Submitted

Jon Wellinghoff, whose term as FERC Chairman is due to expire June 30, has submitted a letter of resignation to President Obama, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The federal government’s budget sequestration has hit the Energy Information Administration (EIA), forcing the agency to suspend publication of its Annual Energy Review (AER) and its companion publication, Energy Perspectives. The publications, which were to have come out later this year, were to have included data compiled during 2012.

The Barnett Shale’s natural gas production potential is “slowly declining;” however, total resource recovery from the granddaddy of shale plays is expected to be three times what has been produced to date, according to research conducted by the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG) at The University of Texas at Austin and funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead submitted his slate of agency, board and commission appointments to his state Senate, including 10 that impact the energy sector. Mead reappointed Todd Parfitt as head of the state Department of Environmental Quality and Bill Russell as one of the three-member Public Service Commission (PSC), along with adding a new PSC nominee, Kara Brighton. For the 12-member Energy Resource Council at the University of Wyoming, he reappointed Carl Bauer, a private-sector consultant; resubmitted two earlier appointments from last year, Martha Wyrsch from Vestas American Wind; and Jeane Hull from Peabody Energy; and added two industry representatives, Tom Botts, a retired Shell Oil executive, and David Emery, CEO at Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. Among the other agency/commission appointments are Mark Doelger to the Oil/Gas Commission, and Bill Hawks who was reappointed to the Wyoming Pipeline Authority. The state Senate has five days to approve or reject the appointments.

The Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGA) has submitted 119 pages of comments to the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), just before the deadline to comment on the proposed rules governing high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF).

The Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGA) has submitted 119 pages of comments to the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), just before the deadline to comment on the proposed rules governing high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF).

A socially focused investor group has submitted a shareholder resolution aimed at reducing volumes of flared natural gas at oil wellheads. Mercy Investment Services has targeted Oklahoma-based Continental Resources Inc., the leading exploration and production (E&P) operator in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale and Three Forks plays.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Wednesday approved a “land-into-trust” application submitted by the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in western North Dakota to build the first U.S. refinery in decades — in the heart of the Bakken shale formation.

A citizens’ advisory task force on Wednesday submitted its final recommendation for cleaning up the air in the Upper Green River Basin to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), prompting praise from Gov. Matt Mead.