natural gas

On 28 April, Koch’s lobbyist met with Lee Foulger, an EU cabinet member working under European Commissioner Jonathan Hill. Hill’s team works on financial stability, financial services and the Capital Markets Union – Europe's flagship project to build a single finance market for all 28 Member States.

Late last week, legislative and lobbyist members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) voted on model legislation promoting both exports of gas obtained via fracking and vehicles powered by compressed natural gas (CNG). Dubbed a “corporate bill mill” by its critics, ALEC is heavily engaged in a state-level effort to attack renewable energy and grease the skids for exports of U.S. oil and gas.

Dominion Resources' proposal to build a liquefied natural gas export facility is dividing residents of the quiet town of Lusby on the Chesapeake Bay. Some residents are worried about increased air pollution, but others are all for the jobs and tax dollars it could bring in. On Wednesday, the House votes on GOP legislation aimed at expediting federal approval for projects like Dominion's, which Republicans argue will help U.S. allies. It faces a tougher battle in the Senate.

As the Obama administration inches toward a major expansion of natural gas exports, one of the thorniest questions is how that growth will affect greenhouse gas emissions, possibly worsening the problem of global warming.

Though the president and federal Environmental Protection Agency are on the brink of issuing new rules for existing coal-fired power plants, a Cornell University professor says natural gas deserves a bit of attention, too.

After generations of state control, Mexico’s vast oil and gas reserves will soon open for business to the international market. In December 2013, Mexico’s Congress voted to break up the longstanding monopoly held by the state-owned oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos — commonly called Pemex — and to open the nation’s oil and gas reserves to foreign companies.

Republican members of Colorado’s House of Representatives just voted to cut Coloradans out of oil and gas decisions for public lands administered by the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management, in a move to make it much easier for companies to set up shop fracking and drilling.

Authors of a new study published recently in Geophysical Research Letters found that the natural-gas industry is failing to prevent significant amounts of its product from escaping into the air. The leaks lose millions of dollars in potential profits and raise new questions about the true environmental benefits that come from relying increasingly on gas as an energy source.

Around the country, nuclear power plants are shuttering their doors as the cost of regulations and repairs skyrocket. For major utility corporations, natural gas is a cheaper alternative.

From Texas to Pennsylvania to Michigan, energy companies (including foreign corporations) are outright stealing land from American citizens who refuse to give up their property. Who will stand tall for land owners? How can Americans allow this practice of greed continue?