Week 3: January 15, 2012 -- January January 21, 2012

North Dakota oil production: new record, new milestone: 510,000 bopd

Oil companies not liable for accidental migratory bird death

Slow-Rolling the Industry --

The number of federal leases have never been lower in the past 25 years than they are now.

Link here.

If leasing, permitting and drilling returned to 2007/2008 levels, as many as 30,000 jobs could be created over the next four years, and federal royalties could rise by $2 billion.
The American Petroleum Institute reports,

… While federal leasing numbers have gone up and down due to a range of economic and regulatory considerations through the years, at no time in the last 25 years has the number of new onshore federal oil and gas leases been lower than the number of new leases issued in 2009 and 2010 (BLM Oil & Gas Statistics, 2010)…

Why Not Just Another Recess Appointment? -- Anti-Fracking Nominee Dropped

Link here.

“But the fact that you come in as an activist with an extreme position is just more of the same in the administration, in every little corner of government,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK).

President Obama will abandon the nomination of Rebecca Wodder as assistant secretary for the Interior Department’s park and wildlife programs, ending a tumultuous six-month battle with Senate lawmakers.

Wodder, who served as CEO of the conservation group American Rivers, was strongly opposed by several Republicans and at least one Democrat over her past statements on hydraulic fracturing, mountaintop-removal coal mining, Clean Water Act regulations and the removal of dams in the Pacific Northwest.

Absolutely incredible the folks this administration nominates for important positions. 

I assume she will leave behind her PowerPoint presentation on the definition of "diesel" for the next nominee. Her definition of diesel, I assume, is "any product containing carbon, hydrogen, or both, and used in the fracking process."