POLICYWATCH

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Wyoming Board Approves New Natural Gas Flaring Policy

The decision means the State Board of Land Commissioners will now be involved in deciding whether state royalties should be charged on natural gas flared on state-leased wells.

4Feb2012 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Wyo Infrastructure Authority Winter Meeting Set

Topics to be covered include Energy Gateway Project, TransWest Express Project, Zephyr Project and the Wyoming Colorado Intertie Project. The date is January 31 at the Snow King Resort in Jackson.

26Jan2012 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Opportunities and Challenges for U.S. Shale Gas Development — A Special Report From the Bipartisan Policy Center

The in depth study articulates opportunities associated with newly accessible and economically recoverable domestic shale gas resources, and highlights the critical need to develop those resources efficiently and responsibly.

23Jan2012 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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EPA Seeks Pavillion Peer Review Panel

The agency is looking for experts to review a controversial draft report released last month that linked drilling operations in Pavillion, Wyoming, to water contamination in the area. Encana, the operator of the natural gas field, had requested a peer review of EPA’s findings.

18Jan2012 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Wyoming Revenue Projections Down
$100 Million

Continued lower natural gas prices could force state lawmakers to impose spending cuts on state agencies in the legislative session that starts next month, Gov. Matt Mead said Friday. Because of the lower revenue projects, lawmakers will undoubtedly push agencies to trim their existing budgets.

14Jan2012 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Encana Wants More Time from EPA to Respond to Water Contamination Report

Last Friday the energy company sent a letter to Paul Antastas, assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Research and Development. In it, Encana asked the EPA to lengthen the 45-day comment period — which is set to expire on January 27 — for comments on a report the agency issued last month on its study of groundwater contamination near the town of Pavillion.

10Jan2012 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Group Says Study Needed on Shale Gas
Health Effects

Advances in hydraulic fracturing drilling techniques have revolutionized the natural gas industry, but researchers said more must be done to evaluate what the shale boom means for the those living near wells.

10Jan2012 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Forecast for Energy Efficiency in 2012:
Mostly Sunny

Looking forward into 2012, I see more reasons for optimism than pessimism. Many states and utilities are committed to ramping up their energy efficiency programs this year and even more are considering similar steps.

8Jan2012 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Wyoming Oil and Gas officials: Safety Report is
a Call to Action

Nearly all of the state’s oil and gas industry deaths were due to a failure to follow existing safety procedures, former state occupational epidemiologist Timothy Ryan said in a memo last month to Gov. Matt Mead.

6Jan2012 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Groups Urge Denial of Flaming Gorge
Pipeline Permit

The pipeline would be far too expensive and would harm the Green River’s world-class recreation and tourism economies, businesses and river advocates said Monday. They urged the FERC to deny a private developer’s preliminary permit application for the massive
water project.

20Dec2011 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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A Cleantech Venture Capitalist Who is Unconvinced of Man-Made Climate Change

Go ahead — call me a hypocrite. I claim to be a cleantech venture capitalist yet I tell you here and now that I am not convinced of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change (aka global warming). And I will audaciously tell you that my convictions on climate change in no way run contrary to my strong belief in the need for a cleantech revolution.

19Dec2011 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Vestas Urges Extension of U.S. Production Tax Credit to Preserve Thousands Of American Jobs

“An extension of the PTC is necessary for the continued employment of the 80,000 people working in the U.S. wind industry,” said Wyrsch, who leads the North American arm of Vestas Wind Systems, which has several manufacturing plants in Colorado.

15Dec2011 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Encana Slams EPA Over ‘Not Factual’
Pavillion Draft Report

In a detailed press release to media, the energy company noted that many of the EPA’s findings from its recent deep monitoring wells, including those related to any potential connection between fracking and Pavillion groundwater quality, “are conjecture, not factual, and only serve to trigger undue alarm.”

13Dec2011 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Environmentalists Renew Attack on Wyoming Coal That Fuels Plant

Their effort is directed at the potential expansion of a mine served by both the Union Pacific and BNSF Railway, and from which comes fuel for the Laramie River Station, a generating plant that is owned in part by Lincoln Electric System.

12Dec2011 | admin | 0 comments | Continued