Restarting “the Engine” — Securing American Jobs, Investment, and Energy Security: The Importance to the US Economy of Restarting the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Industry

IHS Inc. http://www.ihs.com/images/IHS_Report_Restarting_the_Engine_21July11.pdf [From a Houston Chronicle story by Tom Fowler]   Faster permitting of offshore oil and gas projects could create nearly 230,000 new jobs in 2012 and boost the economy by $44 billion, including a surge in federal and state tax revenues, according to an industry-funded study put out today by IHS-CERA. The job [...]

Technical Evaluation Report on the Content of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Yucca Mountain Repository License Application: Postclosure Volume: Repository Safety After Permanent Closure

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Division of High-Level Waste Repository Safety http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1119/ML111990436.pdf [From an AP story by Ken Ritter]  A Nuclear Regulatory Commission report released Thursday makes no conclusions about whether entombing the nation’s most radioactive material at the Yucca Mountain site in the desert northwest of Las Vegas [...]

Mexico Country Analysis Brief

US DOE, EIA http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=MX Mexico is a major non-OPEC oil producer and the United States’ second largest source of oil imports. Mexico produced slightly less than 3 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) in 2010, a 500,000 bpd decrease since 2007. EIA projects that Mexico will become a net oil importer by 2020.

Review of Emerging Resources: U.S. Shale Gas and Shale Oil Plays

US DOE, EIA http://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/usshalegas/ To gain a better understanding of the potential U.S. domestic shale gas and shale oil resources, EIA commissioned INTEK, Inc. to develop an assessment of onshore Lower 48 States technically recoverable shale gas and shale oil resources. This paper briefly describes the scope, methodology, and key results of the report and [...]

EPA Issues Final Guidance for Surface Coal Mining Activities under Clean Water Act Section 404

US EPA http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/guidance/wetlands/mining.cfm [From Press Release]  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released final guidance on Appalachian surface coal mining, designed to ensure more consistent, effective, and timely review of surface coal mining permits under the Clean Water Act and other statutes… • In January 2010, EPA worked with the Corps on the Hobet [...]

Carbon Capture and Utilisation in the Green Economy: Using CO2 to Manufacture Fuel, Chemicals and Materials

Center for Low Carbon Futures / by Peter Styring, Heleen de Coninck and Katy Armstrong http://bit.ly/q4I2Mb [From a Reuters story by Gerard Wynn]  A dream climate change cure to turn planet-warming greenhouse gases into useful products from jet fuel to plastics will take years to develop from the lab and pilot projects, a report found [...]

Booms and Busts: The Impact of West Virginia’s Energy Economy

West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy http://www.wvpolicy.org/downloads/BoomsBusts072111.pdf [From Website]  As policymakers debate regulating Marcellus Shale gas drilling, the state needs to protect itself from the booms and busts of energy development that have left many counties with undiversified economies, a less educated workforce and poorer health outcomes. This is according to a new report [...]

Shale Gas and U.S. National Security

Rice University, Baker Institute / by Kenneth B. Medlock III, Amy Myers Jaffee and Peter H. Hartley http://bakerinstitute.org/publications/EF-pub-DOEShaleGas-07192011.pdf [From a Houston Chronicle article]  U.S. shale gas is changing the global energy game by diminishing Russia’s hold on European gas supplies and delaying the need for other countries to import liquefied natural gas from Iran, a [...]

H.R. 2011: National Strategic and Critical Minerals Policy Act of 2011

U.S. Congress http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-2011 [From an E&E News PM article by Manuel Quinones, sub. req'd]  The House Natural Resources Committee approved legislation today to spur domestic production of rare earth minerals and other materials needed for manufacturing technological goods. The bill, H.R. 2011 — the first of several proposals addressing critical materials being considered by the [...]

Assessment of Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy Technology: Interim Letter Report

National Research Council (download with free registration) http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13202 [Summary]  Power in ocean waves originate as wind energy that is transferred to the sea surface when wind blows over large areas of the ocean. The resulting wave field consists of a collection of waves at different frequencies traveling in various directions delivering their power to near [...]