Trump Opens the Door for Local Fracking Legislation

Well, here’s something you don’t see every day. It seems that GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is on shaky ground with energy industry insiders after some comments he made regarding hydraulic fracturing.

In an interview with Denver-based channel KUSA, Trump was quoted saying, “I’m in favor of fracking, but I think that voters should have a big say in it … I mean, there’s some areas, maybe, they don’t want to have fracking. And I think if the voters are voting for it, that’s up to them.”

Continue reading

Bureau of Land Management Proposes Digital Permit System

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) hopes to significantly decrease the average wait time on permit approval with a newly proposed online system. Announced at the end of July, the proposal aims to speed up the process for oil and gas drilling permits on federal and Indian land. Currently, incoming permit applications are down 40 percent from their historical average, a downturn that’s attributed to the hugely depleted price for oil and gas. In spite of these dips, however, the permit process is extremely long for companies hoping to explore new drilling projects.

Continue reading

Why is Fracking So Controversial?

Earlier this month, researchers from Johns Hopkins University shared findings that indicated fracking caused symptom flare-ups in individuals with asthma. “Residents of communities undergoing (fracking) and those nearby can be exposed to noise, light, vibration, heavy truck traffic, air pollution, social disruption and anxiety,” Sara Rasmussen of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore told Reuters Health.

This study is just another accusation levied against the fracking industry, causing more controversy over a viable method for extracting oil and gas. Last December, BBC News covered fracking and its associated controversies as the United Kingdom begins to explore the implementation of hydraulic fracturing on its soil.

Continue reading

Turkish Crisis May Have Long Term Implications for the Flow of Oil Around the World

It’s been just a few, short weeks since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put down a failed military coup in his home country. In a decisive show of strength, the man who has been called a ruthless dictator restored order to Turkey with 24 violent hours. The day after the Friday coup, Erdogan prosecuted traitors publicly. Though the country is on its way back towards some kind of normalcy, the impacts of the failed coup are reverberating around the world, and the United States’ oil and gas industry isn’t immune.

Continue reading

What Colorado’s Ballot Proposal No. 78 Means for the Oil & Gas Industry

Last week, the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business released findings from a study that investigated the economic consequences of the state’s ballot proposal no. 78. As Cathy Proctor, reporter with the Denver Business Journal, summarized in her recent article, “Ballot proposal No. 78, which calls for expanding Colorado’s existing 500-foot buffer zones around oil and gas operations to 2,500 feet, would be the death knell for an industry already reeling from a two-year bust in commodity prices if approved by voters in November.”

So what exactly would Colorado’s ballot proposal mean for the oil and gas industry?

Continue reading