have lofty plans for the billions of dollars in projected tax revenues from the drilling industry in the Permian Basin, the world’s biggest oil field, starting with an overhaul of New Mexico's ailing public education system. The biggest threat to those plans…
US Working on Arctic Oil Leases Despite Shutdown
Even as a partial shutdown halts the functions of many U.S. government departments, forcing the Department of the Interior to close national parks, the Trump administration is continuing to push for the expansion of oil drilling on sensitive, federally owned lands in Arctic Alaska.The Alaska Bureau of Land Management (BLM), part of the Interior Department, was scheduled to hold a meeting on Wednesday night in Wainwright, an Inupiat village on the Arctic coast, over a plan to expand oil development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
US Could Unwind Wind, Solar Restrictions on Federal Lands
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is considering changes to a plan that set aside areas for renewable energy development in the California desert, a move it says would promote more wind and solar projects on federal lands. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, in a statement on Thursday, said it would consider amending the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan as part of a broader federal effort to unwind regulations that impede energy development. The process is also aimed at making more land available for wireless broadband infrastructure…
Reassessing Alaska's Energy Frontier
Less than 80 miles from Prudhoe Bay, home to the giant oil fields that feed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, lies the site of USGS’ latest oil and gas assessment: the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and adjacent areas. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the NPR-A covers 22.8 million acres, more than the entire state of South Carolina. The new USGS assessment estimates 8.7 billion barrels of oil and 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas resources. This is a more than sixfold increase from the previous USGS estimates in the region, which include parts of the 2005 Central North Slope assessment and the 2010 NPR-A assessment.
Alaskan Lease Sale Draws Tepid Response
An oil-and-gas lease sale that raised concerns with environmentalists due to the vast amount of acres offered in Arctic Alaska drew few bids on Wednesday, government officials said. Seven bids were received, covering about 80,000 acres - or less than 1 percent of the 10.3 million acres offered in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska by the Trump administration. It was, by far, more territory than ever offered in any of the previous 12 NPR-A lease sales held since 1999. The sale was the latest move by the administration of President Donald Trump…
US Senate Pushes Alaska Wildlife Refuge, But Drillers Look Elsewhere
Even as the U.S. Senate moves to allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the real action is 150 miles (241 km) west, where industry proponents hope a coming sale of 10 million acres of land will revitalize the state's sagging crude production. The Trump administration, through the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, will auction off 10 million acres on Wednesday in the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A), a hotbed of oil exploration and development in the western part of Alaska's North Slope. The planned sale has encouraged the oil industry while angering environmental groups.
US to Speed Approval for O&G Exploration on Federal Land
U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday signed an order to hold more lease sales and to speed up approving permits to explore for oil and gas on federal land, a process he said got bogged down under former President Barack Obama. The order is the latest move by the administration of President Donald Trump to make it easier to drill and mine on federal land, which Zinke said is a source of income for the government. The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management is supposed to take 30 days to review applications for permits to drill but Zinke said the average time for processing in 2016 was 257 days.
Conservationists Sue to Halt Fracking in Ohio National Forest
Four conservation groups on Tuesday sued the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in an attempt to halt fracking plans in a portion of Ohio's only national forest. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Columbus, argues that the federal agencies failed to sufficiently analyze risks to watersheds, public health, climate and endangered species including Indiana bats, before auctioning 670 acres (270 hectares) in December of the Wayne National Forest in southeast Ohio for eventual hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of underground shale.
U.S. to Review Energy Royalty Rates
The U.S. Interior Department said on Wednesday that it would form a new committee to review royalty rates collected from oil and gas drilling, coal mining and renewable energy production on federal lands to ensure taxpayers receive their full value. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said the committee would advise him on whether the government is getting a fair price from companies that lease public land for energy and natural resource development. The committee will replace the process put in place by former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to review and overhaul the federal coal leasing program.
Trump Signs Order Sweeping away Obama-era Climate Policies
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to undo a slew of Obama-era climate change regulations that his administration says is hobbling oil drillers and coal miners, a move environmental groups have vowed to take to court. The decree's main target is former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan that required states to slash carbon emissions from power plants - a critical element in helping the United States meet its commitments to a global climate change accord reached by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015.
Trump to Reverse Many Obama-era Climate Policies
U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday to undo a slew of Obama-era climate change regulations, a move meant to bolster domestic energy production and create jobs, but environmentalists say the order is dangerous and vow to challenge it in court. The decree's main target is former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, requiring states to slash carbon emissions from power plants - a critical element in helping the United States meet its commitments to a global climate change accord reached by nearly 200 countries in Paris in December 2015.
California Wind Demand Energizes Transmission Firms
A firm controlled by Philip Anschutz, the billionaire entertainment and pro sports magnate, will soon build the largest wind farm in the United States to serve utilities in California, where officials have set ambitious green power goals. The $5 billion project, however, will be constructed 700 miles away in Wyoming, a state better known for coal mines and oil fields. The vast distance between the two states provides a different Anschutz-owned firm with another big opportunity: a $3 billion project building transmission lines to deliver the power - one of a dozen similar power-line projects by other companies across the West.
US Interior Department Outlines Federal Coal Reforms
The U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday recommended federal coal leasing reforms to ensure taxpayers receive the fair value of the fuel and account for its impact on climate change, but the incoming administration could derail those measures. The department's Bureau of Land Management released the findings from its first study of the federal coal program in three decades. The report comes a year after Interior Secretary Sally Jewell halted new federal coal leases while the agency conducted the review. That freeze in new coal leases will continue.
Trump Calls for More Drilling in National Parks
President-elect Donald Trump aims to open up federal lands to more energy development, tapping into a long-running and contentious debate over how best to manage America's remaining wilderness. The U.S. government holds title to about 500 million acres of land across the country, including national parks and forests, wildlife refuges and tribal territories stretching from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico. They overlay billions of barrels of oil and vast quantities of natural gas, coal, and uranium. With Trump poised to take office on Jan.
US Completes Rule to Curb Methane from Federal O&G Production
The U.S. Interior Department finalized rules on Tuesday aimed at preventing methane leaks from oil and gas production on federal and tribal lands, one of the last major Obama administration rules aimed at fighting climate change. Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) said on Tuesday the rule, updating 30-year-old regulations that govern flaring, venting and natural gas leaks from oil and gas production, could avoid wasting up to 41 billion cubic feet (BCF) of natural gas per year. "This rule to prevent waste of our nation's natural gas supplies is good government, plain and simple," said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.
NOIA’s Luthi Testifies at House Natural Resources Subcommittee Hearing
NOIA President Randall Luthi released the following statement after providing testimony today before the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources on H.R. “NOIA applauds Congressman Graves and Ranking Member Lowenthal for their bipartisan sponsorship of the Innovation in Offshore Leasing Act and thanks the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee for holding today’s hearing. “Offshore energy development is a vital part of the U.S. economy, providing jobs, energy security and much needed government revenue.
U.S. Court Sets Aside Obama Administration Fracking Rules for Public Lands
A federal judge in Wyoming has set aside new regulations for hydraulic fracturing on public lands that were vehemently opposed by oil and gas producers. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management lacked Congressional authority to set the rules that cover the practice on federal and Indian lands, U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl in Wyoming ruled on Tuesday. Skavdahl had put the rules, which were issued in their final form in March 2015, on hold a year ago to weigh requests from energy industry groups and several states to stop them from being implemented.
Obama Delays US Oil Lease Sale
The Obama administration on Monday said it has postponed an oil and gas lease sale for lands in Michigan and Arkansas that environmental groups had planned to target this week. The sale, originally scheduled to take place in Washington on Thursday, will now occur on March 17 to combine it with a quarterly sale, said the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM. Environmental groups, including 350.org and Greenpeace, that combined to fight the Keystone XL pipeline were emboldened by President Barack Obama's rejection of the Keystone project last month.
