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Gasoline prices in the U.S. are still lower than they have been in years but nonetheless are higher than they were a month ago. And in a handful of Midwestern states, sharply higher. According to the AAA Fuel Gauge survey, the average price of self-serve regular in Indiana jumped 10 cents a gallon in 24 hours, from $2.16 a gallon to $2.26. In Michigan, the average price also jumped a dime a gallon, from $2.25 to $2.35 a gallon. In Illinois, the increase is much less dramatic, rising from $2.35 a gallon to $2.38. But the average price of gasoline...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday unveiled the nation’s first major federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial technique for oil and gas drilling that has led to a dramatic increase in American energy production but has also raised concerns about health and safety risks. The Interior Department began drafting the rules in Mr. Obama’s first term after breakthroughs in the technology, also known as fracking, led to a surge in the production of oil and gas. The fracking boom has put the United States on track to soon become the world’s largest oil and gas producer. But environmentalists...

The Obama administration said Friday it is requiring companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations. A rule to take effect in June also updates requirements for well construction and disposal of water and other fluids used in fracking, a drilling method that has prompted an ongoing boom in natural gas production. The rule has been under consideration for more than three years, drawing criticism from the oil and gas industry and environmental groups. The industry fears the regulation could hinder the drilling boom, while some environmental groups worry...

The Obama administration is set to unveil the first major nationwide safety restrictions on fracking, touching off a fresh political confrontation between the president and his critics in Congress and the energy industry. The Interior Department’s rules — expected to be released Friday morning — are the federal government’s most comprehensive foray to date toward regulating the technology at the heart of the U.S. oil and gas boom, addressing worries such as potential dangers to drinking water. They will also offer oil and gas supporters new room to accuse President Barack Obama of seeking to throttle fossil-fuel production, despite his...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is set to issue the first major federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing on Friday, with new mandates targeting oil and gas wells on public land. The Interior Department rule reflects years of work by regulators seeking to balance environmental interests and economic imperatives in setting baseline standards for the way wells are constructed and stimulated for oil and gas production. But the final version, set to be unveiled Friday by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, according to stakeholders familiar with the timeline, is unlikely to appease environmentalists who have argued for strong protections or oil...

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-OK-1, today introduced the American Energy Renaissance Act to empower the private sector to create good-paying American jobs, spur economic growth and expand opportunity. The companion legislation, introduced in the U.S Senate as S. 791 and in the House of Representatives, will harness our nation’s energy resources and remove federal impediments to energy exploration, development and trade. The legislation will also reduce American dependence on unfriendly nations for our energy needs, and ensure the United States will be able to exert its influence and support its allies around the world. “Today...

The E.U. Experiment Has Failedby Bruce ThorntonThursday, March 5, 2015 The slow-motion crisis of the European Union is the big story that rarely gets the attention it deserves. Even an event like the recent terrorist attack in France that left 17 dead is often isolated from the larger political, economic, and social problems that have long plagued the project of unifying the countries of Europe in order to harness its collective economic power, and to avoid the bloody internecine strife that stains its history. On the economic front, the E.U.’s dismal economic performance over the last six years was summed...

MADISON (WKOW) -- Two executives who run a Texas-based sand mining company - which paid $52,500 in fines to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in 2014 - are major backers of Gov. Scott Walker's political action committee Our American Revival (OAR), according to CNN. In an article detailing several big money donors published on Monday, CNN lists Bob Rasmus and James Whipkey - who run Hi-Crush Partners - as two of OAR's major supporters in Texas. In August of 2014, 27 News reported the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered Hi-Crush Partners to pay $52,500 in July for...

Talk about the Norfolk terrier tail wagging the Great Dane. If they are to have any hope of winning their party’s nomination, Republican presidential hopefuls better support ethanol mandates, Hawkeye State politicos told potential candidates at the recent Iowa Agricultural Summit in Des Moines. “Don’t mess with the RFS,” Republican Governor Terry Branstad warned, referring to Renewable Fuel Standards that require refiners to blend increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline. “It is the Holy Grail, and I will defend it,” said Rep. Steve King, another Iowa Republican. It is vital for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and preventing dangerous climate change...

Just as the oil market appeared to be stabilizing, the price of crude resumed its descent on Friday. The drop, of about 4 percent, came after a report from the International Energy Agency warning that oil pouring into tank farms in the United States might “soon test storage capacity limits.” The agency, whose reports are closely monitored by oil traders, said that overflowing storage “would inevitably lead to renewed price weakness.” American production of oil continues to increase despite recently announced cutbacks in new drilling by producers.

We keep waiting for the bust, the gigantic rollover of oil companies that just plain collapse under their own weight and the $50 price that you get for West Texas Intermediate. It hasn't happened. We keep waiting for the junk bond market that is riddled with $200 billion in oil and gas paper to be crushed by defaults and restructurings. It hasn't been. In fact, the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bd, the high-yield exchange-traded fund that includes a lot of this suspect paper, is pretty much unchanged for the last three years and has enjoyed a sustained rally...

Global oil prices tumbled on Friday and fell 9 percent on the week, hit by a renewed rally in the dollar and a warning by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that the oil glut is growing.

(Reuters) - The largest U.S. federation of labor unions said on Wednesday it is freezing contributions to federal candidates in next year's elections as it waits to see the outcome of key trade votes. The AFL-CIO said in a statement defeating legislation to streamline the passage of trade deals through Congress was a top priority.

Scott Walker is killing it with Republicans. The Wisconsin governor is one of his party's rising stars—thanks to his ongoing and largely successful war against his state's labor unions, a fight that culminated Monday with the signing of a controversial "right-to-work" bill. Now (for the moment, anyway), he's a leading contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. At the Conservative Political Action Conference a couple weeks ago, he polled a close second to three-time winner Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), beating the likes of Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush by a significant margin. It probably won't...

Revising and extending my remarks: We're receiving lots of complaints lately from freshly banned liberals, trolls and malcontents. Well, Free Republic has not changed and will not change. We are NOT "fair and balanced." Never will be. We are biased toward God, country, Life and Liberty. Marriage, family and traditional values. Constitution, inalienable rights, private property and limited government. Small government, small spending, small taxes. National security, national sovereignty, strong defense and secure borders. Individual rights, individual responsibility and self-government. Privacy, individual and family security, self-defense and right to keep and bear arms. Rights to freely exercise our religion, freedom...

Unlike its foolish neighbors to the north in New York, Pennsylvania has been enjoying the fruits of the energy boom for several years now. Natural gas drilling in particular has been paying benefits to the government and the citizens, with thousands of new jobs and all of the secondary growth which is associated with higher employment levels. In November of last year, however, the citizens of the Keystone State decided to oust incumbent Republican Governor Tom Corbett and replace him with Democrat Tom Wolf. Would anyone care to hazard a guess as to what one of the new guy’s...

Submitted by Thomas Miller via Oilprice.com,One could argue America was conceived from intense frustration that ultimately led to separation. Fed up with what they perceived as excessive control by the Crown, colonists to the “New England”, in essence, seceded in 1776, and thus the United States was born.Now, there is a renewed and growing secession conversation brewing in the New England region, this time fueled by a commodity: Natural gas. Infuriated by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s December decision to permanently instill a ban against hydraulic fracture stimulation, or fracking, residents in 15 communities in the Southern Tier of New York...

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. has so much crude that it is running out of places to put it, and that could drive oil and gasoline prices even lower in the coming months. For the past seven weeks, the United States has been producing and importing an average of 1 million more barrels of oil every day than it is consuming. That extra crude is flowing into storage tanks, especially at the country's main trading hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, pushing U.S. supplies to their highest point in at least 80 years, the Energy Department reported last week.

~snip~ It wasn't always like this. Between 1978 and 2008, Oklahoma averaged fewer than two significant earthquakes per year. In 2014, that number had spiked to 585, including 19 that measured a powerful 4.0 magnitude or stronger...

Upstate towns threatening to secede from New York By Leonard Greene More than a dozen upstate towns are threatening to try to secede from New York and become part of Pennsylvania because of projected economic losses over Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to ban fracking. The town leaders from New York’s Southern Tier region said they would be better off in the Keystone State after Cuomo put the kibosh on natural-gas drilling here. Towns on both sides of the state border have the same geology, but only the businesses in Pennsylvania, where fracking is allowed, have been thriving, said officials from...