Gas in the United States

Executive Order

Executive Order in relation with upporting Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources (April 13, 2012):

“By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to coordinate the efforts of Federal agencies responsible for overseeing the safe and responsible development of unconventional domestic natural gas resources and associated infrastructure and to help reduce our dependence on oil, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. In 2011, natural gas provided 25 percent of the energy consumed in the United States. Its production creates jobs and provides economic benefits to the entire domestic production supply chain, as well as to chemical and other manufacturers, who benefit from lower feedstock and energy costs. By helping to power our transportation system, greater use of natural gas can also reduce our dependence on oil. And with appropriate safeguards, natural gas can provide a cleaner source of energy than other fossil fuels.

For these reasons, it is vital that we take full advantage of our natural gas resources, while giving American families and communities confidence that natural and cultural resources, air and water quality, and public health and safety will not be compromised.

While natural gas production is carried out by private firms, and States are the primary regulators of onshore oil and gas activities, the Federal Government has an important role to play by regulating oil and gas activities on public and Indian trust lands, encouraging greater use of natural gas in transportation, supporting research and development aimed at improving the safety of natural gas development and transportation activities, and setting sensible, cost-effective public health and environmental standards to implement Federal law and augment State safeguards.

Because efforts to promote safe, responsible, and efficient development of unconventional domestic natural gas resources are underway at a number of executive departments and agencies (agencies), close interagency coordination is important for effective implementation of these programs and activities. To formalize and promote ongoing interagency coordination, this order establishes a high-level, interagency working group that will facilitate coordinated Administration policy efforts to support safe and responsible unconventional domestic natural gas development.

Sec. 2. Interagency Working Group to Support Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources. There is established an Interagency Working Group to Support Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources (Working Group), to be chaired by the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, or a designated representative.

(a) Membership. In addition to the Chair, the Working Group shall include deputy-level representatives or equivalent officials, designated by the head of the respective agency or office, from:

(i) the Department of Defense;

(ii) the Department of the Interior;

(iii) the Department of Agriculture;

(iv) the Department of Commerce;

(v) the Department of Health and Human Services;

(vi) the Department of Transportation;

(vii) the Department of Energy;

(viii) the Department of Homeland Security;

(ix) the Environmental Protection Agency;

(x) the Council on Environmental Quality;

(xi) the Office of Science and Technology Policy;

(xii) the Office of Management and Budget;

(xiii) the National Economic Council; and

(xiv) such other agencies or offices as the Chair may invite to participate.

(b) Functions. Consistent with the authorities and responsibilities of participating agencies and offices, the Working Group shall support the safe and responsible production of domestic unconventional natural gas by performing the following functions:

(i) coordinate agency policy activities, ensuring their efficient and effective operation and facilitating cooperation among agencies, as appropriate;

(ii) coordinate among agencies the sharing of scientific, environmental, and related technical and economic information;

(iii) engage in long-term planning and ensure coordination among the appropriate Federal entities with respect to such issues as research, natural resource assessment, and the development of infrastructure;?
(iv) promote interagency communication with stakeholders; and

(v) consult with other agencies and offices as appropriate.”

Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 8 February 1928

The undersigned Plenipotentiaries, in the name of their respective
governments:

Whereas the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of
all analogous liquids, materials or devices, has been justly condemned by
the general opinion of the civilised world; and

Whereas the prohibition of such use has been declared in Treaties to which
the majority of Powers of the world are Parties; and

To the end that this prohibition shall be universally accepted as a part of
International Law, binding alike the conscience and the practice of
nations;

Declare:

That the High Contracting Parties, so far as they are not already Parties
to Treaties prohibiting such use, accept this prohibition, agree to extend
this prohibition to the use of bacteriological methods of warfare and agree
to be bound as between themselves according to the terms of this
declaration.

The High Contracting Parties will exert every effort to induce other States
to accede to the present Protocol. Such accession will be notified to the
Government of the French Republic, and by the latter to all signatories and
acceding Powers, and will take effect on the date of the notification by
the Government of the French Republic.

The present Protocol, of which the English and French texts are both
authentic, shall be ratified as soon as possible. It shall bear to-day’s
date.

The ratifications of the present Protocol shall be addressed to the
Government of the French Republic, which will at once notify the deposit of
such ratification to each of the signatory and acceding Powers.

The instruments of ratification of and accession to the present Protocol
will remain deposited in the archives of the Government of the French
Republic.

The present Protocol will come into force for each signatory Power as from
the date of deposit of its ratification, and, from that moment, each Power
will be bound as regards other Powers which have already deposited their
ratifications.

In witness whereof the Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Protocol.

Done at Geneva in a single copy, the seventeenth day of June, One Thousand
Nine Hundred and Twenty-Five.

Finding the law: Gas in the U.S. Code

A collection of general and permanent laws relating to gas, passed by the United States Congress, are organized by subject matter arrangements in the United States Code (U.S.C.; this label examines gas topics), to make them easy to use (usually, organized by legal areas into Titles, Chapters and Sections). The platform provides introductory material to the U.S. Code, and cross references to case law. View the U.S. Code’s table of contents here.