States

As strong advocates for government-backed climate change mitigation efforts, California officials are viewing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) power plant emission rules as the state’s shining moment with a chance to gain momentum for its now eight-year implementation of comprehensive climate change programs, including a cap-and-trade system that could benefit from the federal EPA rules.

In a move that hurts coal-fired electricity generators, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a rule adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that limits smokestack emissions in 28 central and eastern states that affect air quality of other states located downwind.

The United States has an ad hoc national energy plan that is working well, driving the nation closer to energy independence, and a key reason for the success is that there is a lot more regulatory certainty, relative to other parts of the world, former U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told an energy forum in Denver on Wednesday.

The United States has climbed in the rankings of the world’s most energy secure countries, according to a ranking compiled by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for 21st Century Energy.

President Obama, in the State of the Union (SOTU) speech Tuesday night before Congress, praised natural gas and oil development in the United States, as well as its importance in fueling energy independence and creating jobs, but said $4 billion in fossil fuel subsidies could be better deployed elsewhere.

Seven Pennsylvania Townships and a public advocacy group have filed an answer to the state’s request asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to reconsider its decision ruling that parts of Act 13 are unconstitutional.

Natural gas production from the “Other States” category was down compared to the previous month for only the second time in nine months, but total U.S. natural gas production, which has of late been buoyed by that shale gas-rich category, still managed a 0.3% increase in September, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production Report.

A proposal before congress aimed at capturing a greater share of the revenues from offshore oil and natural gas drilling for the coastal states could increase the federal debt by more than $49 billion by 2040 while penalizing coastal states that oppose expanded offshore drilling, according to areport by the Center for American Progress (CAP).

Natural gas production in the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Other States category, which includes Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia — and, with them, some of the nation’s booming shale plays — reached 26.37 Bcf/d in July, compared with 26.13 Bcf/d in June and 22.67 Bcf/d in July 2012, EIA said Monday.