Free Republic

It would appear the first big test for President Obama's 'veto' pen will be no lesser issue than the Keystone Pipeline. Reuters reports that Republicans will quickly introduce stand-alone legislation in the first quarter of 2015 that would approve the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline from Canada, Republican Senator John Hoeven said in an interview. "It's really a good chance to see if the president's willing to work with us," Hoeven said, suggesting they would pressure Obama to act one way or another by attaching the bill to some must-pass legislation leaving Obama's only option but to fold or shut...

When Don Sage of Concord, N.H., learned his electric bill could rise by as much as $40 a month he got flustered. He and his wife make do on a bit less than $30,000 a year in Social Security payments, and they pay close attention to their electric bills. "When the invoice comes in the mail to get paid, I have a target amount that we can fluctuate up or down, based on our fixed budget," Sage says. "They don't need my permission to hike up their rates, but the fact is we're the ones that are paying these increases."...

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus predicted Tuesday that the GOP regaining control of the Senate would mean a signature from President Barack Obama on a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Getting approval for TransCanada’s pipeline, which has been waiting six years to break ground on the project, would be among the top priorities for a Republican-controlled Senate, Priebus told MSNBC’s Daily Rundown. “We will pass a budget in both chambers, number one, and we will pass the Keystone pipeline, number two,” Priebus said. “And I actually think the president will sign the bill on the Keystone pipeline...

If Republicans take control of the Senate and hold the House in Tuesday’s midterm election, they’ll get busy passing bills, says Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). First up—“very popular” legislation to fast-track the Keystone XL pipeline, Portman told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren on Monday evening. He called it “probably the biggest infrastructure project in America next year,” one that would create “20,000 to 40,000 new jobs.” “Jobs, lower gas prices, energy independence—what’s wrong with that?” he asked. “Let’s just do it.” Portman said Republican attempts to “do anything significant on Obamacare” probably would meet with a presidential veto, “but there...

Marathon Petroleum says it's assessing options for the future of the largest mainland US oil conduit- the 1.2 M/bd Capline pipeline. In recent years, the pipeline, which runs from St. James, Louisiana (the delivery hub for Light Louisiana Sweet crude) to Patoka, Illinois, has seen sharp declines in shipping volumes as midwestern refiners access the growing supply of Bakken and Canadian crude to replace expensive imports via Capline. Crude flows through the US have effectively reversed as less expensive US (primarily Bakken) and Canadian production pushes out imports delivered to the US Gulf coast. Several reversals and newly-built pipelines now...

Seems Canada is tired of waiting – and waiting – for a decision on the Keystone pipeline and has come up with an alternate plan for moving the oil to market. As Bloomberg reports: It would be Keystone on steroids, more than twice as long and carrying a third more crude. Its end point, a refinery in the blue-collar city of Saint John, New Brunswick, operated by a reclusive Canadian billionaire family, would give Canada’s oil-sands crude supertanker access to the same Louisiana and Texas refineries Keystone was meant to supply. And: … if you’re a fed-up Canadian, like Prime...

The federal government recently began its seventh year of considering whether to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Nearly all that time has passed under the administration of President Obama, who seems content never to decide the pipeline's fate. That way, it wouldn't be built, which would please the president's supporters on the liberal environmental fringe, but would never be explicitly rejected, which could offend everybody else. It's striking to see an administration stonewalling an issue with so much popular support on the other side. A Washington Post-ABC News poll in March found that 65 percent favor building the...

CIUDAD MIER, Mexico (AP) — Mexico adjusted 75 years of crony-corruption to reform its state-owned oil industry. As it prepares to develop rich Gulf Coast shale fields just south of Brownsville, and attract foreign investors. Brutal "drug" cartels rule Tamaulipas and are stealing billions of dollars' worth of oil from pipelines. Figures released by Petroleos Mexicanos last week show the gangs are have drilled 2,481 taps into the pipelines. Pemex estimates it's lost some 7.5 million barrels worth $1.15 billion. Pemex director Emilio Lozoya (a friend of Eric), called the trend "worrisome."

The proposed 1,200-mile Keystone XL pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, Canada to Steele City, Nebraska may be the second most famous crude oil pipeline in American history after the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline. One has yet to be built while the other has been operating since 1977, but the two pipelines share a common history marked by environmental controversy in its approval process. The TAPS line, as the Trans-Alaska Pipeline became known as, was proposed in 1969 to move the recently discovered Alaskan North Slope oil to the Lower 48 market via tanker from the Port of Valdez. The Prudhoe Bay oil...

The European Union is quietly increasing the urgency of a plan to import natural gas from Iran, as relations with Tehran thaw while those with top gas supplier Russia grow chillier. Two “ifs” - the removal of sanctions on Iran and the addition of some pipeline infrastructure - are not preventing EU planners preparing, a European Commission source involved in developing EU energy strategy told Reuters. “Iran is far towards the top of our priorities for mid-term measures that will help reduce our reliance on Russian gas supplies,” the source said. “Iran’s gas could come to Europe quite easily and...

The furious pace of energy exploration in North Dakota is creating a crisis for farmers whose grain shipments have been held up by a vast new movement of oil by rail, leading to millions of dollars in agricultural losses and slower production for breakfast cereal giants like General Mills. [] reports the railroads filed with the federal government show that for the week that ended Aug. 22, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway — North Dakota’s largest railroad, owned by the billionaire Warren E. Buffett — had a backlog of 1,336 rail cars waiting to ship grain and other products....

Increasing production of crude oil in the Permian Basin in western Texas, and parts of New Mexico, has outpaced pipeline infrastructure to move the crude to refineries, causing prices for crude in the Permian Basin (at Midland, Texas) to fall below similar crudes priced at Cushing, Oklahoma. While the price difference between Midland and Cushing has been increasing for almost a year, recent refinery outages in the region caused it to widen substantially. Several infrastructure projects that will allow more crude to flow from the Permian to the U.S. Gulf Coast are expected to come online soon, which should cause...

In a special meeting Saturday, the town of Hollis voted to oppose the construction of a natural gas pipeline that would run under the town. Four-hundred and twenty people attended a special town meeting Saturday morning in the Hollis-Brookline High School gym. Townspeople debated the controversial pipeline, which would run through the middle of Hollis from the southwest to the northeast. Tennessee Gas Pipeline argues that the pipeline is necessary to meet increasing energy demands in the northeast. The natural gas company submitted a proposal to build the pipeline in 2018, which the New Hampshire Energy Facility Site Evaluation committee...

Marking the sixth anniversary of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline's permit application, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) teased voters with a preview of what a GOP-controlled Senate would do. "If American people give us the opportunity to be in a majority next year, I'll be setting the agenda," McConnell said. "It's easier to score if you're on offense, and the majority leader is offensive coordinator." He added: "If we have a new majority next year, and a new majority leader, the Keystone pipeline will be voted on on the floor of the Senate, something the current majority has been avoiding...

WASHINGTON– TransCanada Corp.’s chief executive said the cost to build the Keystone XL pipeline, currently estimated at $5.4 billion, is expected to double by the time the U.S. government completes its review of the largest part of the project. Russ Girling, chief executive of the Calgary, Alberta,-based company, in an interview this week said he expects the project’s cost could increase to a “number that gets you into the high single digits to a 10 number.” He was hesitant to say the project’s cost could double. “I was actually trying to avoid saying those words,” Mr. Girling said. “Obviously, the...

Spectra Energy Corp. announced a $3 billion expansion to its New England pipeline network which it says will help meet growing demand for natural gas in the region. The undertaking will allow Houston-based Spectra and its partners to deliver 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to the area, the company said. The project will serve both gas-fired power plants as well as customers who use natural gas for heating. “This is another step in our commitment to improving power system reliability, reducing electric costs to make the region more economically competitive, and protecting New England’s quality of...

It’s harvest time! But oil shipments out of the Bakken are causing dangerous and costly rail delays for farmers. The oil boom in the Northern Plains is a boon to the U.S. economy, creating thousands of jobs and increasing our supply of American energy. With nearly 3 million Americans out of work, the Bakken is like a pool of cool water in an arid desert. However, our railroads do not have the capacity to transport unprecedented levels of crude oil as well as the fall harvest. Farmers are understandably frustrated with the railroad companies, yet the railroad companies say they...

CUSHING, Okla.— New pipeline projects are expanding the size of an Oklahoma crude oil hub that is already one of the most important oil storage facilities in the world. One new pipeline is in operation at the hub in Cushing, another is almost complete and a new project was announced earlier this month when Tulsa-based NGL Energy Partners revealed plans for the Grand Mesa Pipeline, a joint venture with Rimrock Midstream LLC, the Tulsa World reported Saturday. Grand Mesa, which will be open to oil producer commitments starting next week, will be a 550-mile system from Colorado to Cushing. Once...

A fall in gas flows from Russia to two Eastern European countries this week has sent a chill through the region as it prepares for possible energy shortages this winter. Slovakia's gas distributor SPP said Thursday its daily gas intake from Russia fell 10% below contracted levels starting late Wednesday. Polish gas company PGNiG said its gas flows from Russia had fallen 45% below its contracted daily volumes by Thursday.

He went. He saw. He issued another news release. Making good on his vow to “see the situation first hand,” Texas Railroad Commissioner David Porter returned Thursday from a visit to oil installations with a grim safety assessment. But the industry, he stressed, was not to blame. “South Texas pipelines are vulnerable,” announced Porter, whose agency regulates the state’s petroleum industry, “because the federal government has abdicated its most basic function to protect our borders.” Repeating an assertion that he made in an open letter last month to the federal Customs and Border Patrol agency, Porter said “his concerns stems...