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Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, has called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine the impact of growing shale oil and gas development on the nation’s rail and pipeline infrastructure.

Former Anadarko Petroleum Corp. chief Jim Hackett was appointed to co-lead the Houston office of private energy investment giant Riverstone Holdings LLC. Hackett stepped down as Anadarko CEO in 2012 and retired as executive chairman in May; he still plans to pursue a master’s degree in theological studies at Harvard Divinity School, completing a two-year program over the next four years (see Daily GPI, March 12). Working at Riverstone is “a way to still stay in touch with a business I love as a principal, but to do it very much in light of my primary duty, which is to go back to school.” Riverstone, founded in 2000, has nearly $24 billion in seven investment funds, with equity invested in operators that include deepwater explorer Cobalt International Energy Inc., midstreamer Magellan Midstream Partners LP and UK shale explorer Cuadrilla Resources Ltd.

In a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Commodity Futures Trading Commissioner Bart Chilton Wednesday proposed that the agency be allowed to impose a targeted fee on transactions in the derivatives markets.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy last week inked an agreement at the LNG 17 conference in Houston to work together — and with potential investors — to dig down and study unconventional energy resources in Alaska’s Arctic.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy on Tuesday inked an agreement at the LNG 17 conference in Houston to work together — and with potential investors — to dig down and study unconventional energy resources in Alaska’s Arctic.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. founder Aubrey McClendon, who was forced to retire as CEO on April 1, has leased office space in Oklahoma City and lured two executives to what appears to be the start of at least one new company.

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Tuesday that his office has opened an investigation of a crude oil spill near Mayflower, AR, which ExxonMobil was working to clean up. The cause of the spill is still under investigation, but Exxon said the spill did not involve tar sands oil.

The Interior Department’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) said Tuesday that it penalized Chesapeake Energy Corp. $765,000 for “knowing or willful submission of inaccurate information” on its oil and natural gas royalty reports.

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Tuesday that his office has opened an investigation of a crude oil spill near Mayflower, AR, which ExxonMobil was working to clean up. The cause of the spill is still under investigation, but Exxon said the spill did not involve tar sands oil.