Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreement

Witnesses:
Witness Panel 1
The Honorable Carlos Pascual
Special Envoy and Coordinator, U.S. Department of State International Energy Affairs
Mr. Tommy P. Beaudreau
Acting Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Interior Land and Minerals Management

"EPA vs. American Mining Jobs: The Obama Administration's Regulatory Assault on the Economy"

Witnesses:
Edmund Fogels
Deputy Commissioner, Alaska Department of Natural Resources
State of Alaska Representative, Interstate Mining Compact Commission
Sheldon Maier
President, Fortymile Mining District
Chris Hamilton
Senior Vice President, West Virginia Coal Association
Norman Van Vactor
Chief Executive Officer, Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation

Energy from the Earth: A Geoscience Energy Congressional Briefing Series

The American Geosciences Institute in collaboration with the Geoscience Energy Briefing Consortium announces the debut event of the Energy from the Earth: Practical Geoscience to Inform Energy Legislation briefing series.

Keystone XL southern portion opening in November

This month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled not to grant the Sierra Club, Clean Energy Future Oklahoma, and the East Texas Sub Regional Planning Commission a temporary injunction to stop the construction of the Gulf Coast pipeline, the southern extension of Transcanada's Keystone XL tar sands export pipeline.

Hearing on the Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreement

On October 1, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing to discuss proposed energy legislation. The legislation in question would approve an agreement between the U.S. and Mexico to develop oil and gas reserves that cross the international maritime boundary in the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. is largest oil producer in 2013

PIRA Energy Group, a New York energy market consultancy, released a report this October indicating that the U.S. has surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer of oil in 2013. The report’s total oil supply includes all forms of liquid oil supply. The report revealed that the U.S. total supply for 2013 is expected to average 12.1 million barrels per day (MMB/D). The U.S. surpassed Russia to become the second largest global supplier of oil in 2012, and this year U.S. production grew at a faster pace than Saudi Arabia’s.

Tax code overhaul could spell bad news for oil and gas

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) has acknowledged that tax credits normally enjoyed by the oil and gas industry are not off the table when it comes to overhauling the United States’ tax code. In an effort to balance the budget and reinvigorate the economy, lawmakers are looking to reform the tax code, which currently sets the majority of corporate tax rates at approximately 40 percent and marginal federal corporate income tax rates at 35 percent.

EARTH Magazine: Gaming the System in the Caspian Sea: Can game theory solve a decades-old dispute?

A persistent stalemate over ownership and resource allocation, of everything from beluga caviar to energy resources, has hung over the Caspian Sea ever since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Looking to help advance the discussion over the Caspian toward as efficient and equitable an outcome as possible, scientists are taking a stab at the decades-old dispute by applying game theory and related methods, which use mathematics to study of competition and cooperation and have predominantly been used by economists and sociologists.

Dr. Scott Tinker presented AGI award for Outstanding Contributions to the Understanding of Geoscience

Very few people have impacted the public understanding of geoscience as much as Dr. Scott Tinker. His documentary Switch, co-produced with Harry Lynch as part of the Switch Energy Project, has screened at over 350 universities, and reached an estimated 3 million people globally. In 2013, it will be distributed in thousands of Earth Science Week kits to students worldwide. For this, and many other esteemed accomplishments, Tinker has been presented the American Geosciences Institute award for Outstanding Contributions to the Understanding of Geoscience.

EARTH Magazine: Energy Storage Brings a Renewable Energy Future One Step Close

The world is diversifying its energy portfolio with renewable energy technology. However, one of the biggest hurdles renewable technologies need to overcome is inherent variability: Humans can't control when the sun shines or how much the wind blows. There's also variability on the demand side, with people needing more energy during certain times of the day and certain months of the year. Thus, to truly make the most out of renewable energy resources, geoscientists are working with engineers to help translate natural energy fluxes into products that can be delivered to the grid on an as-needed basis.

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