American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016 - 18

IndustryDigest
million cubic feet. Commission
approval is needed for larger volumes or
times. WOGCC says the regulations
prohibit venting of gas containing
hydrogen sulfide in excess of 50 parts
per million.
"The Oil & Gas Commission's
flaring document is similar to what
industry already has been doing,"
Robitaille says. "The commission
essentially is going to put the
procedures we have been following for
a number of years into the rule with a
couple of slight exceptions. It does not
appear to create any problems for the
industry. That is, of course, unless
something drastically changes when the
commission meets." ❒

Democratic Coalition
Supports CCS As Part
Of Climate Change Plan
WASHINGTON-The CoalBlue
Project, a national coalition of current
and former Democratic officeholders
and party officials, is urging the Obama
administration to support developing
carbon capture and storage (CCS) as
part of its global climate strategy.
The CoalBlue Project says the
United States has a unique opportunity
to lead the world in reacting to climate
change, and that it must be done in a
way that doesn't burden the American
economy.
"To lead means more than simply

18 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

being the first to act," the group asserts.
"It means getting others to follow.
Seizing the opportunity before us thus
requires the adoption of environmental
and energy policies that will not only be
met with broad support at home, but
engender the international community-
industrialized and developing nations
alike-to follow our lead."
American leadership therefore must
understand the role that multiple forms
of energy-including coal-will play in
the world's energy future, CoalBlue
Project states. It predicts the world will
continue to consume ever-greater
amounts of energy in the future, with
coal a critical piece of that supply.
Globally, it says, goal is the fastestgrowing fuel of the 21st century.
Developing nations, dependent on
coal and other fossil fuels to power their
growth, will be where the carbon
challenge is won or lost, the group says,
with success hinging on the ability to
manage the carbon in coal and natural
gas.
CCS is an essential element of any
realistic climate strategy, CoalBlue
Project says. It cites the International
Energy Agency's projections that CCS
accounts for a third of the total carbon
dioxide emission reductions needed to
achieve IEA's climate-stabilizing
scenario. To address the climate
challenge seriously, the group asserts
nations must get serious about CCS,
making the same public commitment to
it made to increased energy efficiencies

and increased use of nonfossil fuels.
"To do so will require both greatly
increasing public and private investment
in CCS and adopting regulatory
mechanisms that encourage, not
impede, its accelerated development
and broad deployment," CoalBlue
Project says.
The Environmental Protection
Agency's Clean Power Plan, which sets
new carbon dioxide limits on electric
generating units, endangers the
development of critical carbonmitigating technologies without
achieving any meaningful reductions in
global CO2 emissions, the group says.
"Rather than driving CCS forward, the
rule threatens to discourage continued
investment in the development and
deployment of CCS in the United
States," it warns. ❒

API Urges Washington
To Reconsider Rule On
Disclosing Payments
WASHINGTON-To comply with the
2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission is proposing a
new set of rules governing disclosure of
payments made to governments by U.S.
oil and gas companies.
After SEC advanced its first
proposed rules in 2010, the American
Petroleum Institute and a coalition of
business groups sued, saying the
commission had disregarded its
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016

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