FEATURE ARTICLES

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Wyoming Rule Change Means Public Can View
Drilling Documents

While the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission doesn’t plan to make special efforts to compile and present the information to the public, agency officials say information relating to chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing will be readily available.

31Aug2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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State Seeks to Clarify Revised Oil & Gas
Leasing Process

While not required to hold a public hearing on the changes to the lease sale form, state officials hope the meeting will clarify ambiguity regarding bonding, royalties, valuation and other matters concerning the first revision of the state oil and gas lease form in 20 years.

30Aug2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Ruby Pipeline to Enhance Natural Gas Markets

Current legal proceedings notwithstanding, the pipeline will bring an additional capacity of 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day, and natural gas producers will, for a time, have more pipe than production, according to the Wyoming Pipeline Authority, when the line is completed next March.

27Aug2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Meetings to Focus on Effects of Southeast Wyoming Oil Boom

Presenters at the meetings will discuss the socio-economic challenges of an oil boom, such as heavy drilling and related activity that could occur well before the drilling would cause a surge in local tax revenue. The result would be strain on infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, and government, such as police and fire services.

23Aug2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Lack of Climate Bill Hinders Carbon Storage,
Fed Agencies Say

While the U.S. Department of Energy is funding 15 projects with the aim of safely and economically storing CO2 in geological formations, the lack of a climate bill is hindering any larger scale carbon storage, federal agencies said this week.

13Aug2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Rex Energy Starts Drilling Program
in Niobrara Shale

“This is the biggest play going on, I would presume, in the Rocky Mountains right now,” said Harold Kemp, assistant director of the state lands mineral leasing and royalty compliance division.

12Aug2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Tech Watch — Battery Storage of Renewables Looks Promising

“We have proved that this technology can perform the functions of storage that we were looking for to help us manage the variability of wind energy on our operating system,” said Xcel’s Frank Novachek in reference to the
one-megawatt battery system to store wind energy and transmit it to the grid when needed.

12Aug2010 | admin | 1 comment | Continued
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Survey: Wyoming Residents Support Uranium Mining But Not as Much as Oil and Gas Development

People gave their views on uranium mining as a way to provide energy, but residents who answered the survey are concerned about the potential for groundwater contamination and pollution from uranium development.

10Aug2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Oil & Gas Leasing Backlog Starts to Loosen

The 2-year-old delay on issuing federal leases in Wyoming began breaking loose a few days ago as the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced it finally will issue 145 leases sold in June 2008.

10Aug2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Big Money Lease Sales Show Interest in Niobrara Shale Still High

All three sales smashed the previous record, dating to the 1980s, of about $8 million, according to Harold Kemp, assistant director of the Office of State Lands and Investments. Wyoming’s share of the monies has been an unexpected boon to its general fund, with $30 million going to the state’s general fund, with most of that to benefit schools.

8Aug2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Independent Study: Oil Shale Is a Poor
Energy Source

As the nation looks for new sources of fuel, one option being considered is oil shale. Opponents, however, claim in a new report released Monday that oil shale is no solution at all because it takes nearly as much energy to produce as it yields.

3Aug2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Senate Inaction Cedes U.S. Energy Race to China

The warnings have been clear: if America failed to pass a comprehensive climate-and-energy bill, the country risked losing the clean energy race to China — sacrificing the jobs of the future in a timid, ill-fated effort to preserve the jobs of the past. Now those warnings are coming true.

2Aug2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued