Fox Business News reports that because of surging shale energy development, overall oil production in the U.S. has become less susceptible to disruption from Gulf of Mexico hurricanes – even as the hurricane season officially opened over the weekend. Fox:

The U.S. is less dependent on production in the federal Gulf of Mexico, where hurricanes are more likely to cause disruptions. In 1997, 26% of the nation’s natural gas was produced there. By 2012, the Gulf of Mexico’s share fell to 6%. Oil production has also made a big shift to inland basins, thanks to booming shale plays in North Dakota and Texas.  The Gulf’s share of crude oil production in the U.S. narrowed to 19% last year from 26% in 2007 to 2011.Therefore, the impact of hurricanes on oil and natural gas production has been l... more »

Later this year EPA is expected to propose stricter ozone standards that could lower the current 75 parts per billion (ppb) limit to 60 ppb. First, a map showing areas of the country (in red) that exceed current 75 ppb standards, enacted in 2008:

Certainly, areas in red have a ways to go to meet ozone standards – but, obviously, much of the country is in compliance. Now, a map showing (orange and red) how much of the U.S. would be out of compliance if standards were set at 60 ppb:

We’ll do the calculating for you: At 60 ppb, 97 percent of the U.S. population would live in places out of compliance and subject to new emissions requirements. Virtually any human activity producing emissions could be restricted or affected. Howard Feldman, API’s director for regulatory and scientifi... more »

Comments on the potential of U.S. natural gas from new Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, in a video posted to his Facebook page:

“The way I look at it is that this natural gas boom is a boon. First of all, we all know that it is partially responsible for the decrease in CO2 emissions that we have experienced over the last years in the absence of, at least, over-arching legislation. Secondly, what I would argue is that the way to look at it – and, you know, as gas as kind of a bridge to a very low carbon future – is that it affords us a little bit more time to develop the technologies, to lower the costs of the alternative technologies, to get the market penetration of these new technologies.”

In other words, Moniz is saying that developing our natural gas reserves is key to our ener... more »

Free Enterprise – Keystone XL: Real Benefits for the U.S.

Sean Hackbarth notes  Keystone XL pipeline developments this week: The House Transportation Committee advanced  a bill that would allow construction of the full pipeline – the third congressional committee to do so; Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in New York City touting  the project’s benefits  for both the U.S. and Canada; and a small business owner in Maryland told the president that businesses like his  would get a boost from the project.

The Hill – DOE Approves Natural Gas Export Project

A Texas LNG  facility has the green light from DOE  for exports to non-free trade nations. DOE noted that project opponents “have not demonstrated that the requested authorization would be inconsistent with the public int... more »

There’s no evidence of groundwater contamination from shale natural gas production in Arkansas’ Fayetteville play. So says a new study by a team of Duke University-U.S. Geological Survey scientists. Their key conclusions:

"Our results show no discernible impairment of groundwater quality in areas associated with natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing. … Only a fraction of the groundwater samples we collected contained dissolved methane, mostly in low concentrations, and the isotopic fingerprint of the carbon in the methane in our samples was different from the carbon in deep shale gas in all but two cases.” – Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment

"These findings demonstrate that shale gas development, at... more »