Fracking

Progressives in the Democratic Party, many of them supporters of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and his failed bid for the presidency, were reportedly unable to get a nationwide moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), an idea championed by Sanders, added to their party’s official platform.

More than 30 mayors have signed a statement urging the federal government and state legislatures to support local control of hydraulic fracturing (fracking). But the move was mostly a symbolic gesture because fracking isn’t performed in most of the cities and towns that the signatories represent.

Attorneys for the federal government have appealed last week’s ruling by a federal judge in Wyoming that the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) does not have the authority to enforce a rule governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public and tribal lands.

In a win for the oil and gas industry and its supporters, a federal judge in Wyoming ruled Tuesday that the Department of Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) does not have the authority to enforce a rule governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public and tribal lands.

Among seven resolutions passed on Tuesday, the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) adopted strong states-rights stances in two of them, regarding the need for statutory changes in the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and future policies aimed at energy use and development during the conclusion of the association’s three-day annual meeting in Jackson, WY.

In addition to better exploiting the value of natural gas and natural gas liquids, the next chapter of Bakken Shale development in North Dakota will be written about water, according to Lynn Helms, the state’s chief oil/gas regulator.

Five years after enacting a ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), France’s energy minister told lawmakers she is looking into a possible ban on U.S. shale gas imports, arguing that it is hypocritical for her country to ban the practice domestically, yet indirectly support fracking elsewhere by continuing the imports.

Burgeoning growth in the nation’s shale plays in recent years has made hydraulic fracturing (fracking) the technique by which most natural gas is produced in the United States, accounting for about two-thirds of total domestic marketed gas production last year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Burgeoning growth in the nation’s shale plays in recent years has made hydraulic fracturing (fracking) the technique by which most natural gas is produced in the United States, accounting for about two-thirds of total domestic marketed gas production last year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).