Address

President Trump devoted less than two minutes of his first address to Congress to discuss energy issues, but he used the plenum Tuesday evening as an opportunity to mention several of his accomplishments during his first weeks in office.

The news preceded President Obama’s call last week for more action to address climate change, but executives at NRG Energy Inc. and Tenaska Inc. may have been reading between the lines after announcing over the past two weeks that because of abundant U.S. natural gas, coal is going to play a much smaller role in their generating schemes going forward.

The news preceded President Obama’s call on Tuesday for more action to address climate change (see Daily GPI, June 26), but executives at NRG Energy Inc. and Tenaska Inc. may have been reading between the lines after announcing within the past few days that because of abundant U.S. natural gas, coal is going to play a much smaller role in their generating schemes going forward.

Responding to Illinois’ tough new hydraulic fracturing (fracking) legislation, and with the potential for a surge of activity in relatively untapped shale natural gas deposits in Illinois, two colleges say they are planning an array of training opportunities for the emerging oil and natural gas industry.

All but one of the proposals to address hydraulic fracturing (fracking), including all of those seeking moratoriums on the well stimulation practice, have bitten the dust in the California legislature. The lone bill standing (SB 4) is still awaiting committee referral in the lower house Assembly (see Shale Daily, June 3).

TravelCenters of America (TA) CEO Tom O’Brien is to deliver the opening keynote address June 25 at the 2013 Alternative Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in the Washington, DC, convention center June 24-27. TA is making what the ACT sponsors called significant investments to provide its customers with alternative fuel options, including natural gas. TA and Royal Dutch Shell plc in April announced plans to build a network of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling lanes at existing TA locations nationwide (see Daily GPI, April 22). Shell has committed to creating a “U.S. network of LNG fueling centers for heavy duty road transport customers” stretching from coast to coast. O’Brien is expected to add more color to the ongoing push of commercial trucking fleets to use alternative fuels.

Despite ongoing statewide efforts, city and county governments in Colorado and California are coming up with local solutions to safe and sane hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Two jurisdictions are lifting fracking moratoriums.

The policy landscape of shale gas development has been “dominated” by contradictory opinions, but there are “pathways” to a consensus, according to an analysis by Resources for the Future (RFF).

A petroleum geosciences professor said hydraulic fracturing (fracking) can be performed safely in New Brunswick, and believes that Canadian province and others will eventually establish appropriate regulations to govern the practice.