California Lawmakers Making a Strong Push to Ban Hydraulic Fracturing
California appellate court overturns Monterey County fracking ban - Courthouse News Service – October 12 - A California appeals court on Tuesday set aside a Monterey County measure banning hydraulic fracturing, or...more
Governor Newsom moves to ban hydraulic fracturing by 2024 - NPR – April 23 - Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans last Friday to ban hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, by 2024 as part of a longer-term...more
Bill targeting PFAS and PFOS chemicals reintroduced in House - Courthouse News Service – April 13 - On Tuesday, the bipartisan PFAS Action Act was introduced for the second time in the U.S. House of Representatives,...more
On 8 July 2019, the Western Australian State Government (State Government) announced that it had released a new Implementation Plan (Plan). The 18-month transitional Plan is the State Government's response to the Final...more
Revised Definition of "Waters of the United States" - Proposed Rule - "The agencies' proposal is the second step in a two-step process to review and revise the definition of 'waters of the United States' consistent with...more
Oil Soars After Trump Nixes Iran Nuclear Deal, Stocks Rally - "Crude oil prices rose more than 3 percent on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from a nuclear accord with Iran, a move that...more
Oil World Turns Upside Down as U.S. Sells Oil in Middle East - "Yet, in a trade that illustrates how the rise of the American shale industry is upending energy markets across the globe, the U.A.E. bought oil directly from...more
EPA Moves to Repeal Obama's Clean Power Plan Coal Regs - "EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced Monday that the Trump administration is moving to scrap the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration's signature...more
U.S. District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl in State of Wyoming et al v. U.S. Department if Interior et al. struck down Bureau of Land Management regulations applying to hydraulic fracking on federal and Indian lands. He...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - Proceeds from cap-and-trade auction fall far short of targets - Los Angeles Times - May 25 - The latest auction in California’s cap-and-trade market for greenhouse gases fell...more
In March 2015, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) became the most prominent governmental entity to join in on the attempts to regulate hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. More specifically, the DOI’s sweeping...more
In the past ten days, the federal government has articulated different views on the utility and effectiveness of FracFocus, a website used by many operators to report the chemicals used to fracture their wells. In its final...more
The process of hydraulic fracturing (also known simply as “fracking”) continues to divide the public and public policymakers, even as resulting lower natural gas prices have encouraged industries, including many power plants,...more
On Wednesday, January 28, the Senate voted against Amendment 48 which would allow the federal Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) to regulate hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) on state and private lands. The measure was...more
In This Issue: - Energy and Climate Debate - Congress - Department of Agriculture - Department of Commerce - Department of Energy - Department of Interior - Environmental...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - Richmond approves massive Chevron refinery project with $90 million in community benefits: Contra Costa Times - Jul 30: Chevron's five year-plus quest to initiate a $1 billion upgrade...more
At a conference in Los Angeles at the end of July, the chair of the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), Felicia Marcus, noted that the Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources...more
During 2012, several states adopted new statutory and regulation programs addressing the exploitation of shale resources within their boundaries. Continuing a common election year theme, Congress took no significant formal...more