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Pittsburgh-based retail energy provider Direct Energy is plunging into the retail natural gas market in California, going after all sizes of commercial and industrial customers to add to its residential mix.

The Independent Oil and Gas Association (IOGA) of New York has called on the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) to initiate an investigation into apparent violations of lobbying laws by the group known as “Artists Against Fracking,” which is led by Beatles star John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, and their son, Sean Lennon.

The Independent Oil and Gas Association (IOGA) of New York has called on the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) to initiate an investigation into apparent violations of lobbying laws by the group known as “Artists Against Fracking,” which is led by Beatles star John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, and their son, Sean Lennon.

While the debate rages over whether exporting liquefied U.S. natural gas is a good idea, stocks of natural gas liquids (NGL) are so abundant, export of some is viewed as a necessity. And in the United States, more chemical sector demand can’t come fast enough.

A top House Republican has called on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to provide information on a two-year-old departmental internal investigations unit that was set up to look into wrongdoing by the offshore oil and gas industry and government officials who regulate their activities.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has entered into a carried-interest arrangement with an undisclosed party for a stake in the prospective Heidelberg development project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead last week signed into law advances to use natural gas for transportation in a state rich in gas reserves.

Coal-fired plants that have not already begun to invest in back-end emission controls won’t be able to operate economically for too long into the future, but for plants already equipped with state-of-the-art controls the upcoming federal regulations to reduce carbon emissions will have a gradual impact taking up to a decade, according to NRG Energy Inc. CEO David Crane.

Continuing to focus ever more sharply on liquids-rich and oil projects, Range Resources Corp. has entered into an agreement to sell for $275 million some of its gassier Permian Basin properties in New Mexico and West Texas.