Climate Change

Two Democratic state senators in California on Wednesday introduced legislation to ban various well stimulation technologies, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking), along with establishing a 2,500-foot setback for wells from the population. Its authors — state Sens. Scott Wiener (San Francisco) and Monique Limon (Santa Barbara) — characterize Senate Bill (SB) 467 as being a boost…

In a move likely to have implications for natural gas infrastructure projects moving forward, FERC is creating a senior position focused on environmental justice and equity issues. Chairman Richard Glick, a Democrat who was handed the gavel by the Biden administration last month, announced the new agency role late last week. While promising more details…

As Texas regulators attempt to determine how much is too much, an industry coalition on Wednesday said it would snuff out natural gas flaring in the state by 2030. The announcement by the Texas Methane & Flaring Coalition, made up of seven trade associations and more than 40 top operators, came one day after the…

“The energy reform sought to create a sector that operated as a market with technical criteria and with long-term investor certainty, and that is being dismantled,” Guillermo Zúñiga, former Commissioner at the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) from 2013-2019, told NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index.  Zúñiga, currently an international attorney at the Earthjustice environmental nonprofit based…

Chevron Corp. CEO Mike Wirth on Friday was optimistic that the supermajor could navigate near-term under a potential cap on federal leasing in the United States but he warned that if conditions were to deteriorate, “we have other places to take our dollars.” Wirth helmed a conference call with CFO Pierre Breber on Friday to…

New York City’s largest pension funds on Monday voted to pull their money from fossil fuel investments within five years, portfolios that hold an estimated $4 billion in securities. Mayor Bill de Blasio, Comptroller Scott M. Stringer and trustees of two of the city’s pension funds said the plan is to cut off money for…

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker last week cited high costs in vetoing legislation that would have moved the state toward achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.  One of the major goals of the legislation was to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 and transition to battery, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. …

The Biden administration last week froze for 60 days awarding new oil and gas drilling permits, as well as leases on federal onshore and offshore property, likely heralding more permanent limits to be enacted down the road. The order mandating the freeze was signed by acting Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Scott de la…

Las Vegas-based Southwest Gas Corp. executives are keeping an eye on the long-term potential of natural gas in light of Nevada’s new State Climate Strategy. The Climate Strategy was issued last month and is designed to reach near-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. The series of policy goals include banning the use of gas…