Protection

Senate Republicans appear to have tempered their opposition to the nomination of Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a vote appears imminent.

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Thursday said it plans to develop a proposed rule requiring companies who make chemical substances and mixtures used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to report data on the chemicals.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has told key state legislators that no additional requirements are needed to protect the air quality from horizontal oil and gas drilling.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is probing a chemical emergency at an oil well facility in January, where an inventory of chemicals wasn’t available to first responders as required under federal law.

With industry, a U.S. senator and North Dakota state officials all focused on robust permitting applications for oil and natural gas development in the Bakken Shale, a new collaboration of federal agencies, the Bakken Federal Executives Group, is the latest attempt to streamline federal processes that are criticized for being too slow.

Gina McCarthy’s challenge to be confirmed by the Senate as chief of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be more difficult once the president rolls out his climate change initiative Tuesday, said an energy specialist with the Bracewell Policy Resolution Group.

In an announcement that ends a two-year tug of war with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over jurisdiction, Wyoming energy and environmental regulators will lead the investigation, working with the EPA, to continue the study of the potential impact of natural gas production activities in the Pavillion, WY, area on drinking water.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Tuesday took a swipe at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has long been a favorite whipping boy among Capitol Hill Republicans.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead last Thursday urged the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allow more time for comments on its proposed Regional Haze Plan, noting the federal agency only recently revised the proposal and that change would deny Wyoming’s plan to improve viewsheds in favor of a federal plan.