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The current Congress is a do-nothing legislative body, while the Department of Energy (DOE) has stepped up its output in response to the uptick in applications being filed to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a result of the rapid development of shale natural gas in the United States, federal energy officials said Monday.

The current Congress is a do-nothing legislative body, while the Department of Energy (DOE) has stepped up its approval of applications to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) in response to the rapid development of shale natural gas in the United States, federal energy officials said Monday.

The body of an oil worker, one of 10 workers who were forced to abandon a liftboat in the southern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) during Tropical Storm (TS) Nate, has been recovered.

The body of an oil worker, one of 10 workers who were forced to abandon a liftboat in the southern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) during Tropical Storm (TS) Nate, has been recovered. Geokinetics Inc. CEO Richard Miles said that the victim, one of three employees who were aboard the liftboat Trinity II, was recovered Thursday. Miles said the second employee was among the seven men rescued on Sept. 12 but he died shortly afterward. He said the third employee was still recovering in a hospital Friday. The Trinity II was supporting an ocean bottom cable project in the Bay of Campeche for Geokinetics, which performs seismic testing for the oil and gas industry (see NGI, Sept. 12). The company said TS Nate disabled the liftboat and forced the crew to abandon ship and board a life raft.

The mayor of Dallas has directed city council to form a Gas Drilling Task Force and appointed a former council member to lead the body.

Alberta leaders said Friday they plan to introduce legislation this spring to create a single oil and gas regulatory body.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger chose an economist to be the newest regulator on the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC). Nancy Ryan, the regulatory body’s current deputy executive director for policy, gives the CPUC a full complement of regulators a month after the Senate refused to reconfirm Rachelle Chong, a telecommunications attorney and former member of the Federal Communications Commission, to a full six-year term. Ryan, 49, has expertise in energy markets, climate change policy and the public health and ecological impacts of energy production, and she worked for several years in the environmental sector. The appointment requires Senate confirmation within a year’s time. Ryan has been a member of the CPUC management team since January 2006 when she began as CPUC President Michael Peevey’s chief energy adviser and served as his chief of staff from April 2007 to February 2009.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger chose an economist to be newest regulator on the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC). Nancy Ryan, the regulatory body’s current deputy executive director for policy, gives the CPUC a full complement of regulators a month after the Senate refused to reconfirm Rachelle Chong, a telecommunications attorney and former member of the Federal Communications Commission, to a full six-year term.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger chose an economist to be newest regulator on the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC). Nancy Ryan, the regulatory body’s current deputy executive director for policy, gives the CPUC a full complement of regulators a month after the Senate refused to reconfirm Rachelle Chong, a telecommunications attorney and former member of the Federal Communications Commission, to a full six-year term.