Charlie Passut

When the natural gas industry looks back on the winter of 2013-14, it will remember a number of extremes — the polar vortex, price spikes, a propane shortage, frozen wells shut in, very tight gas supplies and lingering concerns about replenishing gas storage.

Nine months after being confirmed to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Gina McCarthy took aim at critics that claim the agency relies on “secret science,” and promised it would deliver its contribution to President Obama’s Climate Action Plan.

When the natural gas industry looks back on the winter of 2013-14, it will remember a number of extremes — the polar vortex, price spikes, a propane shortage, frozen wells shut in, very tight gas supplies and lingering concerns about replenishing gas storage.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has turned down calls to enact a two-year moratorium on silica sand mining in the southeastern part of the state, saying he doesn’t have the authority to implement such a ban.

A bankruptcy court in New York said Friday that an entity called Any Acquisition LLC has submitted the highest bid, $2.65 million, to purchase most of the assets of two subsidiaries of Norway’s Norse Energy Corp. ASA.

Supporters of a Pennsylvania bill designed to shield royalty owners from post-production costs say the measure has stalled in the state House of Representatives, and they allege that a handful of gas producers, their allies and others are trying to thwart the bill’s passage.

The use of corn crop residue to make ethanol and other biofuels reduces the amount of carbon in soil, but it also increases carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to a level that will probably thwart federal goals to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Elected officials in the City of Broomfield, CO, unanimously agreed to a tolling agreement with Sovereign Operating Co. LLC on Tuesday, as the company moves forward with plans to put them in the crosshairs of a lawsuit over the city’s newly enacted ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Triangle Petroleum Corp. reported reduced completion costs and is considering a shift to infill what is rapidly being considered its core acreage in the Bakken Shale, as business from its oilfield services subsidiary and a midstream joint venture (JV) in the play also pick up steam.