Energy Security

Roundtable applauds the Blue Dog Coalition's Energy Principles

Western Business Roundtable

Read the July 24, 2009, letter the Western Business Roundtable sent to members of the Congressional Blue Dog Coalition, applauding leadership the Coalition demonstrated in their Energy Priniciples. In the letter, the Roundtable also goes on to outline the three basic principles of strong domestic energy policy.�

Western Business Roundtable

On September 16, 2009, the Western Business Roundtable submitted a letter to Rep. Nick Rahall, Chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, expressing concern regarding the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act (H.R.3534).

Western Business Roundtable

On October 15, 2009, the Western Business Roundtable submitted comments to the EPA regarding the agency's supplement to the proposed rulemaking to implement federal requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act Underground Injection Control Program for Carbon Dioxide Geologic Sequestration Wells.

Western Business Roundtable

On September 20, 2009, the Western Business Roundtable submitted comments regarding the Mineral Management Service’s proposed Five-Year Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program 2010-2015.

Western Business Roundtable

Read the Roundtable's backgrounder on the enormous and largely untapped domestic energy resource that can be found on publicly owned lands in the oceans off the U.S. – known as the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), and learn why it is more important than ever that federal laws and regulations are changed to allow responsible access.

Western Business Roundtable

In a letter to the members of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global warming, dated September 23, 2009, the Roundtable applauds Congress's focus on energy independence, but also outlines the importance of mining and minerals in the advancement of renewable energy technologies and the green energy economy.

Western Business Roundtable

Congressional efforts to stymie the use of hydraulic fracturing would hurt energy consumers and imperil thousands of American jobs.

Western Business Roundtable

In a letter dated October 1, 2009, the Western Business Roundtable applauded the State of Colorado for its leadership on roadless policy issues.

Western Business Roundtable

Congressional investigators must ask tough questions at a Capitol Hill heaaring this week on the "Climategate" scandal if public confidence in climate predictions is to be restored, a Western business coalition warns. But the scandal may also have a silver lining. Read More...

Roundtable Urges Congress To Fast Track New Power Lines and Power Plants As Economic Recovery Will Push Already Stressed System

Western Business Roundtable

The Western Business Roundtable told a U.S. House Committee that economic recovery will require rapid new investment and government approval of additions to the nation’s already stressed power grids or “we may end up pushing the grid into the red zone and leaving cities and towns in the dark.”
Read More...

Business Leaders Urge Action On Large-Scale CO2 Storage Demonstration Projects

Western Business Roundtable

A broad-based coalition of Western business leaders urged Congress to enact legislation to establish up to 10 large-scale carbon storage demonstration projects in the West and across the nation and provide legal liability protections so that storage technologies can be more rapidly commercialized. Read More...

Western Business Leaders Say Two Bills in Congress Show "Fork in the Road" on American Energy Independence

Western Business Roundtable

Two competing bills in the House Natural Resources Committee starkly illustrate a choice facing Congress today, say Western business leaders: promote greater American energy independence by supporting responsible development of the nation's natural resources, or push the U.S. toward increased reliance on foreign energy imports by advancing legislation that seeks to limit domestic access and production. Read More...

Western Business Leaders Say Cap-and-Trade Plans Fail The Public's "Test of Common Sense"

Western Business Roundtable

A coalition of Western business leaders working on greenhouse gas control technologies says that the leading cap-and-trade proposal in Congress is no longer politically viable because it "fails the public's test of common sense," while levying crushing new costs on citizens in the middle of a recession. Read More...

Roundtable Urges Congress to Support American Energy

Western Business Roundtable

Read the Roundtable's July 30 letter to Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, calling for support of H.R. 2540, The Protecting Investment in Oil Shale the Next Generation of Environmental, Energy and Resource Security Act. Now is the time to support American energy and tap into the estimated trillions of barrels of oil available for recovery in the American West.

Western Business Roundtable

Read the Western Business Roundtable's letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar regarding the Department’s recent decision to pull 77 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oil and gas leases in Utah, based upon the claim that insufficient consultation had occurred between the National Park Service (NPS) and the BLM prior to the regularly scheduled December 2008 sale. Read More...

Western Business Leaders Release Consensus Principles to Guide Climate Action by Congress

The Western Business Roundtable

A broad coalition of business leaders in the Western U.S. released a consensus set of "common sense" principles they say should govern Congressional action aimed at controlling greenhouse gas emissions. Read More...

Energy Infrastructure -- Electrical Grids Are Frail: Roundtable Urges DOE To Assert EPAct05 Authorities To Help Improve Siting

The Western Business Roundtable

The nation’s electricity transmission system is in need of critical upgrades to safeguard its reliability. That is the message delivered to the Department by the Western Business Roundtable. Read More...

The Roundtable Provides Input to WGA/DOE "Western Renewables Energy Zones" Initiative

The Western Business Roundtable

The Roundtable has been carefully monitoring a new initiative recently launched by the Western Governors Association and the U.S. Department of Energy. "The Western Renewables Energy Zones" (WREZ) initiative is focused on utilizing areas of the West with vast renewable resources to expedite development and delivery of renewable energy resources. Read More...

National Energy Policy -- Beating Back Congressional Rollbacks of EPAct05

Passage of comprehensive federal energy legislation was the No. 1 priority for the Roundtable in 2005. We were pleased that, after many years of effort, comprehensive legislation was passed and enacted into law. The final package contained a large number of the reform initiatives that the Roundtable relentlessly championed throughout the long, laborious legislative process.

Unfortunately, the 110^th Congress saw Washington's energy policy focus shift from implementation of EPAct05 to its reopening.�A considerable amount of the Roundtable's 2007-08 resources were necessarily focused on a multi-faceted strategy to blunt momentum around a wholesale Congressional gutting of EPAct05's energy production and infrastructure development provisions.� Read More...

Energy Production -- Western Utility Sector Issues

The Roundtable is involved in a large number of issues of importance to the Western utility sector. There are a number of challenges facing the sector, not the least of which are: climate change; energy supply constraints; generation and transmission infrastructure siting and development challenges; the growing number of Western Endangered Species species petitions; efforts to expand regulations (Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, etc.) in ways that could negatively impact the sector. Read More...

Energy Production -- Oil and Gas Sector Issues

The Roundtable is involved in a large number of issues of importance to the oil and gas sector. We are avid advocates for a robust fuel portfolio, including a significant role for Western oil and gas resources.

There are a number of challenges facing the sector, not the least of which are: attempts to limit access to public lands for purposes of energy exploration and production; energy infrastructure siting and development challenges; the growing number of Western Endangered Species species petitions; efforts to expand regulations (climate change, Clean Water Act, etc.) in ways that could negatively impact the sector. Read More...

Energy Production -- Coal Sector Issues

The Roundtable is involved in a large number of issues of importance to the coal sector. We are avid advocates for a robust fuel portfolio, including a significant role for Western coal resources.

There are a number of challenges facing the sector, not the least of which are: climate change; attempts to limit access to public lands for purposes of energy exploration and production; energy infrastructure siting and development challenges; the growing number of Western Endangered Species species petitions; efforts to expand regulations (Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, etc.) in ways that could negatively impact the sector. Read More...

Energy Production -- Western Renewable Energy Issues

The Roundtable is involved in a large number of issues of importance to the Western renewable energy sector. There are a number of challenges facing the sector, not the least of which are: generation and transmission infrastructure siting and development challenges; the growing number of Western Endangered Species species petitions; efforts to expand regulations (Clean Water Act, etc.) in ways that could negatively impact the sector. Read More...

Energy Production -- Promotion of Western Oil Shale

The Roundtable has been a leader in the promotion of Western oil shale as a critically important long-term contributor or the nation's energy security. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (“EPAct05”) took significant steps toward a strengthening of our nation’s energy independence by encouraging further responsible development of domestic resources. Among them were oil shale, tar sands, and other strategic unconventional fuels. Under Section 369 of the statute, the Secretary of the Interior is required to develop an oil shale and tar sands leasing program as soon as practicable and publish a final regulation to implement the program. Read More...

Energy Production -- Coalition Effort Gains Proper Oversight For Costs At Federal Hydropower Dams

The Western Business Roundtable

2008 saw enactment into law legislation protective of energy and power customers at federal hydropower dams. The Roundtable was a key member of the coalition of organizations that pushed that legislation through. Read More...

Energy Production -- Hydropower Issues

The Roundtable is involved in a number of issues of importance to the hydropower sector. We are avid advocates for a robust fuel portfolio, including a signficant -- and growing -- role for Western hydropower resources. There are a number of challenges facing the sector, not the least of which are the growing number of Endangered Species and water-quality issues. Read More...

Climate Change and ESA -- Roundtable Pans DOI ESA Polar Bear Decision as Dangerous Precedent “Unsupported” By Real Data

A major focus of our attention in 2007-08 has been to mount an aggressive push-back on efforts by national environmental groups to establish climate change as a trigger for listings of species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Alaska polar bear was the precedent-setting case.

The Roundtable joined in a coalition effort which got enacted a new tax credit for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture/sequestration and enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The so-called “Section 45Q” will encourage the use of CO2 from power plants in EOR operations, as a way to finance large demonstration projects of CO2 capture and sequestration technologies. Read More...

Energy Production -- Renewable Energy Sector Issues

The Roundtable is involved in a large number of issues of importance to the renewable energy sector. We are avid advocates for a robust fuel portfolio, including a significant role for Western renewable resources.

There are a number of challenges facing the sector, not the least of which are: attempts to limit access to public lands for purposes of energy exploration and production; energy infrastructure siting and development challenges; the growing number of Western Endangered Species species petitions; efforts to expand regulations (i.e. Clean Water Act, etc.) in ways that could negatively impact the sector. Read More...

Roundtable's Comments on Commercial Oil Shale Leasing Regulations

The Roundtable

The Roundtable's Comments on Commercial Leasing Regulations for Oil Shale Lands Read More...