Places

Converting shale and tight sands formations into affordable natural gas and oil reserves have become the true “game changer” for the United States “because it changes the most important game in the world, the game of war,” according to global intelligence expert George Friedman.

Exporting U.S. energy supplies overseas to support growth in natural gas transportation in places like China and Korea makes no sense and hopefully will not happen, said Richard Kolodziej, president of NGVAmerica, the Washington, DC-based trade organization advocating vehicles powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The physical market plunged overall on average by about 14 cents Friday as a combination of a weak screen along with operational problems in places on the East and West Coasts worked to pummel prices lower.

The Colorado Mining Association (CMA) has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider its challenge to the Clinton-era “roadless rule,” which places restrictions on road-building to carry out energy exploration and production, logging and other commercial activities on forest lands. The CMA petition comes only days after the State of Wyoming petitioned the high court to review the October 2011 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which had overturned a 2008 U.S. District Court ruling permanently enjoining the enforcement of the roadless rule (see Daily GPI, Oct. 25, 2011). Because the roadless rule violated the National Environmental Policy Act and Wilderness Act. it “must be set aside,” U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer of Wyoming wrote in his 2008 decision (see Daily GPI, Aug. 14, 2008). “If allowed to stand, the roadless rule will effectively prevent future mining operations on roadless lands lead to a decrease in mineral and coal production, job losses and sharp decreases in taxes and revenues,” said attorney Paul Seby, who filed the CMA’s petition with the high court.

The state of Wyoming has petitioned the Supreme Court to hear its challenge of the Clinton-era “roadless rule,” which places restrictions on road-building to carry out energy exploration and production, logging and other commercial activities on more than 58 million acres of forest lands.

As the price of gasoline edges nears the $4/gallon mark in much of the country and has surpassed it in some places on the West Coast, a group of senators Wednesday introduced legislation that calls on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to use its emergency powers to rein in speculation in the futures markets.

An appellate court decision in Wyoming, reversing a lower court, will allow the federal government to enforce the Clinton era’s “roadless rule,” which places restrictions on energy exploration and production, logging and other commercial activities on more than 58 million acres of forest lands.

The U.S. Circuit Court for the Tenth Circuit Friday reversed a lower court’s decision permanently enjoining enforcement of the Clinton administration’s “roadless rule,” which places restrictions on energy exploration and production, logging and other commercial activities on more than 58 million acres of forest lands.

The Utica Shale could be worth $500 billion, and the “biggest thing economically to hit Ohio, since maybe the plow,” Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon told an audience in Ohio on Wednesday.