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A bill, recently introduced by Illinois State Representatives John Bradley and David Reis, to regulate hydraulic fracturing in the state is attracting support from both industry and environmental groups. The bill, House Bill 2615, introduced on February 21st, 2013, would impose new requirements on the oil and gas industry, such as: Public disclosure of all fracking chemicals before fracking begins Presumed liability of the oil and gas drillers for any environmental contamination near fracking sites, until proven otherwise Restrictions on venting and flaring of natural gas The bill’s supporters believe that it outlines an effective compromise that could open up… [more]
View Insight“Our National Energy Policy: Post-Election Prospects and Challenges” December 14th, 2012 National Press Club, Washington, DC See below for an abridged version of the transcript and a full video recording of the event. You can view or download the full transcript here. Opening Remarks: WILLIAM SQUADRON, President, OurEnergyPolicy.org Speakers: JAMES CONNAUGHTON, Executive Vice President and Senior Policy Advisor with Exelon Corporation and Former Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality GENERAL JAMES L. JONES, USMC (retired), Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, Senior Advisor to the American Energy Innovation Council with the Bipartisan Policy Center, and Former… [more]
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Last year, significant growth in natural gas production combined with low demand – due to a warm winter – caused natural gas prices to plummet below US$2 per thousand cubic feet. This benefited consumers, but forced some energy companies to abandon gas drilling programs and put significant pressure on their budgets, most notably Chesapeake Energy Corp. The decade-low prices also facilitated a transition in electric power generators from coal to gas, and in some cases nuclear to gas. However, according to EnergyWire, some analysts, like James Sullivan of Alembic Global Advisors, believe that this short-term electricity fuel transition has maxed… [more]
View InsightThe Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an arm of the Department of the Interior (DOI), last updated its hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) rules in 1988, before many current technologies and techniques were adopted. Now, after more than 20 years, BLM has released a set of proposed changes to the regulations, including a requirement for disclosure of the chemicals used in fracking on federal lands, and standards for gas well construction. Currently, most fracking occurs on private lands, and is subject only to state regulations. A recent report found that only 5% of active shale wells in the past decade were on… [more]
View InsightDirector, Stakeholder Relations/External Affairs
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Hydrofracking for natural gas in shale formations has generated a heated national debate, complicating and in some cases preventing efforts to extract the resource. Critics of hydrofracking cite the process’ uncertain environmental and geologic risks. Meanwhile, natural gas developers and policymakers have been working to identify and implement technical standards and best practices to overcome or reduce these risks to negligible levels. In my home state of New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has said of hydrofracking: “Let’s get the facts. Let the science and the facts make the determination, not emotion and not politics.” I agree. State of the art… [more]
View InsightNote: Synopsis drawn from report’s executive summary. Synopsis intended solely for purposes of generating discussion. The Future of Natural Gas: An Interdisciplinary MIT Study By the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative Natural gas has moved to the center of the current debate on energy, security and climate. This study examines the role of natural gas in a carbon-constrained world, with a time horizon out to mid-century. The overarching conclusions are that: Abundant global natural gas resources imply greatly expanded natural gas use, with especially large growth in electricity generation. Natural gas will assume an increasing share of the U.S.… [more]
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