Climate Change

A project to transform a public sector coal-fired power plant in Delta, UT, into a combination hydrogen-natural gas generation facility that would move power to Los Angeles is being heralded as a breakthrough. Utah’s Intermountain Power Agency (IPA), which serves 21 municipal power utilities, contracted Mitsubishi-Hitachi Power Systems to build a gas turbine system to…

Colorado is proposing a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Pollution Reduction Roadmap for the next decade, with fossil fuel use by cars and methane emissions from oil and gas operations squarely in the crosshairs. The draft plan issued Wednesday targets a 26% reduction in total GHG pollution from 2005 levels by 2025, and a 50% reduction by…

FERC is seeking input on potential carbon pricing mechanisms for wholesale electricity markets under its jurisdiction, a policy path that has the support of natural gas industry players who envision a fruitful partnership with renewables in mitigating climate change. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission held a technical conference Wednesday to “discuss considerations related to state-adoption…

A methane emissions cleanup drive has begun in Canada’s top oil and gas-producing jurisdiction, with the bills paid by levies imposed on companies that miss provincial carbon reduction targets. The Alberta government announced that the methane control campaign will use C$52 million ($39 million) from a banked waste carbon penalty fund called TIER, short for…

A federal court on Thursday paused a rescission by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Obama-era regulations to curb methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. Swift legal action against the sweeping rule change had been promised by environmental advocates, and judicial intervention had been widely anticipated by experts. The U.S. Court of…

North Dakota has two special rigs drilling in the Bakken Shale not included in the 10 reported in the July count that are exploring the potential for carbon capture and storage (CCS), as well as slurry fracture injections. A rig in Center is drilling a well to explore CCS prospects. Another rig in Johnsons Corner…

A “pronounced shift” to renewables, combined with a shift to electricity and hydrogen, led BP plc to reduce its annual forecast for global natural gas as a primary energy source. The annual Energy Outlook was introduced on Monday by chief economist Spencer Dale during a webcast. The economics team led by Spencer Dale used Rapid,…

An aerial study of 238 natural gas-fired generation plants in California has concluded they are responsible for 2.1% of the state’s methane emissions from point sources.  Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers earlier this summer completed the survey using its remote sensing technology. Study flights were conducted in five phases during 2016, 2017 and 2018, covering at…

President Trump is betting that, by touting deregulation and deriding his Democratic opponent as an extremist who will raise taxes and throw wrenches into oil and gas development, he will galvanize domestic energy industry support ahead of the November election. Culminating the Republican National Committee (RNC) convention Thursday night in Washington, DC, Trump claimed his…