New federal regulations on Southwest bird have halted drilling in Kansas

[Chris_]

Oil companies say new federal regulations on Southwest bird have halted drilling in Kansas

The decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that was announced in late March and took effect May 1 includes a provision that should allow federal officials and landowners in the five impacted states -- Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas -- to manage conservation efforts.

But oil producers say the interim weeks was too little time for them to digest the regulations and figure out how to avoid the potential criminal and civil penalties.

“Not complying brings very stiff penalties, so we’ve basically just pulled out of western Kansas,” Mike Vess, owner of Wichita-based Vess Oil Corp., said earlier this week. “The reaction was ‘OK, we’re just not going to drill.’”

Fox News

"Under my plan, energy costs will necessarily skyrocket." -- Barack Obama

[thundley4]

He has to do something to offset the lower  prices of natural gas. Of course they are driving coal fired electric plants out of business, which means more natural gas is being used for electricity, which is driving the cost of gas back up so it costs more to heat our homes, too.