Seven other US Senate Democrats joined Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ) in expressing concern over Atlantic offshore seismic tests planned as part of the Obama administration’s 2012-17 Outer Continental Shelf management program.

The US Bureau of Land Management is beginning a new environmental analysis for the Roan Plateau planning area in northwestern Colorado.

Charles McConnell, who has led the US Department of Energy’s fossil fuels operations for the past year, announced he will resign effective Feb. 1. The US Senate confirmed his appointment as assistant secretary for fossil energy on Apr. 5, 2012.

A Dec. 11, 2012, natural gas pipeline explosion in Sissonville, W.Va., shows that work still needs to be done to inspect older lines, install automatic or remotely operated shutoff valves, and improve control room personnel’s responses, federal regulators told a US Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee field hearing in Charleston.

The American Petroleum Institute is considering taking its legal challenge of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s introduction of gasoline with a 15% ethanol blend into the marketplace to the US Supreme Court, an API official said.

The US Coast Guard has yet to determine how much crude oil was spilled into the lower Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Miss., when two tank barges hit a railroad bridge on Jan. 27, USCG said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management are preparing a supplemental draft environmental impact statement (EIS) analyzing how a broader range of potential Arctic offshore oil and gas activities could affect marine mammals, other resources, and Alaska Native communities, the two agencies jointly announced on Jan. 25.

A federal appeals court threw out the US Environmental Protection Agency’s 2012 cellulosic biofuel projection, saying that it exceeded the agency’s statutory authority.

A bipartisan group of US senators urged US President Barack Obama to quickly approve the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project now that Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman (R) has approved its new route across the state (OGJ Online, Jan. 22, 2013).

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman (R) notified US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton that he has approved the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline’s new route across the state.

US President Barack Obama called for renewed efforts to address climate change and develop alternative energy in his 2013 inaugural address. He did so in the context of urging Americans to work together and pursue important national goals as previous generations did.

The US Bureau of Land Management withdrew its proposed hydraulic fracturing regulations and announced that a new draft will be prepared during 2013’s first quarter.