The House Appropriations Committee proposed giving $24.3 billion to the subcommittee that finances the Interior Department, EPA and similar agencies, an 18-percent cut from fiscal 2013 levels, E&E News reports.
House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings and ranking Democratic Rep. Ed Markey called on the Interior Department to extend the public comment period for its proposed public lands hydraulic fracturing rule, FuelFix reports.
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Federal investigators probing the hantavirus outbreak blamed for three deaths at Yosemite National Park recommended on Monday that design changes to tent cabins and other privately run lodging first be reviewed by National Park Service officials.
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell told the Interior Department his administration is willing to invest up to $50 million in an assessment of oil reserves of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Bloomberg reports.
O'BRIEN, Ore. (AP) — Jennifer Phillippi's grandparents started producing lumber in this corner of Oregon timber country in 1922, when a man could set up a mill, log the trees within range of a team of horses and move the mill to a new stand when those trees ran out.
A federal judge refused to reconsider a ruling that upheld the Interior Department's power to ban new hard rock mining projects on federal land, The Associated Press reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration said Thursday it will require companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands to publicly disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations.
The new "fracking" rule replaces a draft proposed last year that was withdrawn amid industry complaints that federal regulation could hinder an ongoing boom in natural gas production.
The new draft rule relies on an online database used by Colorado and 10 other states to track the chemicals used in fracking operations. FracFocus.org is a website formed by industry and intergovernmental groups in 2011 that allows users to gather well-specific data on thousands of drilling sites.
A Government Accountability Office director told lawmakers that the Interior Department has more work ahead to reform its offshore oversight capabilities and collection of oil and gas revenues.
The Interior Department on Thursday issued an updated draft rule to regulate hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells on federal lands.
The department said in a statement that the new draft "maintains important safety standards, improves integration with existing state and tribal standards, and increases flexibility for oil and gas developers."
The new proposal includes a variance process that allows for deferrals to state and tribal fracturing regulations "that meet or exceed those proposed by this rule," the department said.
The Energy Information Administration said coal's market share for electricity generation rebounded since March 2012 on higher natural gas prices, MarketWatch reports.
Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe switched his position on offshore drilling of the state's coast, supporting a pro-drilling bill introduced by Virginia's Democratic senators, The Washington Post reports.
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer urged NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane to complete an investigation and hold a public hearing before allowing the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to restart, Southern California Public Radio reports.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., called for a GAO report on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's procedures for determining the costs of new regulations, Platts reports.
FracFocus, an industry-backed registry for hydraulic fracturing chemicals, will update its system to allow regulators to search through a database of chemicals next week, Bloomberg reports.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent four staffers to assist Gabriel Gomez in the Massachusetts Senate special election, Roll Call reports.
A group of two dozen Senate Republicans urged President Obama against making Keystone XL pipeline approval contingent on "unrelated" climate change policies, The Hill reports.
The American Petroleum Institute issued a white paper projecting new federal rules could increase gasoline prices by as much as 25 cents a gallon, The Washington Examiner reports.
California Jerry Brown contended news media inadequately report on climate change and give too much coverage climate skeptics, The Sacramento Bee reports.
