Free Republic

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...

War On Terror: New information about a sniper assault on Silicon Valley's phone lines and power grid has raised fears that the nation's power grid is vulnerable to terrorism. The prospect that the unsolved attack on an electrical substation near San Jose just hours after the Boston Marathon bombing in April could have been a terrorist act was raised anew last week by Jon Wellinghoff, former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. "This is the most sophisticated and extensive attack that's ever occurred on the grid to my knowledge," he told the Associated Press, contradicting FBI denials that terrorism...

Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized the White House’s energy policy, claiming President Obama wants higher gas prices. Across the country the average cost for a gallon of gas is $3.76 and it went up for 27 consecutive days. The Oil Price Information Service projects the nationwide average could peak at $4.25 per gallon in late April. McConnell says the administration hasn’t pursued an energy strategy to address the increase, adding it failed to support the Keystone XL pipeline project. “In fact, when it comes to the rising cost of gas at the pump,...

<p>After three years of fiery debates, rolling electrical blackouts and shifting political positions, Calpine Corp. is beginning construction of a controversial 600-megawatt power plant in San Jose's Coyote Valley.</p> <p>So far, the 14-acre site on the west side of Monterey Highway just north of the community of Coyote has been cleared of derelict vehicles, dilapidated sheds and other junk and scraped bare of vegetation. The real work has yet to begin.</p>