Issues

The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has outlined an initiative for wrestling with the growing mix of economic, political and environmental issues cropping up on public lands. BLM’s “Landscape Approach for Managing the Public Lands” initiative is to examine ecological conditions, patterns and management opportunities that may not be evident when managing smaller land areas, a BLM spokesperson said. This approach is designed to help the federal agency better manage the increasing demand for the use of public lands for recreation and energy development. BLM said its “landscape” approach will be a national program built on, connected to and supported by efforts in its field offices. The program was put together by a 12-member team consisting of managers from the Washington, DC, office, National Operations Center and state field offices in Alaska, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. The program will focus on two components: rapid ecoregional assessments and ecoregional direction.

A majority of states, including many deeply involved in shale development, are not preparing for the ways a changing climate might impact future water supplies, according to a new report from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Cash market averages Wednesday for Thursday delivery were mixed but mostly quiet, but operational issues raised prices at points in California. Futures markets drew to a mixed close as bulls continued to cling to technical support levels and bears awaited storage data expected to continue a trend of sub-par withdrawals.

Pennsylvania is reportedly planning to resume paying its dues to the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) for the upcoming fiscal year (FY) 2012-2013, but New York wants to continue cutting its contribution to the watershed protection organization.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead claimed on Monday that Wyoming has found ways to solve its energy issues without federal intervention. In his state of the state address, the governor said Wyoming is exporting more Btus than any other state; minerals, including oil and gas, make up 80% of the state’s revenues.

A new technology to remotely monitor conditions at gas wells in the Marcellus Shale play to ensure compliance with environmental regulations has been developed through a research partnership funded by the Department of Energy (DOE), according to DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE).

The U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would require companies drilling on public lands to disclose the chemicals used in their hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations, according to a draft of proposed BLM regulations acquired by NGI’s Shale Daily.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is reportedly considering raising severance taxes on oil and natural gas, new taxes for the extraction of natural gas liquids (NGL) and a new impact fee on oil and gas operations.

Natural gas, which had taken a backseat to numerous issues during the first three years of the Obama administration, may be poised to move toward the top of the agenda in the president’s State of the Union speech.