Initiatives 88 and 89 have been officially withdrawn, Governor John Hickenlooper announced at the Colorado state capitol on August 4, 2014. Representative Jared Polis, the leader of the initiatives, reached a compromise with the governor earlier on the Aug. 4 deadline to submit signatures associated with the ballot measures. The initiatives had reportedly collected more than 200,000 signatures and Polis
Yesterday, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will allow LNG Development Co. (ticker: LLC) to export LNG from a terminal in Warrenton, Oregon, to countries without a Free Trade Agreement. The terminal is the first of its kind to be approved on the West Coast. The terminal is still subject to environmental review and final regulatory approval from
It was a cold, rainy day in downtown Denver when an Oil & Gas 360® reporter was greeted in the bathroom at the EPA office building: “Lovely weather out there, huh? Even God’s saying there’s a carbon problem!” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced in June that its stated goal is to reduce U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent by 2030.
If proposition 89 lands on the ballot and passes a statewide vote in the general election on November 4, companies who want to establish operations in Colorado will face a variety of differing rules and a new level of political risk when committing capital in the state. In a post-89 world, environmental regulations may be imposed by local communities around
A train with 102 cars of crude oil from North Dakota derailed when leaving Seattle last week, heading to a Washington refinery. A locomotive, a car loaded with sand and three oil tanker cars left the track but did not roll over. The incident occurred when the locomotive pulled out of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) yard, traveling approximately
On June 17, the Canadian federal government approved the pipeline portion of Enbridge Incorporated’s (ticker: ENB) Northern Gateway Project, a $6.1 billion crude oil and condensate pipeline and marine terminal that was proposed in 2010. Canada’s petroleum producers are eager to find an alternative to the nearly six-year delayed approval of the Keystone XL project. At the Canadian American Business’ conference on June
In a ruling Thursday that overturned the city of Longmont’s ban on hydraulic fracture stimulation, a Boulder County, Colorado judge—and the case itself—illustrated the power that Proposition 89 would convey to municipalities and other local governments statewide. Boulder Judge D.D. Mallard said on Thursday that Longmont’s charter amendment “clearly conflicted with the state’s regulations and its interest in the efficient
During his introductory comments on the Noble Energy (ticker: NBL) Q2 earnings call today, Noble Chairman and CEO Charles Davidson said: “I wanted to spend a couple of minutes discussing the regulatory environment for oil and gas development in Colorado, which is certainly gathering a lot of attention right now. As many of you are aware, certain initiatives have been
On January 17, 2008, President Obama said, “If someone wants to build a coal power plant, they can, it’s just that it will bankrupt them…” That promise is coming into fruition now. Last month, the EPA revealed its Clean Power Plan, which aims to lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 30% by 2030, in relation to levels from 2005. The
Note: this is Part Two of a two-part series looking at the rapid pace of oil and gas development in Weld County in 2014. Click here to read Part One: Will Voters Kill Colorado’s Golden Goose? 2013 was a record year for oil production in Colorado: 64 million barrels were produced in the state. Weld County extracted 52 million of those
During the EIA Energy Conference last week, July 14 to July 15, Michigan’s Representative Fred Upton (R) gave a speech about his ideal energy future. He called his plan the “Architecture of Abundance.” It is a plan with five pillars: Modernizing infrastructure Maintaining diverse electricity generation Permitting a manufacturing renaissance Harnessing energy efficiency and innovation, and Unleashing energy diplomacy. Upton
August 4 is the deadline for two citizens’ groups that are attempting to collect the signatures required to land two statewide ballot proposals on the November ballot. If successful, they would give voters the power to inhibit Colorado’s future oil and gas development. By Bevo Beaven, Editor, Oil & Gas 360 NOTE: This is the first of a two-part series
