Are You OK With the Obama Administration Taking a Major Step in Controlling Natural Gas Production?

By executive order, Obama has created the beginning of a vast new regulatory system to control natural gas. Congress had nothing to say about this.

Natural gas prices are falling due to new methods of extraction called fracking. This is creating havoc for the anti-growth environmentalists. It has dropped the price of natural gas. Across the nation, power companies are switching to natural gas. This means pollution-free power. This means that the enviros cannot get the votes to stop energy development, which is their real agenda.

They have to reverse this. This is what Obama’s executive order is all about. It will be used to restrict fracking, thereby stopping the move to natural gas.

Watch for this phrase: unconventional natural gas. This refers to underground gas that can be accessed through fracking.

Here are highlights of the new rules.

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By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to coordinate the efforts of Federal agencies responsible for overseeing the safe and responsible development of unconventional domestic natural gas resources and associated infrastructure and to help reduce our dependence on oil, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. In 2011, natural gas provided 25 percent of the energy consumed in the United States. Its production creates jobs and provides economic benefits to the entire domestic production supply chain, as well as to chemical and other manufacturers, who benefit from lower feedstock and energy costs. By helping to power our transportation system, greater use of natural gas can also reduce our dependence on oil. And with appropriate safeguards, natural gas can provide a cleaner source of energy than other fossil fuels.

For these reasons, it is vital that we take full advantage of our natural gas resources, while giving American families and communities confidence that natural and cultural resources, air and water quality, and public health and safety will not be compromised. . . .

Because efforts to promote safe, responsible, and efficient development of unconventional domestic natural gas resources are underway at a number of executive departments and agencies (agencies), close interagency coordination is important for effective implementation of these programs and activities. To formalize and promote ongoing interagency coordination, this order establishes a high-level, interagency working group that will facilitate coordinated Administration policy efforts to support safe and responsible unconventional domestic natural gas development.

Sec. 2. Interagency Working Group to Support Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources. There is established an Interagency Working Group to Support Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources (Working Group), to be chaired by the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, or a designated representative.

(a) Membership. In addition to the Chair, the Working Group shall include deputy-level representatives or equivalent officials, designated by the head of the respective agency or office, from:

(i) the Department of Defense;

(ii) the Department of the Interior;

(iii) the Department of Agriculture;

(iv) the Department of Commerce;

(v) the Department of Health and Human Services;

(vi) the Department of Transportation;

(vii) the Department of Energy;

(viii) the Department of Homeland Security;

(ix) the Environmental Protection Agency;

(x) the Council on Environmental Quality;

(xi) the Office of Science and Technology Policy;

(xii) the Office of Management and Budget;

(xiii) the National Economic Council; and

(xiv) such other agencies or offices as the Chair may invite to participate. . . .

(iii) engage in long-term planning and ensure coordination among the appropriate Federal entities with respect to such issues as research, natural resource assessment, and the development of infrastructure; . . .

Continue Reading on www.whitehouse.gov

IER Statement on New EPA Anti-Hydraulic Fracturing Regulations




“This rule is the result of a well-worn path whereby environmentalist ideologues sue the federal government to restrict fossil fuel development, while politicized regulators jump gleefully at the chance to aggrandize the power of their agencies.”
– IER President Thomas Pyle

H/T http://teapartyeconomist.com