Energy Forum News

Speakers tout safety of fracking practices
Speakers from the American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying arm for the oil and gas industry, said Thursday that the energy industry's self-policing standards should serve as a model for how North Carolina can regulate natural gas exploration and hydraulic fracturing.

3 Industries Thriving From Record-Low Natural Gas Prices
Low natural gas prices aren't bad for everyone. A few other industries are seeing enormous boosts with cheap, readily available natural gas.

Don't Frack Me Up: Correcting Misinformation On Hydraulic Fracturing
Forbes sets the record straight with facts about fracking, not playing on emotion like many of the frac-tivists do.

Energy plays key role in Obama's State of the Union
For the third year in a row energy played a central role in President Obama's State of the Union address, with the president leaning hard this year on the twin themes of increased domestic oil and gas production and the need to invest more in renewable sources.

TransCanada Pipeline Bill Would Force U.S. Permit Within 60 Days
Senate Republicans introduced a bill that would require the Secretary of State to issue a U.S. permit for the Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days. This still "provides adequate time for Nebraska to shift the route of the pipeline" while allowing construction to begin elsewhere.

Obama punts Keystone XL pipeline
The State Department on Thursday announced that it's punting a decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline until at least the first quarter of 2013. House Speaker John Boehner responded: "More than 20,000 new American jobs have just been sacrificed in the name of political expediency".

New U.S. Offshore Oil Leasing Plan Includes Arctic
The Administration's newly proposed offshore leasing plan draws mixed reviews from leaders, industry and environmental groups.

Gulf Offshore Could Support 400,000 Jobs
According to a new study, the Gulf offshore oil and gas industry supported more than 240,000 jobs across the country. And "... if exploration and development permitting return to historic levels and backlogged projects are processed, the Gulf offshore industry could help create an additional 190,000 jobs by 2013."

Keystone XL Pipeline Video
Learn more about the value of the Keystone XL Pipeline and how to submit Public Comments to the State Department to move the approval process forward!

3-state compact for offshore energy in NC bill
North Carolina has the opportunity to join with South Carolina and Virginia to create jobs and revenue by developing offshore energy.

No such thing as 'idle leases'
There are no "idle leases", counter to the Department of Interior study that says 70 percent of federal Gulf of Mexico leases and 57 percent of federal onshore leases "are not producing or not subject to approved or pending exploration or development plans."

Can We Do Without the Mideast?
Imagine a foreign policy version of the movie "Groundhog Day," with Bill Murray playing the president of the United States. The alarm clock rings. Political mayhem is again shaking the Middle East, crude oil and gasoline prices are climbing, and an economic recovery is under threat. Is this what we are facing once again?

Oil Spill Panel Calls for New Rules and Spending
The President's National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill And Offshore Drilling issued its Final Report today.

John Hofmeister: Oil Could Reach $150 Range by Late 2012
John Hofmeister, Former President and CEO of U.S. Operations for Shell Oil and Founder and CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy cites clear-cut reasons to remove barriers to development of America's domestic energy resources.

EPA Again Delays Tighter Ozone Restrictions until July 2011
The EPA announced that it will wait until July to set new limits on ground-level ozone, delaying a final decision for the third time in a year of tge potentially costly environmental rule.

Barack Obama reverses on offshore drilling
In a damaging move for our nation's energy security and economy, the Interior Department said it would not propose oil exploration off the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines or the eastern Gulf of Mexico for at least seven years.

EPA Plans Late-December Release for New Ozone Standard
The EPA has pushed its deadline for issuing its final ruling on the new, lower ozone regulations. Good news since "These regulations are going to slow down business expansion and our economic recovery..." per Howard Feldman, director of regulatory and scientific affairs at the American Petroleum Institute.

Industry, business groups urge senators to block EPA's greenhouse gas rules
Nearly two-dozen industry and business groups urge senators to restrict funding for EPA limits on greenhouse gases - limits which would impose "substantial costs and burdens on U.S. jobs and state resources".

New Smog Proposals From EPA Draw Fire
Read about the reasons why EPA is getting pushback on its proposal to lower the ozone standard from 75 ppb to 60 ppb.

EPA's Proposal to Reduce Ozone Standard Would Harm Economy, Manufacturers
A new study conducted by the Manufacturers Alliance indicates that as many as 7.3 million jobs could be lost by 2020 if the EPA implements its new 60 ppb ozone standard.