A new report conducted on behalf of API by Robert Shapiro of Sonecon, LLC, examines the financial impact of investments in oil and natural gas companies on the overall performance of the two largest public employee pension funds in each of four states - Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The data shows these investments sharply out-performed the funds' other assets.

In this podcast, Shapiro, the former undersecretary of commerce to President Bill Clinton, discusses the new study that builds on a 2007 Sonecon report that showed millions of Americans own oil and natural gas holdings through mutual funds, pensions, and 401(k)s. Only 1.5 percent of holdings are with corporate management.

Use the audio player below to listen to information about the article and follow along with the sho... more »

"Public pensions rely on two major sources for funding -- employee and employer contributions and investment returns. Although the government contributions have recently been the center of political debates in many states, investment assets play a key role in keeping promises made to public employees by providing more than half the funds' revenues." (Reuters 21 Apr 2011)

Investments do play a key role in keeping our promises to public employees and oil and natural gas companies play an important part in those investments. Twenty-seven percent of America's oil and natural gas company shares are held by pension funds, and those holdings are providing a significantly larger return than other assets in state pension plans in Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to a new stu... more »

If you're following March Madness this year, you're probably aware that Ohio State is the top seed in the NCAA basketball tournament this year. Buckeye fans are thrilled, of course, and are hoping their team advances through the competition and becomes Number One in the nation.

But there's a new game in Ohio that could bring another type of success to the state. It's the search for oil and natural gas believed to exist below Ohio's surface in some untapped sandstone pockets and in the massive Utica Shale formation.

The Utica Shale is a rock formation that stretches from Ontario to Tennessee. It is larger than the Marcellus Shale and lies beneath it. In parts of Pennsylvania, it is about two miles beneath the surface, but in Ohio it rises to a depth of about 6,000 to 2,... more »

Interest is rising in a relatively new natural gas discovery called the Utica Shale. It lies beneath the Marcellus Shale and stretches from Canada's Quebec Province through Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, western Virginia and into West Virginia.

Reuters reports that a few companies have drilled successful test wells that have yielded promising quantities of natural gas. Range Resources Corp. says it will release more details of its test results in coming months. "Even though it's still very early," Matt Pitzarella, a spokesman for Range, told Reuters, "the prospects are very good."

Although the Utica and other shale formations are not expected to contain as much natural gas as the Marcellus formation, Pennsylvania State geologist Terry Engelder says they are attractive to drillers because of... 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 »