turn President-Elect Donald Trump said.
As my EPA administrator Scott Pruitt the highly respected attorney general from the state of Oklahoma will reverse this trend and restore the EPAs essential mission of keeping our air and our water clean and safe.
President-elect Trumps nominee for Director of the Environmental Protection Agency Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has been met with praise and criticism from members of the Senate who will be voting to confirm him soon after Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Praise has come from both Senators from Oklahoma Jim Inhofe and James Lankford and
numerous conservative organizations.
Opposition has been expressed by Democratic members of the Senate including Chuck Schumer of New York who will become Senate Minority Leader when the new Congress convenes in January.
Trump said Pruitts nomination is a sign that the EPAs role will be reconfigured in his administration.
I am deeply grateful and honored to serve as President-elect Trumps EPA administrator Pruitt said. The American people are tired of seeing billions of dollars drained from our economy due to unnecessary EPA regulations and I intend to run this agency in a way that fosters both responsible protection of the environment and freedom for American businesses.
Pruitt has been a defender of common sense rules that protect the environment and he has challenged the legality of overreaching regulations by federal agencies. He strongly supports states rights.
Pruitt led the charge in 2014 against an arrangement" between some environmental groups and bureaucrats within EPA and the Fish and Wildlife Service called sue and settle."
Environmental groups would bring a number of petitions to FWS. The law required FWS to respond within 90 days or one year depending on the circumstances. Its often impossible for FWS to respond adequately to the barrage of petitions before the deadline. The FWS would then go to the environmental groups with an offer to settle the case without any input for other affected groups.
The environmental groups collected attorneys fees out of the federal Judgment Fund and agency budgets. In effect the environmental groups would get what they wanted and the federal government would pay their attorneys fees.
If approved by the Senate he will be a breath of fresh air at EPA.
Natural Gas Production Storage Exports On Record Pace
Even though natural gas prices at the wellhead remain flat production continues at a record pace resulting in record high storage and record high exports.
Natural gas prices peaked at a little above $3 earlier this year but they have not changed much since the crash of 2008 when they were above $10. Natural gas closed at $2.76 on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Nov. 16.
The economic theory of supply and demand states that when prices are low production should decline too. However that has not happened with natural gas. Just the opposite has happened: production has increased 25 percent since 2008.
Natural gas production set a record in 2015 and production from January to August 2016 is slightly ahead of last years pace. Working natural gas in storage reached a record high of 4017 billion cubic feet (Bcf) as of November 4 according to EIAs Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report released on Nov. 16.
Inventories have been relatively high throughout the year surpassing previous five-year highs in 48 of the past 52 weeks" the report stated.
Declining natural gas production and strong demand from the power sector were offset by a warmer-than-usual winter which left natural gas inventories in April (the beginning of the 2016 injection season) above the previous five-year maximum."
The injection season for natural gas storage typically runs from April through October although net natural gas injections sometimes continue for several weeks during November. In fact the previous record for natural gas storage was set at 4009 Bcf for the week ending November 20 2015. This year natural gas inventories have been relatively high in almost every natural gas storage region in EIAs survey. Based on the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) winter forecast EIA expects U.S. average household natural gas consumption to increase 8 this winter with the largest increases in the Northeast and Midwest census regions. Under this scenario EIA expects inventories to end the winter at slightly below 1900 Bcf. However temperatures so far this winter have consistently been at or above weekly average normal levels and NOAAs latest three-month
temperature outlook forecasts that DecemberFebruary temperatures will be higher than normal.
In a scenario with temperatures 10 warmer than forecast U.S. average household natural gas consumption would be 1 lower this winter compared to last winter with inventories at winters end near 2300 Bcf.
Bloomberg news agency reported that the exports follow a massive shale boom in the U.S. thats unleashed a flood of gas supplies from the Marcellus and Utica in the east to the Eagle Ford in Texas. The country is on course to become a net exporter of natural gas next year a stark turnaround from just a decade ago when it was facing a shortage.
The continental U.S. becoming a net natural gas exporter is a milestone of the U.S. energy revolution and transition to energy independence" Citigroup Inc. analysts wrote in a note to clients on Nov. 16 Bloomberg reported.
The Sabine Pass complex in Louisiana has exported 40 cargoes totaling about 6.5 million cubic meters of LNG since February Zach Allen president of Pan Eurasian Enterprises said in a research note. Cheniere which became the nations first and only exporter of shale gas in February was cleared by U.S. regulators last month to start loading tankers from a second plant at Sabine Pass.
Alex Mills is President of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author. The Texas Alliance of Energy Producers is an oil & gas trade association that represents some 3000 members. It has offices in Austin Houston Fort Worth & Wichita Falls.
