President Obama’s unsurprising Feb. 24 veto of the bill authorizing construction of the final key leg of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada through Nebraska took place in private. There was no news conference, no ceremony, no gathering of bill opponents standing behind the President, no TV cameras. The Administration only made a modest statement announcing the veto.
It also means that there continues to be no resolution to the highest-profile energy policy issue of the last decade.
All Presidents and their Administrations have great potential to make people angry with the decisions they make and actions they take. President Obama’s Administration, however, scored a rare “two-fer” when it unveiled its newest approach to accessing oil and gas resources in regions where drilling wasn’t previously allowed.
Airline executives, resort developers, cigar and rum importers and even bankers may be excited about the new business opportunities created by President Obama’s controversial plans to normalize relations with communist Cuba.
But oil producers? Not so much.
It’s no coincidence that the proposed merger of the second- and third-largest oil field services is coming together against the backdrop of the biggest drop in oil prices in nearly five years.
No. 2 Halliburton and No. 3 Baker Hughes reached agreement in mid-November on a $34.6 billion deal that would, upon consummation and the expected sale and/or spinoffs of certain units to appease antitrust regulators, make the combined company almost as big and powerful as Schlumberger, currently the global leader in oil field services.
A real heavyweight title match is about to begin in Washington.
In one corner is a group of the nation’s largest oil and natural gas producers eager to see the 39-year-old ban on the export of American crude oil to foreign nations lifted in part or in whole.
There’s a good news/bad news situation developing in the price of oil.
The Obama Administration may have effectively stalled – for now – the Keystone Pipeline, but Toronto-based pipeline and distribution giant Enbridge is moving to demonstrate that Washington cannot entirely block the flow of heavy Canadian Tar Sands crude in the United States.
Oil and gas production in Texas has risen to near-record levels thanks to higher-than-anticipated crude prices and gas production that are, at least partially, a product of increased global instability and geopolitical turmoil.
Despite the mushrooming civil war in Iraq, led largely by the insurgent organization known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Americans are paying scarcely more to fill up their cars today than they were a month ago. This is especially surprising, considering that Iraq is the world’s fifth-largest oil-producing nation.
Supreme Court Says Regulating Emissions from Power Plants is Lawful
In a 7-to-2 ruling, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Environmental Protection Agency imposing regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from “large, industrial polluters,” according to the New York Times. However, the court did reject a key argument from the E.P.A.’s reasoning for the regulations, stating that the agency overstepped its reach.
The decision was a compromise ruling that split the Court: the vote was five to four to reject EPA’s broadest view of its power over greenhouse gas emissions, but the Justices voted seven to two to allow EPA to impose air pollution control strategy on many of the power plants and other fixed sources of greenhouse gases.
Solar, Wind Power Capacity at an All-Time High
New statistics shows that renewable energy capacity grew immensely in 2013, with solar capacity growing nearly 55 times higher and wind power growing nearly seven times higher than in 2004. The U.S. added the second-highest amount of wind power capacity in 2013, increasing by 1.1 percent to just over 60 gigawatts. For solar power, the U.S. grew 4.8 percent to about 12 gigawatts.
The growth in renewable energy installations is also prompting an increase in jobs. There are currently more than 6.5 million employees in the clean energy industry.
Exponential growth might not seem like much at first, but after enough time has passed, things start to happen really quickly. Case in point, renewable energy has been around for decades, yet we’ve made more progress increasing capacity in the past few years than in all the preceding decades.
Act On Climate Plan Turns One
Just weeks after the EPA announced its plan to limit carbon emissions, President Obama’s Climate Action Plan celebrated its first anniversary. Implemented with the goal of making American more energy efficient, the Act On Climate plan is serving as the guide for the Administration’s clean energy initiatives.
The President’s Climate Action Plan reiterates the goal of reducing U.S. GHG emissions to 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 and of doubling our nation’s energy productivity by the year 2030. It provides a blueprint for mitigating and adapting to climate change impacts nationally and internationally.