Time to set the record straight on EPA’s premature approval of E15 fuel for the marketplace – necessitated by EPA administrator nominee Gina McCarthy’s recent inaccurate and misleading responses to Senate questions about E15 testing. McCarthy was asked:

“Was EPA aware of ongoing (Coordinating Research Council) testing on engine durability, fuel pumps and other engine components? Why not wait until that test was complete before making a decision? Because in the aftermath it looks like the decision was, at best, premature. The CRC data shows millions of approved vehicles are in danger of engine damage.”

Let’s take on the faulty claims in McCarthy’s written responses in turn:

EPA or the Energy Department was “expressly denied” a role in CRC’s E15 testing program: False

• EPA, D... more »

EPA’s proposed Tier 3 rule requiring refiners to further reduce sulfur levels in gasoline is just one part of a regulatory wave being unleashed by the agency that would provide limited benefits at significant cost.

An ENVIRON analysis found that gasoline sulfur reductions equivalent to those in the proposed Tier 3 rule would “yield only very small additional improvements” in air quality, while a Baker & O'Brien study shows Tier 3 carrying a price tag for refiners totaling $10 billion in capital costs and $2.4 billion in annual compliance costs. According to Baker & O’Brien, that could add 6 to 9 cents per gallon to the cost of making gasoline – which already contains 90 percent less sulfur than it did a decade ago.

This scenario of high cost for virtually no benefit that characterize... more »

The Advocate – Our Views: Riches Await in the Gulf

The Baton Rouge, La., paper touts the energy potential in the Gulf of Mexico after Interior Secretary Sally Jewell’s recent visit to an offshore rig there. The editorial backs Jewell’s statement that “maintaining the public’s trust in the safety and environmental performance of oil and gas production is critically important as we continue to tap into the Gulf’s abundant resource potential.” 

TribLIVE – How’s the Economy? Looking Up

Washington County, Pa., leads the greater Pittsburgh region in terms of economic development projects, energy production and job creation – thanks to natural gas development and hydraulic fracturing. 

The Oklahoman – Proposed EPA Standards  Could Fuel Higher Gasoline Prices

The newspaper  highlights... more »

It’s one thing to have genuine differences over energy regulatory policy – as the oil and natural gas industry has with EPA’s proposed Tier 3 rule further lowering sulfur levels in gasoline. It’s quite another to see that the rulemaking process is being gamed.

API highlighted substantive and procedural concerns about the Tier 3 proposal at recent public hearings. The rule would require refiners – who invested about $9 billion over the past decade to reduce sulfur in gasoline 90 percent (300 parts per million to 30 ppm) – to lower sulfur content another 6 percent, to 10 ppm. According to one study, the reduction would produce little environmental benefit, while another said it could add 6 to 9 cents per gallon to the cost of making gasoline. API Senior Policy Advisor Patrick Kelly, f... more »

The Atlantic – How Oil Made Working-Class North Dakota a Whole Lot Richer

In North Dakota’s Bakken Shale formation, Americans have been able to find high-paying work in the oil and natural gas industry as the state’s employment number grew by more than 35 percent from 2007 to 2011. But another part of this American success story is that jobs and paychecks have surged across industries – including technical services, transport, construction and food services.

Reuters Canada – TransCanada to Build $900 Million Alberta Oil Pipeline, Terminal

Keystone XL opponents claim that stopping the pipeline will keep Canada’s oil sands in the ground. However, as the U.S. waits for President Obama to decide on the Keystone XL Canada is moving forward with plans to move its growing crude oil suppli... more »