Bush

While infusing new funds for filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and advancing nuclear, clean coal and renewable fuels, the Bush Administration made no apologies for cutting all oil and natural gas research and development dollars out of its fiscal 2008 energy budget request. Also dropped was funding for the office of a federal coordinator for the long-stalled Alaska natural gas pipeline project.

The absence of funding in the Bush administration’s fiscal year 2008 budget for the office of federal coordinator for the long-stalled Alaska natural gas pipeline project was not an oversight, but rather was intentional, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told a Senate energy panel last Wednesday.

The absence of funding in the Bush administration’s fiscal year 2008 budget for the office of a federal coordinator for the long-stalled Alaska natural gas pipeline project was not an oversight, but rather was intentional, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told a Senate energy panel Wednesday.

While infusing new funds for filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and advancing nuclear, clean coal and renewable fuels, the Bush Administration made no apologies for cutting all oil and natural gas research and development dollars out of its fiscal 2008 energy budget request. “This president has never been in favor of subsidies for the oil and gas industry,” Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told a budget briefing Monday.

On the heels of his State of the Union address, President Bush last Wednesday issued an executive order that seeks to “strengthen the environmental, energy and transportation management” of the federal government.

Hours after delivering his State of the Union address, President Bush Wednesday issued an executive order that seeks to “strengthen the environmental, energy and transportation management” of the federal government.

President Bush Friday signed into law the “Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement and Safety Act of 2006,” which reauthorizes and amends the Department of Transportation’s pipeline safety programs, including establishing new civil penalties for third-party excavators that fail to follow the nationwide one-call program and cause damage to pipelines.

In a moment long awaited by the energy industry and consumers, President Bush Wednesday is expected to sign into law legislation that will open up the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas leasing, according to Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) office.

The Bush administration’s announcement that it negotiated new deals with five major producers remedying the flawed 1998 and 1999 Gulf of Mexico leases was not enough to allay the concerns of House lawmakers (see Daily GPI, Dec. 15).