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Energy Policy Blog

100 companies that grew out of federally funded research at universities and national laboratories are highlighted by a new report from The Science Coalition.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Energy Policy Blog

The substantial, and growing, contribution of energy efficiency to world energy is the focus of a new series of monthly reports by International Energy Agency (IEA), Energy Efficiency Market Report.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Energy Policy Blog

Sage grouse are being considered for protection as an endangered or threatened species. Based on a court-ordered settlement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has until 2015 to make its decision. The Endangered Species Act allows for listing a species if there is current or potential destruction of its habitat or range. Last week the FWS announced that it proposes to list greater sage grouse in Nevada and California as threatened.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Energy Policy Blog

A last-minute legislative flurry keeps the Federal Helium Reserve open. The reserve was slated to close on October 7, based on a 1996 law intended to get the government out of the helium business. The Helium Stewardship Act of 2013 became law on October 2–well, five days may not seem like the last minute in this Congress.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Energy Policy Blog

EPA raised its estimate of the cost of future damage from CO2 emissions from $42 to $65 per metric ton of CO2 emitted in 2020. The lower number is the 2010 estimate; the higher number is the 2013 estimate.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Energy Policy Blog

Recently there has been good news about fugitive methane emissions from natural gas systems: emission rates are going down–in 2013 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that U.S. emissions decreased by 1.6 percent from 2010 to 2011.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Energy Policy Blog

In June Chaparral Energy began injecting CO2 into one of Oklahoma’s giant oilfields, the North Burbank unit in Burbank field. The unit has produced 315,000 barrels of oil, and the entire Burbank field has produced over 500,000 barrels of oil since 1920. The CO2 is captured at a Coffeyville, Kan. fertilizer plant and piped 68 miles to the oilfield. The Unit was waterflooded for over 35 years and steam flooding, surfactant-polymer flooding and polymer flooding have been tried in the past.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Energy Policy Blog

Truck traffic is a major concern to people living in areas with shale gas development. The website Marcellus-Shale.US commented, “Other than water issues, one of the greatest impacts Marcellus Gas Drilling has on the general public is truck traffic.”

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Energy Policy Blog

Congress is on its five-week summer recess and it seems like a good time to tally up the progress of this Congress on hydraulic fracturing. For several years senators and representatives on one side of the issue have been calling for stricter regulation; the other side has been arguing for regulation by the states rather than the federal government.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Energy Policy Blog

The annual appropriation process is intended to produce 12 spending bills that provide funding for government agencies, and congressional operations, for the fiscal year that starts October 1.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

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