Common sense should be applied to a federal transparency proposal – the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s pending Section 1504 rule that would make U.S. energy companies disclose what they pay foreign governments and the U.S. government for projects in those countries. The rule also should be consistent with administration policy … as in a directive from the president himself.

The president’s May 1, 2012, executive order, promoting international regulatory harmony and reducing unnecessary business costs by aligning U.S. regulations with those in other nations, appears applicable to Section 1504 – which looks like a harmony wrecker and more.

In written comments to the commission, API Vice President and General Counsel Harry Ng argues Section 1504 could bring U.S. companies int... more »

On EPA's proposal to regulate emissions from oil and natural gas drilling, API's Howard Feldman, director of regulatory and scientific affairs, has suggestions including:

• Take more time - Four months isn't long enough to consider sweeping rules that Feldman says would affect hundreds of thousands of natural gas development operations.
• Longer time frame for implementation - Once regulations are finalized, industry will need years to manufacture the equipment needed for compliance and to train operators to use it. "The equipment prescribed to conduct reduced emission well completions will simply not be available in time to comply with the current final rule schedule," Feldman says.
• Improved cost analysis - EPA's analysis uses a model that doesn't represent all the equipment and compliance c... more »

The oil and natural gas industry thinks EPA's proposed rules on emissions from drilling and refining operations are reasonable. Repeating: Proposed rules pertaining to emissions from oil and gas activities appear to be workable, given the time to properly implement them.

That's what industry is saying as the agency collects public comment on its proposals at hearings around the country. "Some rules are worse than others, and this rule is not the end of the world as long as we can get time to implement it," Howard Feldman, API's director of regulatory and scientific affairs, told the Wall Street Journal [subscription required].

Last week Feldman and Khary Cauthen, API's director of federal relations, told reporters that industry needs additional time before the ending of the public comments... more »

Take more time, EPA. Take more time. Proposed emissions rules related to oil and natural gas development should be carefully crafted, with proper input from affected parties. That's the message from industry, which otherwise will have to scramble to respond constructively to EPA's proposal.

Simply put, the oil and natural gas industry needs more time to tell EPA what it thinks of emissions rules that will affect drilling, producing and transporting oil and natural gas, including hydraulic fracturing operations. As things stand, the period for public comments on the rules expires at the end of next month. Industry would like a 60-day extension after that. Howard Feldman, API's director of regulatory and scientific affairs:

"We do not oppose rules to help manage upstream emissions, but we ar... more »

The regulators are coming. They are marching into your communities and into your local businesses. They are usurping the rights of state governments. And they are trying to change the nation's primary clean air law to make it suit their purposes.

These regulators are from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and their goal is to twist and turn the language in the Clean Air Act (CAA) to regulate greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). It's estimated that six million stationary GHG sources, ranging from large industries to big-box stores, churches, athletic complexes, malls, office buildings and farms, would have to get permits to emit GHGs under the EPA's proposed regulations. And the states, charged with managing the permitting process, will be swamped. Many states say they don't have enoug... more »