Science

A House panel on Thursday passed along partisan lines a pair of bills designed to alter the way the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducts its scientific research, as well as membership in the agency’s Science Advisory Board (SAB).

The White House climate action plan, announced in a speech Tuesday, comes down hard on coal-fired power plants, pledges continued support for the development and use of non-polluting renewable energy and promotes “cleaner-burning natural gas” as a bridge to a clean future.

Gulfport Energy Corp. officials have reaffirmed the company’s commitment to the Utica Shale, unveiling details of an accelerated, but cheaper, drilling plan coordinated with the construction of much-needed infrastructure in the play.

A group of environmental organizations has written to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 6 administrator alleging that politics and not science caused the agency to drop a water contamination case against Range Resources Corp. and calling for a resumption of legal action.

Oil and natural gas companies looking to drill within regulated interstate river basins need to familiarize themselves with issues facing the local river basin commission and take those issues seriously before ultimately deciding whether to drill, an industry attorney said.

Naturally occurring methane in New York water wells could serve as a baseline to measure the quality of the water supply if and when natural gas drilling is expanded and high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is allowed, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said in a new report. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to announce any day a decision about whether to allow more gas drilling to proceed.

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and White House to clarify language in a recent executive order creating an interagency working group on hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

A joint health assessment in a Colorado oil and natural gas field has concluded that air pollution-spurred health concerns have to be added to the environmental precautions surrounding well development and, more specifically, hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Friday reiterated the importance of natural gas to the Obama administration’s energy and job-creation programs. Salazar said his department is very active in efforts to boost gas development both on and offshore in the United States.