Agencies

Citing his financial ties to the oil and natural gas industry, an attorney with a Washington, DC-based advocacy group has called on the Obama administration to replace the chairman of the subcommittee exploring the risks associated with hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

The fiscal 2011 budget deal approved by Congress Thursday and forwarded to the White House has some good and bad news for agencies overseeing the energy industry.

The fiscal 2011 budget deal approved by Congress last Thursday and forwarded to the White House has some good and bad news for agencies overseeing the energy industry.

With congressional budget talks at an apparent standstill and a government shutdown looming, FERC and other federal agencies are preparing to operate in an essential operations-only scenario.

Although already pushed by a past governor’s executive order and implemented by state agencies, California’s ambitious 33%-by-2020 renewable energy goal was passed by the legislature and sent to Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday, as the latest attempt to codify the goal in state law. Backers of the measure (SB 2X) said Brown is expected to sign it into law.

Pipeline flows recorded by Bentek Energy LLC show that Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale region has surpassed the Fort Worth Basin/Barnett Shale region of North Texas in natural gas output. The two shale plays themselves are neck and neck in output. While it’s too soon to call a new Lower 48 shale king, all signs are that the Barnett will soon bow to the Haynesville.

Federal agencies and the natural gas industry should provide communities newly affected by shale drilling activity with the kind of research needed to better understand those affects, according to Christopher Smith, the Department of Energy’s deputy assistant secretary for oil and natural gas.

The Interior Department is accepting nominations from federal agencies, industry, academia, national and research organizations for representatives to serve on the newly established Offshore Energy Safety Advisory Committee.

Interior Department officials last Wednesday outlined the structures and duties of two new independent agencies that will separately manage offshore resources and enforce safety and environmental regulations — functions that were once assigned to the former Minerals Management Service (MMS). The restructuring is aimed at avoiding future conflicts of interest between the agency and oil and natural gas producers.