Bill

At midday Friday, after three hours of debate, Texas state Rep. Drew Darby (R-San Angelo) had fought back 10 amendments to his House Bill 40, which is intended to prevent municipalities from enacting ordinances that interfere with oil/gas drilling. HB 40 was passed to engrossment on a vote of 122-18 and faces one more vote in the House before passing to the state Senate.

A compromise bill intended to block municipal anti-drilling/hydraulic fracturing (fracking) ordinances was passed by a Texas House committee Monday and is on its way to the full House. It includes some concessions to the legislation’s critics, namely Texas cities and their residents upset by drilling activities.

A bill that would put in place a three-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has been approved by one branch of the legislature in Maryland, a state that has potential natural gas deposits only in its two westernmost counties and has seen virtually no interest in developing those limited assets.

Two proposals aimed at limiting the reach of local government involvement in regulating oil and natural gas development are being debated in the New Mexico state legislature this week.

Two bills that would affect development of the Marcellus Shale in West Virginia were nearing final passage in the West Virginia Legislature on Friday, but time was running out on the session.

President Obama vetoed a bill authorizing construction of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline on Tuesday, following through on his threat to do so shortly after Republicans secured control of both chambers of Congress.

President Obama vetoed a bill authorizing construction of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline on Tuesday, following through on his threat to do so shortly after Republicans secured control of both chambers of Congress.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has signed a bill into law that will allow the simple transfer of oil and natural gas drilling permits to any company acquiring acreage in the state in a move that is expected to help save both time and money.

In the latest move of what has become a chess match between the Republican-controlled Congress and the White House, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 270-152 on a bill to construct the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.