HOUSTON - The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by one this week to 1,046. At this time a year ago there were 901 active rigs. Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported Friday that 844 rigs drilled for oil this week and 200 for gas. Two were listed as miscellaneous. Among major oil- and gas-producing states, New Mexico added three rigs and Texas tacked on two. Kansas gained one. Alaska, Colorado, Louisiana, North [Read more]

RICHMOND, Va. - Environmental groups and the lead developer of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline were at odds Wednesday over what happens now that a federal appeals court has vacated a key permit for the multistate project. A spokeswoman for Dominion Energy said construction on the 600-mile natural gas pipeline will go on as scheduled. But lawyers for the environmental groups that sued over a permit dealing with effects on threatened and endangered species say all work must stop. "We [Read more]

MANDAN, N.D. - A private security company accused of operating illegally in North Dakota during protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline says it would be willing to pay fines to settle the legal dispute as long as it's not required to admit any wrongdoing. North Dakota's Private Investigative and Security Board on Tuesday declined to immediately discuss the idea with an attorney and vice-president for North Carolina-based TigerSwan but invited the company to submit its best [Read more]

HELENA, Mont. - Environmental groups and three Montana landowners sued Tuesday to cancel hundreds of recent oil and gas lease sales, saying the U.S. government's leasing of public lands is skyrocketing without understanding how all that drilling will affect water quality and climate change. WildEarth Guardians, Montana Environmental Information Center and the three landowners filed their lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Great Falls over the 287 leases sold in December and March that [Read more]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A coalition says North Carolina failed to protect the civil rights of residents of colour when it approved permits for the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. They want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's civil rights division to require the state Department of Environmental Quality to rescind the permits and perform a more thorough analysis. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported first on their complaint, which accuses the state and the Federal Energy [Read more]

HOUSTON - The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by 13 this week to 1,045. At this time a year ago there were 885 active rigs. Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported Friday that 844 rigs drilled for oil this week and 199 for gas. Two were listed as miscellaneous. Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas added eight rigs, Colorado and Oklahoma each gained three, Alaska added two and Louisiana and West Virginia [Read more]

Executives from 10 auto companies will meet with President Donald Trump and cabinet officials on Friday to discuss the administration's plan to reduce gas mileage and pollution requirements enacted during the Obama administration. The auto industry wants to relax the standards, but not so much that they provoke a legal fight with California, which has power to impose its own stricter tailpipe pollution limits. Such a fight could bring two mileage standards in the U.S., forcing automakers [Read more]

RICHMOND, Va. - George Jones was against the Mountain Valley Pipeline from the start. The natural gas pipeline is routed to run through the southwest Virginia farm his family has owned for seven generations. The 88-year-old Navy veteran never considered signing an easement agreement with the developers, because he thought the whole thing seemed an affront to his property rights. But state law meant he couldn't even keep surveyors out. As work chugs along toward having the [Read more]