Obama

A focus of oil/natural gas industry and environmental tensions for years, the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming became a last stand for the Obama administration recently as U.S. Forest Service (USFS) officials took steps to protect 40,000 acres within the national forest from potential oil/gas leasing.

President Obama’s decision to place the entire Chukchi Sea and most of the Beaufort Sea off-limits to energy development is “stunning” and will deny economic opportunity, according to a trio of powerful elected officials, all of them Republican, representing Alaska.

The Obama administration late Sunday punted on the controversial $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline (DAPL), denying a final easement to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, choosing instead to seek alternative routes to satisfy concerns of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

As the encampment of protesters against the Dakota Access oil pipeline construction in south-central North Dakota has swelled with people, the major energy infrastructure project has been transformed into a national lobbying effort by Native American tribes.

Despite sober assessments on climate change and the prospects for a carbon tax, President Obama on Monday defended natural gas and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) as necessary tools in the transition away from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

President Obama on Wednesday signed into law a sweeping pipeline safety bill, which includes changes to the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

Newly crowned by North Dakota delegates as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate on Thursday, Donald Trump used the conclusion of the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference (WBPC) in Bismarck as a forum to outline his views on U.S. energy policy.

Newly crowned by North Dakota delegates as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate on Thursday, Donald Trump used the conclusion of the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference (WBPC) in Bismarck as a forum to outline his views on U.S. energy policy.

Analysts and oil and gas experts agree that the waning days of the Obama administration will be challenging ones for the industry, as an “unprecedented” list of proposed regulations that could impact the industry for years to come slowly advance through the rulemaking process.