Energy/Environment

A major oil and gas trade group said Thursday that it’s hopeful forthcoming federal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, rules will incorporate industry suggestions.

Erik Milito, upstream group director with the American Petroleum Institute (API), said it was encouraging that the Interior Department pulled back draft fracking rules in January.

“Each time a new draft has come out we believe it’s moved in a positive direction. Our concern is still that they are implementing measures that haven’t been demonstrated to fill any particular gap that’s not already been filled,” Milito said during a media briefing at API’s Washington, D.C., office.

The total would have been higher had sequester-imposed spending cuts not shaved off more than $30 million, officials said.

Messages released Wednesday show Lisa Jackson using the secondary account to talk with people outside the government.

Officials from the fertilizer industry fear the accident could trigger a flood of new regulations.

Draft federal rules on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, will be released in a matter of “weeks, not months,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Tuesday.

The draft rules have undergone “sufficient change,” Jewell said during a media call. They’ll go through a public comment period once revealed.

Interior decided in January to rewrite the rules that would govern fracking on federal lands.

The federal environmental regulator has established limits for residues of the chemical weed-killer commercially known as Roundup on fruits and vegetables.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing tolerances for residues of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's popular herbicide brand, on agricultural crops.

The new rule, scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, establishes different limits for various crops including carrots, canola seeds and citrus fruits. For instance, the EPA is setting the limit for sweet potatoes at 3 parts per million of the chemical, while most oilseeds have a limit of 40 parts per million.

A group of House Republicans is pressing the Department of Energy for details on a loan program that has come under fire for its assistance to a number of failed green companies.

Five GOP leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are pushing the department to give details about apparent discrepancies between the number of advertised and realized jobs created by the government program, which provides loans for some renewable energy projects.

In a letter, the representatives assert that expected jobs "have failed to materialize," yet the Energy Department has not updated its website to reflect the jobs estimated to be created or saved by the program. 

The federal environmental watchdog needs a better strategy to update its toxic chemical regulations, a government audit has concluded.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the Environmental Protection Agency's attempts to reform its chemical oversight found that the EPA has not developed planning practices to guide its work or strategies to directly address upcoming challenges. 

Outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Monday that new fuel economy standards he helped usher in with President Obama are “a big deal” that will outlast both of them.

“That will be part of President Obama’s legacy. What a legacy — cleaning up the air in America, getting cleaner burning cars,” LaHood said at a news conference in which Obama tapped Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx to lead the Transportation Department (DOT).

The updated Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards require cars to get 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. They were finalized last August.

The Obama administration is pushing to protect public lands that could be used for producing renewable energy.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on Tuesday will publish a regulation in the Federal Register to limit mining claims near areas that have been identified as potential sites for wind or solar energy production or that are included in pending permits.

The move will prohibit claims for mining operations on a renewable energy proposal's right-of-way lands while the BLM considers the application. The bureau has had an interim rule on the books since 2011, but the adoption of the final rule will give the government a long-term mechanism to safeguard those lands.