Includes

After an eight-year downward trend, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States have started to includes with the return of more coal-fired generation in 2013, compared to last year, the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) said in an analysis. However, a separate report said greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are at mid-1990s levels and the role of natural gas remains critical.

The recent approval of a second license to export domestic liquefied natural gas (LNG) to non-free trade agreement (FTA) nations includes language that supports the disputed exports as being in the public interest, Sempra Energy CEO Debra Reed said at an investor conference Thursday in New York City.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) decision to approve a second license to allow liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to non-free trade agreement (FTA) nations includes language that supports the exports as being in the public interest, Sempra Energy CEO Debra Reed said last week.

With acquisitions and infrastructure agreements in hand, Waltham, MA-based Global Partners LP, a publicly traded master limited partnership, is establishing a “virtual pipeline” for shipping North Dakota Bakken and Canadian crude oil to refineries on both the U.S. West and East Coasts.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has approved a settlement with UGI Utilities Inc. that includes a $200,000 civil penalty, following a PUC investigation into an Oct. 31, 2011 natural gas explosion in Millersville, PA, that caused about $455,000 in damages to a home and a business.

EnerVest Ltd. hasn’t nailed down buyers for some of its Utica Shale portfolio in Ohio, but there is plenty of interest in the big leasehold. Now it’s a matter of getting the right prices and the right terms, CEO John Walker said Tuesday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) independent Science Advisory Board (SAB) has formed a Hydraulic Fracturing Research Advisory panel of independent experts to peer review the EPA’s 2014 draft report of results for its national study on potential health and environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources. EPA said the SAB panel will provide scientific feedback on EPA’s research in “an open and transparent manner.”

Natural gas production from unconventional sources in Pennsylvania hit a record 2.04 Tcf in 2012, as the state’s Marcellus/Utica shale gas for the first time edged ahead of the granddaddy Barnett Shale in Texas.

Elected officials in Ft. Collins, CO, the university town about 57 miles north of Denver, have passed a ban on oil and natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within the city limits. The measure still must pass on a second reading in early March.