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President Obama’s climate action plan may increase reliance on natural gas as a baseload source of electricity generation, but it is also sparking plans for coal export projects in the West to market U.S. supplies to Asia-Pacific markets.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is revising the deadline by which owners or operators of facilities subject to the petroleum and natural gas systems source category of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule must submit requests for use of best available monitoring methods (BAMM) to the agency. Specifically, the agency is moving up the prior deadline of Sept. 30 to June 30, according to a final rule published in the Federal Register on Wednesday. The amendment now reads: “For reporting years after 2012, a new request to use best available monitoring methods must be submitted by June 30 of the year prior to the reporting year for which use of [BAMM] is sought.” The EPA said it is not proposing any other changes related to BAMM for oil and gas. Affected facilities would be natural gas pipelines, local distribution companies, oil and gas drilling facilities and natural gas liquids extraction facilities.

Williams officials said they have concluded that “a failed pressure gauge is the source of the hydrocarbon fluids” the company found last month near its Parachute Gas Plant. “The leak was stopped on Jan. 3, 2013 at 12:33 a.m. The gauge was part of valve set on a four-inch NGL pipeline belonging to Williams Partners.”

Canada’s frontier shale drilling hot spot lived up to hopes for a new source of premium-grade oil, according to first results disclosed from 2012-2013 winter exploration in the central Mackenzie Valley region of the Northwest Territories.

Canada’s frontier shale drilling hot spot lived up to hopes for a new source of premium-grade oil, according to first results disclosed from 2012-2013 winter exploration in the central Mackenzie Valley region of the Northwest Territories.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) needs to improve air emissions data for the oil and natural gas production sector, according to a report issued by the agency’s Inspector General.

The impact of unconventional domestic shale gas and tight oil reserves is impacting domestic manufacturing and has upended global competitiveness, according to IHS Inc.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has undertaken five case studies in the Marcellus, Barnett and Bakken shales and the Raton Basin on the impact of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water sources as part of its multi-year review of the well stimulation technique used in unconventional plays.

Continued low prices for natural gas, which is the single largest source of revenue for Wyoming, have forced Gov. Matt Mead to ask state agencies to prepare budget cuts of up to 8%.