A major milestone was reached in the Permian Basin a few days ago. Chevron Corp. produced its 5 billionth barrel of oil from this U.S. formation. Overall, nearly 40 billion barrels of oil equivalent (oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids) have been produced by several companies in the basin since the 1920s, and it's still going strong.

The Permian Basin is a large depression in the Earth's crust stretching about 300 miles from western Texas to New Mexico. One out of every five barrels of domestic oil comes from the basin, which has been estimated to hold a total of about 100 billion barrels of oil equivalent. That's U.S. energy that can be used to produce products such as gasoline for American consumers.

Matt Insley of Daily Resource Hunter recently v... more »

There's a lot to like about Farmington, New Mexico. With a nice airport, rugged scenery in the Four Corners region, and a population of 46,000, it is a nice place to visit. But some of the city's residents are having a difficult time these days. The official unemployment rate in August was 10.4 percent.

Last week a Rally for Jobs was held in Farmington, giving residents the chance to tell their officials at the local, state and federal level about the importance of jobs.

Rallies for Jobs were held in five states in early September. More information is available here.

Plans are underway for upcoming rallies to be held in Canton, Ohio, on September 7 and Farmington, N.M. and Joliet, Ill., on September 8. In the meantime, check out the video below from yesterday's kick-off rallies in Texas.

Thousands of America's energy workers attended the rallies in Houston, Port Arthur and Corpus Christi, and many expressed their sincere concern for America's energy future.

Rallies are being held in five states during September. More information is available on the Rally for Jobs website.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today announced the imposition of new regulatory hurdles that could slow or prohibit drilling for oil and natural gas on energy-rich federal lands.

In what has become increasingly familiar double-talk from this administration, Sec. Salazar spoke of the importance of domestic oil and natural gas, while making it more difficult to produce this oil and gas, put more Americans back to work and help restore our nation's economy.

Under the guise of offering certainty for investors, Sec. Salazar has taken steps to further delay and limit American energy resources for all Americans.

Since Salazar has taken his position, revenues from federal onshore oil and gas leasing in the five states that make up the Inter-Mountain West (Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wy... more »

It's always interesting to see how politicians use different words to describe the same thing. For example, some members of Congress call the Waxman-Markey bill that narrowly passed in the House an energy bill, while others call it a climate bill. In truth, it is a tax bill that, according to studies, threatens to sharply raise gasoline and diesel fuel costs as well as eliminate millions of jobs.

Now a new poll suggests that once registered voters focus on the potential impact of a Waxman-Markey type bill, about two-thirds oppose it. The poll, conducted by Harris Interactive in several states, shows that 65 percent of voters in New Mexico oppose the bill, along with 67 percent of voters in North Carolina, 63 percent of voters in Ohio, and 62 percent of voters in Texas. In each state, only... more »