HEAD FAKE: The President Supports Fossil Fuels

Updates

May 22, 2012: White House aide says outreach to domestic oil and gas industry is not a "head fake." If so:

One of the biggest is whether federal fracing regulations, such as the ones the US Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management proposed on May 4, are even necessary when many producing states already regulate operations aggressively, Gerard told reporters after the meeting.

“The first thing the president’s interagency taskforce should have done, once it was formed, was to sit down and review all of the agency and departmental proposals to regulate fracing and toss out the ones which are unnecessary and irrelevant,” he suggested.

Zichal maintained that the administration recognizes that states are the most effective fracing regulators, and is trying only to produce federal regulations which complement what they’re already doing. “There’s a lot of terrific work happening at the state level, and we’re willing to provide technical support where it’s needed,” she said.

North Dakota does not need any technical support, thank you.
May 16, 2012: the map says it all!

Original Post

Link here to PennEnergy.

After committing early on in his term to renewable energy sources like wind and solar, President Barack Obama has steadily increased his support for increased natural gas exploration and production, according to Bloomberg.
Several recent decisions, however, have illustrated the growing role of natural gas in the administration's approach. Among them, White House officials downplayed the results of an Environmental Protection Agency report faulting fracking for water contamination in Wyoming.

More recently, President Obama met with several members of the natural gas industry at the White House to discuss policies for encouraging greater use of the fossil fuel.

"It took a while for the administration to realize the role it could play," Michael Walls, vice president of the American Chemistry Council, told Bloomberg. "What we’ve seen is an evolution in thinking." [There is that word again.]

According to the LA Times, the Obama Administration has approved 3,675 new natural gas wells in Utah.

The Obama administration has approved a new natural gas drilling project in Utah that is designed to support more than 4,000 jobs and boost the production of energy -- while protecting the environment. All are political issues in the current presidential election year.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the approval on Tuesday [week of May 8, 2012] during an appearance outside Salt Lake City. Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. will be allowed to develop up to 3,675 natural gas wells in the next decade in Uintah County, about 170 miles southeast of Salt Lake City near the Colorado border.

3,765. Wow. That's almost twice the number of wells that will be drilled in North Dakota this year.

Quite an evolution in thinking. Nothing like an election to get a president focused.

Natural gas, coal, wind, solar, nuclear, biofuels, algae.

Maybe we will soon get a chance to see if the Wyoming pipeline czar got the memo from the president.