Asked

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has asked Senate leaders to set aside legislation to raise his annual salary by $19,600 after a senator threatened to block it if the pace of “new” permitting in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) did not return to the pre-BP plc Macondo well disaster rate. Salazar fired off the letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) after Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) vowed to block the request for the pay raise if the department did not resume issuance of “new” permits for GOM deepwater exploratory drilling at the same rate before the explosion aboard the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig. “It’s just my way of keeping the boot on the neck” of Interior, Vitter wrote in his letter to Salazar last Monday. Although the department has reissued a number of permits to resume activities that were interrupted as a result of the Deepwater Horizon incident, it has issued only one “new” deepwater exploratory drilling permit since the moratorium was formally lifted in October. Salazar accused Vitter of “attempted coercion.” That position “is wrong, and it must be made perfectly clear that his attempt cannot and will not affect the execution of the solemn legal responsibility that the department undertakes on behalf of the American people,” Salazar said. The bill to raise Salazar’s salary was introduced by Reid earlier this month. His current salary is $180,000, The Hill reported.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has asked Senate leaders to set aside legislation to raise his annual salary by $19,600 after a senator threatened to block it if the pace of “new” permitting in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) did not return to the pre-BP plc Macondo well disaster rate.

A major Pennsylvania water company said “a full battery of tests” found no harmful impact on supplies from Marcellus Shale development.

Three Ohio legislators have asked the state’s attorney general to determine the source of a five-page document that, if authentic, could prove individuals connected to the energy industry are using deceptive practices to persuade property owners to sign oil and gas leases.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) on Wednesday asked California regulators to approve an agreement the utility made with regulatory staff on an accelerated compliance plan and payment of up to $6 million in penalties.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) on Wednesday asked California regulators to approve an agreement the utility made with regulatory staff on an accelerated compliance plan and payment of up $6 million in penalties.

Tennessee lifted Friday an Imbalance Warning for Zones 5 and 6, but asked customers to stay in balance.

A proposal by some members of the West Virginia House of Delegates to place a moratorium on natural gas drilling permits until the state passes new regulations on drilling isn’t causing sleepless nights for West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association Executive Director Corky DeMarco.

Consumer advocates on Wednesday asked the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to launch a new statewide investigation of the fatal natural gas transmission pipeline explosion last September in San Bruno, a suburb south of San Francisco.