Author name: Michael Giberson

Doe Shale Gas Hearings, Day 1: Companies Want State, Not Fed Regulation; Environmentalists Suspicious of Panel Bias

Michael Giberson FuelFix has the run down on the first day of the U.S. Department of Energy’s hearings on shale gas fracking regulation. The title above offers captures much of the tone: Company execs urged regulation of fracking at the state level, rather than federal level; Environmental groups saw significant pro-energy industry bias among the advisory panel …

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Do Anti-price Gouging Laws Help the Victims of Natural Disaster?

Michael Giberson At the LegalMatch Law Blog, Sonya Ziaja editorializes in favor of laws against price gouging: Natural forces are blind to what they destroy. People aren’t. In the past month, tornadoes and flooding in the South and Midwest left behind crippled lives, destroyed homes, and eviscerated infrastructure. Now as the victims of the tornadoes …

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Another Data Point on Oil and Gas Shale Fracking Profitability

Michael Giberson Marathon Oil has agreed to pay $3.5 billion to acquire the Eagle Ford holdings of privately-owned Hilcorp Resources, about $25,000 per acre. The Eagle Ford is primarily a oil shale resource. Among other things, the purchase provides another public data point about the production promise of fracked shale resources. Much of the public …

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Texas Legislature Passes Fracking Disclosure Bill

Michael Giberson The Texas legislature has passed the nation’s first hydraulic fracturing fluids disclosure bill. The governor is expected to sign the bill into law. The text of the bill is available from the Texas Legislature Online website. In summary, a oil or gas well operator performing hydraulic fracturing will have to disclose the volume …

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Billionaire Boone Pickens Can’t Understand Why the Billionaire Koch Brothers Don’t Support the Slimmed Pickens Plan

Michael Giberson Koch Industries and various groups supported by the Koch brothers’ political donations are opposed the Boone Picken’s plan to provide government subsidies to anyone who makes or buys natural gas power vehicles. The position seems consistent with the Koch’s generally libertarian policy outlook, though the company is involved in the natural gas industry …

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CFTC Files Oil Market Manipulation Case

Michael Giberson At Streetwise Professor, Craig Pirrong examines the CFTC’s case against alleged oil market manipulators Parnon Energy, Arcadia Petroleum LTD and Arcadia Energy (Suisse), all affiliates of the trading firm Arcadia. Whatever the ultimate merits of the case, he says the CFTC is going to have trouble making the charges stick. In part the …

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Eagle Ford Shale Providing Oil Production Boost

Michael Giberson Much of the talk about hydraulic fracturing of shale has been about natural gas, but the method is being used to develop oil shale as well. The New York Times is bringing the news to the east coast, “Shale Boom in Texas Could Increase U.S. Oil Output,” and Texas newspapers have been covering the …

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Hydraulic Fracturing Panel Discussion at Aei

Michael Giberson Kenneth Green hosted a panel discussion on the environmental consequences of hydraulic fracturing at the American Enterprise Institute. Panelists were: Ron Bailey of Reason Magazine, Mark Brownstein from the Environmental Defense Fund, Timothy Considine from the University of Wyoming, and Amy Mall of the Natural Resources Defense Council. The video above is just a short sound bite by Ron Bailey, …

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