Contentious

During a contentious House subcommittee hearing last week on an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigation of well water contamination in Wyoming, one lawmaker accused the agency of being on a hydraulic fracturing (fracking) witch hunt, while another hammered it on the semantics of a press release he said overstated the potential for a fracking-contamination link.

A contentious House committee hearing over an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report on possible natural gas contamination of well water started off with the ejection from the hearing room of director Josh Fox of the controversial film, Gasland.

A contentious House committee hearing over an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report on possible natural gas contamination of well water started off with the ejection from the hearing room of Josh Fox, director of the controversial film Gasland.

A Pennsylvania lawmaker is taking aim at one of the most contentious issues in the Marcellus Shale: gas migration.

A Pennsylvania lawmaker is taking aim at one of the most contentious issues in the Marcellus Shale: gas migration.

President Obama last Monday signed into law an omnibus lands bill that cleared Congress following a contentious and protracted debate and some procedural sleight of hand. The bill (HR 146) sets aside two million acres in nine western states as protected wilderness, closing off further access for oil and natural gas development on public lands.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee began its mark-up of a broad energy bill last Tuesday, focusing first on the less contentious issues — such as energy efficiency — and then moving to the meatier and more controversial issues following a two-week recess for Easter and Passover.

President Obama Monday signed into law an omnibus lands bill that cleared Congress last week following a contentious and protracted debate. Producers protested the bill (HR 146) that sets aside two million acres in nine western states as protected wilderness, closing off further access for oil and natural gas development.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee begins mark-up of a broad energy bill Tuesday, focusing on the less contentious issues — such as energy efficiency — this week and then moving to the meatier and more controversial issues following a two-week recess for Easter and Passover.