U.S. Representative Tom Reed (R-NY) recently introduced into Congress the Defense of Property Rights Act (H.R. 510), which would allow landowners affected by New York’s hydraulic fracturing ban to sue the government over agency action that “unreasonab(…)
On April 1, 2014, a group of eight U.S. House Democrats sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) urging the agency to address alleged water contamination near drilling sites in Dimock, Pennsylvania; Pavillion, Wyoming; and Par(…)
This week the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a trio of key energy bills. In addition to the bill that would limit federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing, the House also passed two bills that include provisions aimed at reforming fede(…)
In order to fill vacancies at the Department of the Interior, President Obama recently nominated Janice Schneider as Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, a move welcomed by Secretary Sally Jewell. Currently an environment and energy(…)
U.S. Senator John Rockefeller (D-WV), Chair of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, recently asked the Government Accountability Office to assess the impact of current shale oil and gas development on the nation’s existing transportati(…)
The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is hosting a series of three “public listening sessions” to gather information from stakeholders with an interest in federal policy concerning natural gas issues. The first session, held in a rou(…)
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Ernest Moniz as the new Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. Most recently, Moniz worked as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Moniz replaces Steven Chu, who stepped down in F(…)
Today the U.S. Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works voted 10-8 in favor of advancing Gina McCarthy’s nomination for EPA Administrator. The nomination now moves to the full Senate for consideration.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has rescheduled the vote on the nomination of Gina McCarthy for EPA Administrator for May 16, 2013. The Committee was forced to reschedule the vote in light of a boycott last week by Republica(…)
Reuters reports that all eight Republican members of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee refused to participate in a scheduled vote on May 9, 2013. The boycott prevented Gina McCarthy’s nomination from proceeding to the next step,(…)
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has announced that the Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a vote May 9, 2013, on Gina McCarthy’s nomination to serve as the next Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. McCarthy appea(…)
Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it is extending by more than six months the deadline for the public to submit scientific data and literature to inform EPA’s study of the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinki(…)
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a field hearing in Charleston, West Virginia, to discuss pipeline safety issues in the wake of the December 2012 gas pipeline incident in Sissonville, West Virginia. T(…)