All Posts Tagged With: "U.S. Department of Interior"

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Interior Floats New Draft Rules to
Regulate ‘Fracking’

The plan from Interior’s Bureau of Land Management also contains requirements on oil-and-gas well integrity to verify that fluids from the fracking process aren’t escaping into nearby water supplies, and requirements for management of large volumes of so-called flowback water.

7May2012 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Interior’s New Plan Aims to Build a Balanced Solar Energy Program on Public Lands

The supplemental appears to include a number of modifications that could improve the process for siting large-scale solar projects on public lands, which Interior hopes will lay the foundation for a durable, successful solar energy program. The 90-day comment period awaits.

28Oct2011 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Interior Department, Wildlife Group Reach
Sage Grouse Deal

In a move that could have huge implications for oil and gas drilling in Wyoming and other western states, the Obama administration says it has struck a deal with a wildlife group that will see it decide by 2015 whether to protect the greater sage grouse under the federal Endangered Species Act.

12May2011 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Interior to Allow Expanded Coal Production in
Powder River Basin

“There’s no place in the country that captures this all-of-the-above approach quite like Wyoming,” Salazar told reporters on a conference call, noting oil-and-gas development in the state as well as its major coal production.

23Mar2011 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Feds Consider Disclosure of Fracking Fluids
on Public Lands

Salazar said this week the department is weighing how it will move forward with a policy requiring producers to disclose the fluids associated with hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public lands.

5Dec2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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GAO Audit Faults Royalty Measurement
for Oil and Gas

The Interior Department lags in keeping up with current technologies, not updating several measurement standards in 20 years, and for failing to meet inspection and calibration goals aimed at maintaining accurate measurements of oil and gas production on federal lands, says the report.

15Apr2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Energy Groups Relieved Sage Grouse will
Not be Listed

Friday’s announcement by the Interior Department that it won’t list the bird as an endangered or threatened species has energy industries operating in the West breathing a little easier. The oil and gas, wind and solar industries will still face scrutiny in sage grouse habitat but much less so than if the bird had made the list.

8Mar2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Interior Expands “Common-Sense” Efforts to Conserve Sage Grouse Habitat in the West

The federal government will start to protect the sage grouse as a “candidate” species under the Endangered Species Act. The Interior said the compromise decision embraces the latest science indicating that sage grouse need help to avoid extinction in the face of energy development, grazing and house-building.

5Mar2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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$1.1 Billion Budget for BLM Proposed by Obama

While focusing on renewable energy development and climate change adaptation, the budget also includes a $2.0 million increase in BLM’s Soil, Water, and Air Management program for air quality monitoring that will be targeted to areas with current or anticipated intensive oil and gas development.

3Feb2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Salazar Set to Unveil Oil and Gas Leasing Reforms

The administration is set to reveal new federal leasing practices it hopes will increase confidence in the system. “We are not just about the business of letting the oil and gas industry run the Department of Interior,” Secretary Salazar said in the New Year’s Eve interview.

4Jan2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Feds to Kill Royalty-in-Kind Program

Interior Secretary Salazar said at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing today that the scandal-ridden Royalty-in-Kind program, which allows industry to provide oil and natural gas directly to the Interior Department in lieu of cash royalty payments, will be terminated.

16Sep2009 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Feds Want More Time to Respond to
Oil Shale Lawsuits

The Federal government is seeking another extension of a deadline to respond to lawsuits filed that contest the opening of nearly 2 million acres of public land in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah for oil shale development.

28Aug2009 | admin | 0 comments | Continued