The House Appropriations Committee passed the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) spending bill for fiscal year (FY) 2016 by voice vote on May 20.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a statement on May 11 granting Royal Dutch Shell PLC conditional drilling rights in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast.
On May 14, the U.S. District Court of Appeals ruled in favor of allowing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to implement its conflict minerals rule and upheld a June 2 deadline for companies to file a Conflict Minerals Report with the SEC.
On May 31, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched a satellite to study damage caused by natural disasters, including effects of major earthquakes, tsunamis, and depleting rainforests.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reports that the rate of earthquakes in Oklahoma has increased by about 50 percent since October 2013, indicating increased probability that a damaging quake will strike central Oklahoma.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has called on the oil and gas industry to help assess the workplace hazards associated with hydraulic fracturing in response to four worker deaths since 2010.
The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing on the process used to compile the most recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.