Department of the Interior

Congressional Energy Roundup

Congress Struggles With Funding Repairs To U.S. Capitol Dome

Fracking Insider Readers. Below, please find this week’s Congressional activity on oil and gas issues.

Arctic drilling

Amazing regulation is bad for Shell, walruses, and people, all at the same time.

Anti-Fracking Activists Rally In Washington

President Barack Obama came into Tuesday’s State of the Union address with some pretty compelling environmental credentials. On his watch, the U.S. has led the world in cutting carbon emissions, the use of renewables has dramatically expanded, and the Obama White House has consistently pushed to raise taxes and increase regulation on the oil and… Keep reading →

Oil Boom Shifts The Landscape Of Rural North Dakota

Petroleum geologist, with a median salary of $183,000, ranked #6 on a CNN-Payscale list of the country’s top 100 jobs. Also on the list were reservoir engineer (10), petroleum engineer (25), geophysicist (55) and other energy-specific titles. Apparently the financial side of the business is less fun…energy analyst came in at #100. Energy blogger didn’t make… Keep reading →

The sun sets on photovoltaic solar panel

The following is an excerpt from an Energy Solutions Forum Policy Primer for the New York Energy Week Series Breakfast, Solar Financing Market Perspectives. Solar energy provides significant amounts of electricity with no direct greenhouse gas emissions. Investment tax credits for solar energy projects, federal funding programs and renewable energy portfolios have increased the industry’s ability… Keep reading →

The sun sets behind two under constructi

The Offshore Energy and Jobs Act introduces reforms to revive offshore drilling, including a new five-year leasing plan aimed to expand drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific coastal regions.  On May 30, 2013, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) introduced a bill to expand offshore drilling to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts by… Keep reading →

View of the partially frozen Yellowstone

Opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to exploration and development has long been a contentious issue, and Alaska Governor Sean Parnell made a push earlier this week to reopen the debate. Parnell presented Interior Secretary Sally Jewell with a detailed proposal for a seven-year program to conduct 3-D seismic exploration of ANWR area 1002… Keep reading →

Gulf Oil Spill Begins To Reach Land As BP Struggles To Contain Leak

North America has seen its share of oil spills of late, including an ExxonMobil pipeline leak in Arkansas  and a Chevron diesel pipeline leak in Utah, both within the first few months of the year. Canadian Pacific Railway is keeping the trend going. A Canadian Pacific-operated train carrying crude oil from Saskatchewan derailed on Tuesday,… Keep reading →


Plans to build the first US undersea transmission system for offshore wind farms advanced on Monday when the federal government said there was no competition for the proposed project, which can now be subject to an environmental review without being delayed by an auction.

The US Department of the Interior issued a finding of no competitive interest on the plan by Atlantic Grid Holdings to build the $5 billion Atlantic Wind Connection, a 300-mile transmission line off five mid-Atlantic states to take as much as 7,000 megawatts of wind-turbine capacity from yet-to-be-built offshore wind farms. Keep reading →


The head of the American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday signaled a thaw in relations between major oil companies and the Obama administration, telling reporters that the White House has started more constructive talks with the lobby on energy development.

“We have noticed a marked change in our dialogue, perhaps just over the last three or four months,” API President Jack Gerard told reporters. “We have opened a dialogue that is constructive and we give credit where it is due: the president and his people are having a more open dialogue with us.” Keep reading →

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