From the category archives:

Energy & Environment

February 7, 2010

Big Piney CO2 Storage Pilot Nears OK

Thumbnail image for Big Piney CO2 Storage Pilot Nears OK

Federal regulators are nearing approval of a natural gas development project in southwest Wyoming that would serve as a testing ground for new mineral extraction technology while becoming one of the largest carbon sequestration pilot projects in the world.

Read the full article {+}
February 1, 2010

Taxing The Wind – Governor Pushes First Statewide Production Levy

Thumbnail image for Taxing The Wind – Governor Pushes First Statewide Production Levy

Reprinted from ClimateWire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net. 202/628-6500
By Debra Kahn, ClimateWire
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) is determined to levy a production tax on wind power to level the playing field against mineral resources.
Speaking recently at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Freudenthal explained why he felt that wind power should [...]

Read the full article {+}
January 7, 2010

State Oil and Gas Regulators Are Spread Too Thin to Do Their Jobs

by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica – December 30, 2009 12:38 pm EST

Larry Parrish knew something was wrong as soon as he wheeled his state-owned pickup off the West Virginia highway and onto the rocky field where the natural gas well was supposed to be. Oak trees 18 inches in diameter looked dead as boards, and [...]

Read the full article {+}
December 22, 2009

Tilting at Windmills: Strange Politics of Wyoming Wind Power

by Jonathan Thompson/High Country News
I first see the turbines as I speed along I-25 near Glenrock, Wyo., clutching the steering wheel as I try to avoid being swatted into oblivion by a wind-whipped tanker truck. The windmills look tiny from here, sprouting from the flat beige plain like sunflowers in a neglected field. Wanting a [...]

Read the full article {+}
December 14, 2009

Underused Drilling Practices Could Avoid Pollution

As environmental concerns threaten to derail natural gas drilling projects across the country, the energy industry has developed innovative ways to make it easier to exploit the nation’s reserves without polluting air and drinking water.

Read the full article {+}
October 26, 2009

The Sage Grouse Report – Wyoming Ground Zero of Three Year Study

We project that future oil and gas development will cause a 7–19 percent decline from 2007 sage-grouse lek population counts and impact 3.7 million ha of sagebrush shrublands and 1.1 million ha of grasslands in the study area.

Read the full article {+}
September 16, 2009

Feds Gone Wild

Feds Gone Wild, Part I

Part I
Part II
Part III

From James Watt to Cynthia Lummis: The Inside Story of the Department of Interior Oil and Gas Royalty Scandal and Its Wyoming Roots.
Part One: The Wyoming Stage
By Laton McCartney and Rone Tempest
On a cold, blustery January 28, 2009, the newly appointed Secretary of the Interior of the United [...]

Read the full article {+}
September 16, 2009

Gov Seeks Fed Royalty Program Accounting

Gov. Dave Freudenthal has asked the federal Minerals Management Service to let the state conduct an audit of three years of natural gas royalties collected under the controversial federal Royalty-in-Kind program.

Read the full article {+}
September 16, 2009

Feds Gone Wild, Part III: RIP, RIK? New Bill Would Kill Industry’s Darling

For more than a decade, West Virginia Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall watched powerlessly as the Bush administration and a Republican Congressional majority made Royalty in Kind the main method of collecting oil and gas royalties on federal lands.

Read the full article {+}
September 2, 2009

Gov Mulls RIK Audit

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal  is considering an audit of the state’s share of a controversial  federal gas Royalty in Kind program that paid the state $290-million in  fiscal year 2007-08, WyoFile has learned.
According to State Lands and Investments director Lynne Boomgaarden, the governor asked her and Wyoming Department of Audit director Mike Geesey to brief [...]

Read the full article {+}
September 1, 2009

Feds Gone Wild Part II: A True Story

When President Bill Clinton signed the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Simplification and Fairness Act of 1996 into law in Jackson Hole, his Washington, D.C.-based Minerals Management Service director, Cynthia Quarterman, came out to attend the August ceremony.

Read the full article {+}
August 26, 2009

EPA: Chemicals Found in Wyo. Drinking Water Might Be From Fracking

Federal environment officials investigating drinking water contamination near Pavillion, Wyo., have found…

Read the full article {+}
August 9, 2009

RIK’s Wyoming Connections

Since Royalty in Kind became a priority for the oil and gas industry in the late 1990s, a handful of  Wyomingites have played key roles  in making in-kind royalties part of the nation’s policy for minerals taken from federal lands and seas.
Diemer True
Casper oilman and former legislator Diemer True, scion of the legendary True [...]

Read the full article {+}
July 26, 2009

GUEST COLUMN: How much is enough? Good Question!

Energy companies now extract over 450 million tons of coal, over 2,254 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and over 53 million of barrels of oil from Wyoming annually. These companies pay severance taxes for the privilege. Why?

Read the full article {+}
July 15, 2009

Wyoming News Reader

Thumbnail image for Wyoming News Reader

NEW: For the best, hand-picked, eclectic selection of current news about Wyoming from newspapers, magazines and websites…

Read the full article {+}
June 22, 2009

GUEST COLUMN: Bring Severance Tax Rates Into State Budget Discussions

Bring Severance Tax Rates Into State Budget Discussions
Hikes should be part of an overall review of revenues and tax investments
By Dan Neal and Sarah Gorin
No more Centennial Singers?
No more Geology Museum, in a state famed for its geology and, more to the point, its energy resources?
As the boom slides toward the bust, it’s appropriate and [...]

Read the full article {+}
June 15, 2009

Royalty in Kind vs. Royalty in Value? – The $290,024,880 Question

State Received $290,024,880 in 2008 from Troubled Royalty in Kind Program. Gov Dave Wants Review.

Read the full article {+}
June 15, 2009

U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis on Royalty in Kind

Wyoming’s U.S. Rep Cynthia Lummis responded to WyoFile questions on Royalty in Kind via e-mail through her press secretary Ryan Taylor.
Here are the WyoFile questions and Lummis’ responses:
WyoFile: What is Rep. Lummis’ opinion of draft legislation that would eliminate Royalty in Kind? Was she aware it was in the works?
Answer: Rep. Lummis has not had [...]

Read the full article {+}
June 15, 2009

Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal on Royalty in Kind

(Telephone Interview with WyoFile editor Rone Tempest, June 3,2009)
WyoFile: On October 6, 2005, the then Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners (Gov. Freudenthal; Treasurer Cynthia Lummis; Sec. of State Joseph Meyer; Auditor Max Maxfield and Supt.  Of Public Instruction Jim McBride) voted 4-1 to dedicate its 50 percent share in natural gas royalties on federal [...]

Read the full article {+}
February 23, 2009

Editorial: WyoFile Calls for Reform of Severance Tax

Get Involved! Ask Your Lawmaker for Change Here!
Wyoming has not raised its basic severance tax for oil, gas, and coal for 28 years.
WyoFile would like to see that change.
Right now, Wyoming seems to be pretending that the energy world of 2009 is the same as the energy world of 1981. It’s not.
The era of cheap [...]

Read the full article {+}

← Previous Entries

Footer Content goes here ©2010 WyoFile0.890

DEBUGGING INFO:
Database Queries = 105
Page Render Time = 0.890 second(s)
Current CPU Load = 0.19
Current RAM Load = 24%
Current Server Time = September 5, 2010, 12:43 am
Current PHP Version = 5.2.14