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North Dakota reviews oil train safety measures

North Dakota officials review rail safety after second derailment in less than a year. (Photo: Daniel J. Graeber) Rail operators in North Dakota have taken a good step forward on safety, though they’re likely to face further scrutiny, Gov. Jack Dalrymple said. Dalrymple met with officials from BNSF Railway to discuss rail safety in the state. The rail company, the government said, is facing pressure after two derailments near the town of Casselton in the same calendar year. Around 1 dozen empty crude oil tankers derailed Nov. 13 in Casselton from a BNSF-operated train. About 950 barrels of oil spilled when two trains operated by BNSF collided and derailed near Casselton in late December. The governor said the rail company outlined a series of ways it would ensure safety in and around Casselton following the latest derailment. "These actions are a good step forward to preventing further incidents and […]

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IHS: U.S. Shale Production Growth Will Slow, but Still Remain High

ND Pump Jack | Click to Enlarge The dip in oil prices isn’t making a huge impact yet on the vast majority of U.S. shale production. According to a report by research consultancy IHS Energy , most shale plays are economic and ~80% of potential drilling in 2015 would remain strong at WTI crude oil prices as low as $70 per barrel. “Since 2008 the cumulative growth in U.S. tight oil production has been 3.5 million b/d—far exceeding supply gains from the rest of the world combined—making tight oil the key driver of global supply growth,” said Jim Burkhard, Vice President, IHS. “While current lower crude oil prices do present challenges for new investment, IHS analysis shows that the vast majority of potential U.S. supply growth in 2015 remain economical at $70 for WTI.” WTI traded at ~$76 on Monday, a nearly 20% drop since September. As a result, Bakken operators, including Emerald […]

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Supreme Court to Review EPA Rule on Power Plant Emissions

The Supreme Court will review the first-ever national environmental standards requiring power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollutants. WSJ’s Amy Harder reports. Photo: Getty. WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to review the first-ever national environmental standards requiring power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollutants, saying it would decide whether the government should have considered how much the rules would cost utilities. The court’s action extends a saga that dates back more than two decades. Congress first required the Environmental Protection Agency to issue regulations in 1990, but the agency’s efforts had been stalled for years because of several factors, including lengthy court battles. The EPA rules, adopted in 2012, require coal and oil-fired power plants to cut most of their emissions of mercury, a neurotoxin the EPA says is particularly harmful for children, unborn babies and women […]

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Why Blocking Oil Pipelines Is Dangerous

Environmental activists are shown as they march through midtown protesting the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, in New York. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images ROBERT RAPIER: Crude oil and natural gas are both already transported all over the U.S. in enormous volumes. There is a 2.5 million-mile pipeline network underneath our feet that moves oil and gas all over the country. That is more than 50 times the length of the U.S. Interstate Highway System. These pipelines cross through national parks, rivers, underneath cities and above the nation’s aquifers—and there are pipelines crossing the U.S. border to the north and south. In addition to that, crude-oil volumes shipped by rail have increased rapidly in recent years. While protesters were trying to stop the 830,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Keystone XL Pipeline that would connect the oil sands in Alberta and the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, […]

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Shale gas provides largest share of U.S. natural gas production in 2013

Republished November 25, 2014, 10:15 a.m. to clarify graph title. Total U.S. natural gas gross withdrawals reached a new high at 82 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2013, with shale gas wells becoming the largest source of total natural gas production. Natural gas gross withdrawals are a measure of full well stream production including all natural gas plant liquids and nonhydrocarbon gases after oil, lease condensate, and water have been removed. According to the Natural Gas Annual , gross withdrawals from shale gas wells increased from 5 Bcf/d in 2007 to 33 Bcf/d in 2013, representing 40% of total natural gas production, and surpassing production from nonshale natural gas wells. New technology has enabled producers to shift production to resources that are now easier to reach and have lower drilling costs. These trends have been reflected in a lower market price of natural gas. In 2007, shale […]

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Canadian protesters defy authorities over Trans Mountain pipeline

A proposed pipeline expansion that would transport  tar sands oil  through a park in British Columbia has unified Canadians from all walks of life in their opposition to the project — which they said does not respect public opinion and could endanger both land and sea. “I’ve never seen in my 30 years of being environmentally active an issue that so galvanizes so many people,” said John Bennet, executive director of Sierra Club Canada. “It’s absolutely clear that the public, not just a handful of crazies willing to get arrested, don’t want it.” The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion proposed by Houston-based oil giant Kinder Morgan would see the line’s capacity nearly tripled to 890,000 barrels per day, bringing tar sands oil from Alberta to the British Columbia coast. It would also increase tanker traffic carrying the oil through the pristine waters local residents and First Nations groups depend on […]

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EPA To Propose Limit to Ozone Air Pollution Wednesday, Sources Say

WASHINGTON—The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to announce Wednesday a sweeping federal air-pollution standard limiting ground-level ozone, or smog, in the atmosphere, according to people familiar with the plan. The proposal will likely reanimate a battle between businesses and environmental groups that has been dormant for three years. In 2011, the EPA estimated that the proposed standard—set then at the toughest level the agency had yet considered—could cost utilities and other businesses as much as $90 billion a year. Mr. Obama delayed issuing it. The EPA will seek public comment on limiting ozone pollution between 65 and 70 parts per billion of ozone in the air, the people familiar with the matter said, which is in line with what an independent scientific advisory panel had recommended earlier this year. The current level, established in 2008 by the George W. Bush administration, is set at 75 parts per billion. Environmental […]

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Texas oil boom starts taking hits from cheap gas

Falling oil prices are causing some drilling companies to cut back on operations in Texas . Baker Hughes Inc. recently reported shutting down four of its rigs in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico.  Oil rig counts have also dropped in North Dakota’s Bakken shale formation. From this year’s peak, oil prices have dropped 29 percent and are causing a slowdown in oil drilling operations.  Since 2010, gasoline at the pump has reached an all-time low of under $3 per gallon, and crude oil is trading below $80 per barrel. According to Mike W. Thomas of the San Antonio Business Journal, “West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery settled at $76.51 a barrel recently on the New York Mercantile Exchange.” Pulitzer Prize-winning oil historian and vice chairman of IHS Inc. Daniel Yergin said that oil prices in the lower $70s over a period of six months would […]

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The Real Cost of Fracking: How America’s Shale Gas Boom Is Threatening Our Families, Pets, and Food

Resilience Published on Resilience (http://www.resilience.org) The first researchers to systematically document ill health in livestock, pets, and people living near fracking drill sites were Michelle Bamberger and Robert Oswald. Bamberger, a veterinarian, and Oswald, a professor of molecular medicine at Cornell University, used a case study approach–looking at individual households–to search for possible effects (Bamberger and Oswald 2012). Many fracking chemicals are known carcinogens, endocrine disruptors or other classes of toxins (Colborn et al. 2011). Bamberger and Oswald’s studies, carried out during the ongoing fracking boom, uncovered serious adverse effects including respiratory, reproductive, and growth-related problems in animals and a spectrum of symptoms in humans that they termed “shale gas syndrome”. Ultimately, their research led them to consider fracking’s broader implications for farming and the food system (Bamberger and Oswald 2012 and 2014). Their new book, The Real Cost of Fracking: How America’s Shale Gas Boom Is Threatening Our […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple