The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
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While the law requires DOC to recal- culate the price comparison every six months, it has only been completed three times in the last five years. The PEREA bill would specify Congressional intent that DOC must use data reflecting all propane sectors, not just residential. "It is time for a common sense solu- tion," said Roldan. "I'm looking forward to working with Congress and seeing this bipartisan bill signed into law." New OzONe StaNdardS FaciNg PuSh Back EPA is looking to substantially tighten up current ozone air quality standards. The proposal, still technically open to stakeholder input, looks to set a stan- dard of between 65-70 parts per billion instead of the current 75ppb set in 2008. EPA is also proposing to strengthen the "secondary" ozone standard to a level within 65 to 70ppb to protect plants, trees and ecosystems from "damaging" levels of ground-level ozone. As EPA noted The Clean Air Act requires EPA to review the standards every five years. EPA will issue the final ozone standards by Oct. 1, 2015. "Air quality has improved dramati- cally over the past decades and will continue to improve as EPA and states implement existing standards, which are the most stringent ever," Gerard said. "Careful review of the science shows that the current standards already protect public health. Tightening these stan- dards could be the most expensive regu- lation ever imposed on the American public, with potentially enormous costs to the economy, jobs, and consumers." States have only just begun to imple- ment the 2008 standards, according to API. EPA's implementation guidance for the 2008 rule has not yet been released, and the challenges of meeting new stan- dards would be massive and disruptive to states and businesses. A new ozone regulation from the Obama administration could cost $270 billion per year and place millions of jobs at risk, according to a recent NERA report. "Tightened standards could impose unachievable emission reduction requirements on virtually every part of the nation," Gerard said. "Even pristine areas with no industrial activity such as national parks could be out of attain- ment. Needless to say, operating under such stringent requirements could stifle new investments necessary to create jobs and grow our economy. The right policy choice is to implement the cur- rent standards and allow air quality to continue to improve." FrOm aec: New Study claimS u.S. Shale gaS QuaNtitieS grOSSly exaggerated The American Energy Coalition report- ed that U.S. government estimates of the amount of natural gas that can be extracted by fracking may be far too optimistic, according to a new study by the University of Texas at Austin and reported by OilPrice.com. Researchers at UT's Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering report that natural gas extraction from shale will peak around 2020, which is 20 years sooner than the federal government has predicted. These predictions are very important to consumers, many of whom have chosen natural gas for home heating because they believed the U.S. was sitting on a secure, long-term supply. Belief in that long-term supply was bolstered by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which issued a report in 2013 claiming that shale wells, which require fracking to release their gas, would be productive at current levels for "over 30 years," that is, at least until 2040. "The problem, according to the UT researchers, goes far beyond merely run- ning out of natural gas," the article stated. "The researchers warn that the U.S. and many other countries, relying on a long- term availability of inexpensive gas, are investing billions of dollars in vehicles, factories and power plants that depend on gas." Similarly, many homeowners are spending thousands of dollars apiece to install natural gas heating equipment, because they have relied on government reports of the fuel's long-term availabil- ity at low prices. "But if the UT scientists are right and gas production begins to fall off around 2020, all those billions of dollars put into gas-based vehicles and infrastruc- ture will have been wasted," the OilPrice. com article stated. The researchers conducted their own analyses of natural gas production at the four leading U.S. shale gas formations: the Barnett in Texas; the Fayetteville in Arkansas, the Haynesville in Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas; and the Marcellus in and around the Appalachian Basin, according to the article. These four for- mations provide two-thirds of U.S. gas production. "Their conclusion: Not only will gas production peak in 2020, output will be cut in half by 2030," the article stated. Calendar of Events JAN., 2015 12th Annual National Biodiesel Conference & Expo Jan. 19-22 Fort Worth Convention Center Fort Worth, TX 877-433-3976 2015 AHR Expo Jan. 26-28 McCormick Place Chicago, IL 203-221-9232 info@ahrexpo.com www.ahrexpo.com FEB., 2015 WPMA Convention Feb. 17 - 19 The Mirage Hotel Las Vegas, NV 801-263-9762 MArCh, 2015 The Work Truck Show 2015 March 4–6 Indiana Convention Center Indianapolis, IN 800-441-6832 DAtEliNE BreakINg NeWs 4 JaNuary 2015 | Fuel Oil NewS | www.fueloilnews.com