the usgs had not done a marcellus estimate in a long time. they had a very what we consider to be a very low estimate, one that we couldn't use. so we made up or developed our own. made up is a bad word. >> bad word. >> strike that from the record. and then after we did that, usgs came out with an updated marcellus estimate which was the 84 trillion cubic feet compared to their prior estimate. the 84 trillion cubic feet was significantly lower than the number that we had developed internally. you know, we're obviously sad that when they came out, we would update our work based on the usgs work. we did try to do that. >> so do you think that you will revise the estimate again? >> i think this is a really tough area. i think there's too much emphasis put on that number, no matter whose number it is. i think that as we gain more and more experience with actual drilling, the numbers will always tend to evolve on total recoverable resource. and again, i don't think it's that material for the 25-year horizon that i think we have been looking at in

the president's budget includes an inter-agency study that says the department of energy, epa and usgs are partnering to study the environmental and health effects of hydraulic manufacturing. can you tell us a little bit about what that might lead us to? >> well, as you know, the president asked us to set up a subcommittee to look at hydraulic manufacturing, and i think the concludsions of that subcommittee report were that we believe hydraulic manufacturing can be done in an environmentally responsible way so that you can take advantage of this great resource, and it creates jobs. we think it's a very important fuel mix and a transition that we will be needing in this century. and so what we believe we have in the department of energy, and it's also work ving very closel with the usgs, we have a lot of expertise in how fluid moves in rock, and how do you develop it so that we can help industry know what is happening and develop this resource in an environmentally responsible way. >> how much time are we talking? the president, in his state of the eunion address, said the government ha

it's my understanding that this effort would fund an initiative with epa and usgs to look at the impacts of fracking. we had -- the president's advisory committee came, reported to us, had a pretty comprehensive i felt report. they presented 20 specific recommendations for how any impacts can be mitigated. so i guess the question to you is what was the flaw in that advisory committee's report and recommendations that you felt were insignificant and now warrant a second investigation that we need to increase the funding? it's my understanding that the advisory board's recommendations are already finalized. most of their proposed directives actually fall on the states, not necessarily on the federal side. so why are we doing a second run on this? it raises some concern by some that there's an effort to try to find a smoking gun about some bad news about fracking out there. that's why we're going to do a second investigation. so i'm curious as to why this funding increase in this area. >> senator, it's actually the exact opposite. i think the committee you're referring to is the subcommitte

government, particularly thinking of usgs and the department of energy, and the intent is can we help drive the technology development forward to help with the environmentally responsible fracking so that the risks, you can still continue to mitigate any potential risks to water tables and environmental impacts. so the tenor of that report and the attitude we have in the department of energy is exactly that, that in helping with the technology, there are rapid advances in seismic technologies that tell companies exactly what is happening in fracking. there's a lot of recommendations. we can have a coordinating role to help as information clearinghouses so industries can share best practices with each other. so the intent is -- of that fund was not another study to look around. the intent is, as we helped bp stop an oil leak in the gulf of mexico, the intent is actually to work with industry, to help improve practices when and if possible so we can actually extract this resource in an environmentally responsible way. >> i'll follow up with you. my time has expired. it does appear we're

how the usgs explains it. >>> and they can't stock up fast enough. wait until you hear how much jeremy lin's old bay area yearbook is going for. that's coming up in two minutes. almost exactly the same spot. a magnitude 3 point 5 quake hit 24 hours >>> two earthquakes in two days in almost exactly the same spot. what's going on? magnitude 3.5 quake hit 24 hours ago about three miles south of vallejo and then this morning just after 9:00, a second quake of identical strength hit about half a mile northeast of there. no damage or injuries. but some people are a little rattled. >> a little jittery. several of us are going over our disaster plans, making sure we have water and know where the rendezvous point is. >> always good. here's what this morning's quake look like on our cbs 5 seismograph. usgs says quakes of this strength are not common for the area. >> this is a seismically active area. we just don't get magnitude 3 events very often. the last event was oklahoma city of 1990. >> there you go. seismologists say both temblors project originated fro

earthquake considered -- occurred, and these are people who felt the quake and report today to the usgs. pretty close to the epicenter, that's where it was felt, and it falls into our first range of the 3.0 to 3.9. that's quite often felt but rarely causing damage. reggie told you, a couple people talking about things falling off their shelves, but no damage reported with this quake. >>> and now to linden where hundreds of human bone fragmentes have been unearth -- fragments have been unearthed from a massive well search crews are following a map created by wesley shermantine. he is one of the two convicted murderers involved. investigators reached the bottom of the first well on the linden property today. there are still two others to search. we'll give you a closer look at the map drawn by shermantine in a moment. j jr stone wasr in linden today. >> reporter: it's hard to see much of anything this evening. but the sheriff's office is still out here. investigators are still out here, busy sorting through bone fragments, something that is likely to change. >> our plan is now to send a c

the usgs had a depth of about 5.5 miles. there were no reports of any damage or injuries. the u.s. supreme court said it will hear a case concerning affirmative action in college admissions. the lawsuit was brought by a white woman because she said she was denied admission. back in we 2003, the -- back in 2003, the high court -- >>> the rues postal service plans to close more than 200 of its mail processing facilities because of budget problems. that will lengthen delivery times, meaning if you don't get your ballot in on time, it may arrive too late to be counted. more than 50% of californians voted by mail in the past two elections. >> it just hursts to encourage -- it just hurts that we encouraged it an now that can result of -- and now that can result in their ballot not being counted. >>> a young colorado girl is still enjoying the weekend of a lifetime. she was invited to an awards she in los angeles and her date was denver broncos quarterback tim tebow. >> he was a thousand times nicer than you think he is. >> she has nf-1 ady order that forms tumors under the skin and ther

according to the usgs, the 2.9 quake struck at 12:04 this afternoon. it was centered near danville.th of blackhawk. there have about no reports of injuries or damage. >>> right now, you can probably get a better sound quality from a smartphone in india than the u.s. but tech anlives say that may -- analysts say that may change because of a clip. the chip is tee signed to reduce -- is designed to changes the quality. >>> for the first time in history, the daytona race will be run monday night under the lights. that comes after it was rained out yesterday and this morning. we'll carry the race live at 4:00 this afternoon. our newscasts will be screaming -- streaming live online. >>> thank you for trusting ktvu. we're always here for you at ktvu.com and ktvu mobile.com.

a few dozen people reported to the usgs website that they did feel it. most of them were on the northern part of the peninsula. >>> more human remains are being checked in connection with a speed freak killer's case. cadaver dogs helped searchers find the remains in calaveras county yesterday. they were on land once owned by wesley shermantine's family. it's the same property where the search began this month. remains of two female victims are identified from the land. >>> it's a big day for san francisco's newly sworn-in sheriff. ross mirkarimi set to go on trial finally on those domestic violence charges. it all starts this morning. anne makovec in san francisco with why some say there may be no case at all. she'll explain. anne, good morning. >> reporter: yeah. this is the day that a lot of people have been waiting for. at 9 a.m. mirkarimi will be here at the hall of justice, a judge is going to be selected for the trial. that judge will hear several pretrial motions and most notably among them, a filing by mirkarimi's attorney arguing that some of th

his zest >>mark: we were talking with the usgs about a small fall in the area. >>darya: does this have you feeling like you have to get everything together for the next earthquake? as it is my has been yesterday, we are ready. >>justine: i want to read you one of the comments that it's great. tracey lived in vallejo which is where the earthquake was centered. we are going on to extended coverage, we will be and back with more. >>mark: we're going to stay on for a few more minutes and take more phone calls. >>darya: stay tuned, we will have some special earthquake coverage and then of the we will be going to dr. phil. phfft

through the usgs. and there is the seismograph. there is the 2.9 activity there. so far, it happened only a few minutes ago but we have not gotten any reports of damage. >> we had a few shakers, in martinez and vallejo and crocket area in the last couple of weeks. and it is also where we will toss it over to lawrence to find out what is going on. >> nice and small. the fault is moving just a little bit. that's what we like. and we don't want the 5 and 6. we don't have to worry about that just yet. a couple of clouds passing on by. it is cool and brisk outside. headed out the door. breezy, especially approaching the coastline. and just now, beginning to see some buildup of some of the clouds in the distance. we will see more of that as we head toward the afternoon, only 51 degrees in oakland right now. and 53 in live more. and 52 degrees in san francisco. and 52 degrees in san jose. some of those clouds continuing to build. a possibility of some showers, as we head to the afternoon. really a slight chance. the temperatures are going to be the big story. staying way

it is independent, and based on scientific date a this budget requests $14 million to work with the usgs, the department of energy and other partners to assess questions regarding hydraulic fracking. we are making investments to support standards for clean energy and energy efficiency, this budget supports the efforts to introduce cleaner vehicles. this includes fuel standards and certification programs to support certification and testing for all standards. this is in line with the president's historic agreement through 2025 for testing support for fuel economy standards. taken together, it's will result in $1.7 billion and 12 billion barrels fewer of oil consumed. we will have the carbon and fully mission standards for heavy duty trucks. i thank you for the opportunity to testify today. while my testimony ereflects only some of the highlights. i plook forward to answering all of your questions. >> thank you ms. jackson and i'll recognize myself for five minutes for the purpose of asking the questions. first, it's not really a question, but on february 23rd, we sent to the honor able je

the usgs says quakes of this strength are not common for the area. >> this is a seismically active area. we just don't get magnitude 3 events very often. the last magnitude 3 event in this area was october of 1990. >> both temblors probably came from the franklin fault. >>> unearthing historic remains what construction crews found while digging that now has archeologists involved. >>> plus, abusing the system, the expanding list of ailments that people claim require service dogs in grocery stores and restaurants. >>> medicine in a microchip. the new technology that may change the way patients with heart disease and cancer get their medicine. coming up in today's healthwatch. made a startling discovery: human bones. >>> a construction crew doing work on a bay area apartment building made a startling discovery. human bones. they were found yesterday on prospect street in san carlos. as zack heene tells us, the bones are a link to california's past. >>> reporter: the digging is on hold at this san carlos construction site. a plumbing crew working around the apartment building dug up a litt

vallejo and five cause a little-the damage before we begin tonight with rob fladeboe who spoke with the usgs about the earthquakes. >> at the closest surface, the front of fog is nearest. >>rob: both were a magnitude of 3.5 at roughly five-6 mi. deep. both resented here is near vallejo. >> there are several faults in this area. it is consistent with having occurred on a structure running predominantly in a more south direction. >> there was no aftershock. he said that these were two separate earthquakes. >> general you could say that one triggered the other. >> if one earth quake could trigger another, could they lead to a larger earthquake? probably not because the number and size of earthquakes and defaults tends to decrease as one moves east across the bay area. >> it is an active region. we do have active faults but they are not as active as the hayward fault. >> the vallejo earthquakes are another with a call that people should always be prepared. rob fladeboe, kron4 news. >>pam: our team coverage continues with dan kerman. he went to the epicenter to speak with residents. >>rob: it was

a few dozen people reported to the usgs website that they felt it. most of them were on the northern part of the peninsula. >>> san francisco sheriff ross mirkarimi goes to court this morning for the start of his domestic violence trial. a judge expected to be assigned to the trial today. then the judge will consider pretrial motions. earlier this week mirkarimi's lawyer moved to disallow some key evidence in the case. jury selection is expected to begin next week. >>> let's check in with lawrence. he's surprisingly awake at this early hour. >> wide awake, guys! came in here with the music blaring. >> we all heard you. >> always drive like that. >> was it foreigner? >> katie perry. last friday night. [ laughter ] >> at least you're current. [ laughter ] >> hey, guys. this feels like a very special friday to me. i don't know about you guys. but this is a good day today as we're expecting lots of sunshine. temperatures start to change unusually warm though right now. you get those offshore winds. we have some 60s right down into the san jose area right

it's my understanding that this effort would fund an initiative with epa and usgs to look at the impacts of fracking. we had -- the president's advisory committee came, reported to us, had a pretty comprehensive i felt report. they presented 20 specific recommendations for how any impacts can be mitigated. so i guess the question to you is what was the flaw in that advisory committee's report and recommendations that you felt were insignificant and now warrant a second investigation that we need to increase the

the usgs just revised their probability. it's this. it's a virtual certainty we'll have an significant earthquake in next few years. it's going to happen and it's like to happen in the next 20 years. >> you should count on it. >> you should count on it. we're not talking about a possibility. we're talking likelihood or ineffability. as we move on -- >> can i point out one thing, one of the reasons they believe this is a certainty, not a probability, is there is a theory that the 1906 earthquake released so much energy, we had a period of quiet. that's over. before 1906, we had big earth quaiks on a regular cycle here. we had big earth quaiks over here. '06 released the earthquake energy. if you start traifg the fault, every 150 years there's a big earthquake on the hayward fault the last big earthquake was in the 1850s, so we're on that 150 year return cycle. on the san an drees, we had an earthquake down here. there's a belief what is happening is the earth quaiks are moving. two earth quaiks from now we'll have an ep center up here.

we're going to include additional scientific questions working with usgs with the department of energy. that's in response to the president's call that we not shy away from investing in good science. we believe that will make the natural gas industry more robust if we look to answer these questions. as far as pavilion, i've spoken to the governor several times, we've agreed to review and move forward together on additional investigation. certainly the use of some caustic soda ash could raise ph. but we believe when you look at the blanks and duplicate samples that our work is valid. but we're also agreeing to move forward collaboratively to take additional samples. >> yield back. >> at this time i recognize the gentlelady from california for five minutes. >> thank you for your testimony. i want to begin with a brief comment. i was disappointed with the decision toe eliminate beach act grants. without funding county environmental health officials will have to drop testing. we've seen 11 occasions when conditions were so bad officials closed the stretch of shoreline to all contact, the p

. >> now, can you explain the benefits of the effort between the usgs and do snechlt. >> we have overlapping responsibilities. we also don't want to be stove piped. we want to insure that we're doing one study to do one issue. we also want to make sure we're looking at issues collaboratively so we look across the field and are more universal in scope. >> thank you. now mr. chairman, with respect to hydraulic fracturing, this is something we have all these new advances in the way that we're doing oil and gas exploration and certainly for our state like colorado. it can be very, very positive for domestic energy production and for our economy. but we really don't have a lot of data on the environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing. while the technique has been around for a long time, these new -- these new ways that they're doing it are brand new. and so i really think that this study is important. and i would justin to urge the administrator jackson to make sure that the studies are done with the highest degrees of scientific standards. thank you. i yield back. >> at this time we recognize

>> obviously, we're swo are sco itment we work with the usgs, department of energy to scope studies that are not redundant. they'll do some as well. and we would look for the same level of rigor as what we're looking for. >> thank you. k

the usgs says it was about 5.5 miles deep. there's no word yet of any damage or injuries. >>> well, almost a year after floodwaters devastated parts of capitola, there are still lawsuits. a drainage pipe ruptured in heavy rains and that flooded homes and businesses. the lawsuits are claiming the city failed to properly take care of the underground pipes. one homeowner is suing for $130,000 damage. >>> it is 7:04. it's getting more expensive to drive here in the bay area. gas prices are hovering above the $4 a gallon mark. that's for regular. alex sav joins us live -- alex joins us live with more. people are not mappy about this. >> reporter: no, they are not. look at this grand total. $83 to fill up the van. >> that was only a half a fan. >> reporter: someone else is paying for this. >> this is a work van. >> reporter: you're surprised? >> yes. we're from houston. >> reporter: the look on your face said it all. >> yep. >> reporter: all across the bay area, the gas prices have shot up at $4 in many spots. regular $4.19. and pri

the usgs says the quake hit the small community about three hours ago. the humbolt county sheriff says the shaking lasted 30-45 seconds. there are no reports of damage or injury autos still to come at 4:00 a strategy for dieter was a sweet tooth, one meal you can still lose weight. >> remember when apple stock seemed pricey at $300 a share? how times have changed. we'll talk about what is up with this nonstop winning streak. >> and michael finney taking your consumer questions and will answer them here live later, you can contact michael on twitter at m finney. >> the sun is out. the roads still a bit slick out there. you can be prepared for a long way if you're trying to make your way across the bay bridge this, is the san francisco skyway. traffic moving slowly if you're heading east right now. stay with us. the news at 4:00 continues right >>> this afternoon, researchers believe they have diskaifrd link between a high calorie diet and memory loss as we get old skbrer says people between 70-89 who eat a high calorie diet have twice the risk of developi

today, existing home sales went up 4.3% month to morning would now be a good time to reinvest with usg? >> i would rather be in berkshire hathaway. you have a lot of stuff going for you and stock not doing anything, and right into the warren buffett letter. by the way, on "squawk box" on monday. probably good things happening there. if he is going to spend all morning on "squawk" and the letter coming out. maybe that's the better play. >>> eric in new york. >> caller: big new york booyah. love your show. >> thank you. what's going on? >> my question about alcoa, symbol aa. i picked up the stock last week, when it went back on thursday. with the report released about a manufacturing slowdown in china and alcoa signing a joint venture with the chinese, how will this affect prices in general? and where is alcoa headed? >> oil prices still not going up, and very challenging circumstances a couple metals challen challenged, and aluminum is not going higher. be careful with alcoa. not having the breakout quarter i have been waiting for. >>> frank in maryland, please. frank. >> caller: hi the

. >> i was just on the usgs website, northern california, 17 miles east-northeast of west haven, moonstone sections of the area there measuring 5.5 magnitude. ours of course was 5.1. >> right. >> we had minor damage around our area. we'll probably hear reports of minor damage taking place there within the next hour or so. here we're talking about morning flurries developing well after midnight. you can see how the clouds have quickly been running into the area. we're at 49 degrees. a west-southwest wind and 8 miles per hour. dew point low. the air dry. so once again it's going to take a while to saturate and see those flurries make its way down to the surface. 45 in gaithersburg. 51 in warranton currently and during the overnight we'll ease on down to the upper 30s by 11:00 p.m. then start of the day tomorrow 30 to 34 degrees. that is still not going to be nearly as cold as it was this morning. but we could have some flurries around the area especially just to the north and west. here is your future weather concentrate on those areas of bright, white that come into play. there we are at 7:

>>erica: usgs has not reported anything just yet.yes you want to mention that the earth quake struck at 609 sixth pm. the epicenter was actually between vallejo and crockett. a lot of people in the area of solano county felt it. on to the area weather, temperatures on the cooler side. fame makes the '30's, '40's and '50's. 37 and half moon bay, looking for a 30 degree weather in concord. check out the north bay, they are off to a relatively warm start. future cast 4 does predict by 10:00 a.m. mostly everyone will sitting pretty comfortably in the '50s. you could start to see some '60s forming in fleeces like santa rosa and petaluma. the inland areas potentially over the delta as well. as we advance closer to the afternoon and the green on the screen does indicate most locations seeing 60 degree temperatures. here is the breakdown for you, warmer conditions compared to what we saw yesterday. this is actually the warmest day of the week. oakland could make it to 63, same for antioch. some of the coastal locations all half moon bay will

a few dozen people reported to the usgs website that they did feel it. most of them though were on the northern part of the peninsula. >> that's not too far from karnopolis. >> i don't get worried until 6 plus. then that starts to get crazy when things start coming off the walls. 2.4 a baby quake. around the bay area today we have lots of sunshine coming our way. 61 degrees in mountain view. we are seeing winds mixings up the atmosphere keeping the temperatures warmer but it's not going to be as warm as yesterday around the bay area. we have some temperatures even the low 80s into santa rosa. today we are going to pick up more of a sea breeze into the afternoon as high pressure weakens. temperatures above average. but looks like they will be coming down. over the weekend, they are really going to come down. temperatures dropping across the board. a lot of clouds moving in our skies come sunday. maybe a chance of showers on wednesday. by the way, we have a big announcement at the end of the show. so you don't want to miss that. stick around. you will be h

even the material names in that particular group like usg and texas industries also to the downside. sue, back to you. >> thank you, robert. switch on the "power lunch" power surge and drill down on the stories driving the day. five greek ministers quick over european demands for more austerity. and greece's police union threatens to issue arrest warrants for eu and imf officials. all of this comes in the middle of massive protests and strikes in greece. and our julia chatterly is in athens with the latest. good evening, julia. >> reporter: hi there. we estimate there are around 5,000 people in the square behind me earlier today. that was despite the rain. they were chanting things like "the troika is setting us back 50 years," "fight back" and other things to do with the politicians here. protesters throwing petrol bombs at the police. they were quite restrained for a while and then ended up using tear gas and that dispersed the crowd. the key point is the protests and strikes ongoing were called before the euro group meeting last night. and then it became clear of course that there

. >> caller: i bought a stock, usg. united states natural gas line. >> ung? no, no -- you mean -- oh, the natural gas -- the limited fund? >> caller: umg, united states national gas fund. >> yeah. you know, that's an etf that i've been very much against. i think you olt to pick up a copy of "getting back to even" and you'll see exactly. i have a real very negative picture painted of that. if you want natural gas -- oh, i'm sorry. i'm sorry to cut you off. go ahead. >> caller: my question is i paid $5.15 for it last week, and wednesday i bought 1,000 shares of it and wednesday it went up to $22 per share. and they lowered my shares down to 250. what's going on with that? >> what, did they do some sort of financial shenanigan there to get that going? i didn't know they did that. i just have to tell you that i don't want you in that. it is not a good place to be. if you want -- if you want to play natural gas, i'm going to suggest you buy conoco, which has natural gas and oil and a yield. and that's what you need. okay. the rise in oil, it's like a gun to our ba

>>james: late last night the usgs said it was a 4.0 magnitude quake that was centered about 40 mi. north of santa rosa. one caller said that they felt a sharp show and napa, otherwise no report of any damage or injuries. >>justine: 8 judges expected to assist--to decide if jerry sandusky can visit with his grandchildren. her former football coach is facing 52 counts of child molestation this ban over a 50 year. he has pled not guilty to all the could charges. and another issue that the judge is expected to rule on is what counted jury pool should be selected from. at a hearing on friday, the judge said his trial to begin on may 14th. will connecticut on today's decision. >>james: and of the hearing is set for today, the 82 year-old is accused of murdering 19 people between 1973 and 1985. prosecutors have accused him of trying to delay the process so that he will never be tried. his attorneys deny that and say that they are preparing for a trout. >>justine: new jersey state legislature is expected to vote on a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage. the democrat-controlled state

so what we believe we have in the department of energy and a line closely with usgs is we have a lot of expertise and how fluid moves in rock and how do you develop the technology so that industry -- we can help industry to know what is happening and develop this resource in an environmentally responsible way. >> the president in the state of the union address, the government investing in shale energy extraction research for over 30 years. how much more do we need to study it? >> what the president was referring to in that case, in 1978 from 78 to 92 the department of energy invested in a horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing at a time when industry wasn't interested in that and win industry began to pick up a real way the u.s. government got out of that. since that time it has been a story word development of shale gas and shell oil has been quite remarkable for the last half-dozen years but there are also -- active environmental concerns. reports on things of that nature. so the research we want to do, what is really happening and how do you keep advancing best practices? we

the usgs says it was a 3.5. it is the second one in less than a day.l open as expected in just a few minutes at 10:00. more on that at 11:00 as well. and the bay bridge closure is a go for this long holiday weekend. the westbound span will close tomorrow night at 8:00 ask it should finish up and reopen by 5:00 a.m. tuesday. during that time bart will offer 24-hour train service. let's check the forecast now with meteorologist christina loren, good morning. >> they're going forward with the construction, and hey, until friday, we'll keep climbing in temperature and we have the mid-60s and 70s. 68 degrees tomorrow. by saturday, a few showers early and sunday into monday, another round of reason late sunday into monday morning. >> christina, san jose is clearing, but getting there is still very tough. southbound 880 still jammed as you come into milpitas from 237. things are moving smoothly, but jammed still off of dakota road off of newark past mission to 3 23. this is taking longer than i thought to clear up as folks come out and make their move through

usgs says it was a magnitude 4.4 quake near the town of cobb. no word of damage or injuries.eople said they felt this one as far away as palo alto and santa clara more than 100 miles south of the epicenter. >>> sacramento police investigating the death of a four-year-old boy during a suspected road rage incident. boy's father lost control of his car. it went down an embankment on interstate 5 saturday afternoon. the chp says father was trying to speed away from a second driver after a heated traffic dispute. that little boy was thrown out of the car and later died. the father and mother suffered minor injuries. police are still out there searching for the second driver who escaped in a black chevy pick up. >>> a 25-year-old woman was killed. her car flipped off an overpass in concord. chp says she was headed northbound on highway 242 at the connector there to highway 4 just before 4:00 yesterday afternoon when her car left the road and then rolled over. she was thrown out of the car as it fell on to southbound 242 below. they pronounced her dead at the scene. there is no word

government, particularly the usgs and the department of energy, and the intent is, can we help drivehe technology developed for the to help with the environmentally responsible fracking, so the risks that you can continue to mitigate risks to environmental impacts. the tunenor of the report is exactly that, in helping with the technology. there is rapid advancement and what is happening in fracking. is a lot of recommendations to help as information clearing houses so industries can share best practices with each other. the intent of that was not another study to look around. the intent was as we helped bp stop an oil leak in the gulf of mexico, the intent is to work with industry to help improve practices when possible so we can extract this resource in an environmentally responsible way. >> i will follow up with you. my concern is it appears we are directing an additional $2 million for a follow-on study that i agreed was a pretty good study. >> senator wyden. >> thank you, dr. chu. want to talk about natural gas pricing. i have been a supporter of natural gas. it has been a cleane

does many good things, we need to send a message it's time to stop scapegoating federal employees and usg them as the piggy bank for our national objectives. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: i yield two minutes to a member of the conference committee, the gentlewoman from north carolina. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized for two >> thank you madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent to address the house for two minutes and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. ellmers: sterday afternoon i happyly signed the conference report that was -- happily signed the conference report that was very, very well put together, and i commend chairman camp for the hard work that he didnd my fellow conferees. this joint conference committee came together. it was tasked to negotiate the payroll tax holiday extension, and this is a very important break through and shows that we can actually work together and compromise for the sake of the american people. i would like

we just learned just late last week the usgs has come back with an estimate that the shale oil in alaska close to 2 billion barrels of oil. anwr's mean estimate is about 10.6 billion barrels of oil. o.c.s., we anticipate over 26 billion barrels of oil. mr. president, we have the resources, we have the ability to access the resources and do so in an environmentally safe way. this needs to be part of all of the -- part of all-of-the-above sliew in addition to everything that we do -- solution, in addition to everything that we do with renewables, in addition to our efficiencies and conservation. but we must be doing more domestically. alaska holds the opportunity but, again, i would agree with the president, there is no short-term fix for this, but if we don't get started today, there is not going to be a tomorrow for communities like yakatat and eke and bethel and fairbanks. we've got to get started today, mr. president. i thank you, and i yield the floor. mr. kyl: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: let me commend my colleague from alaska, who's seein

the usgs estimated that there are 1.5 trillion, with a t, barrels of oil equivalent in these oil shale formations. i think it's worth experimenting to see if it can be commercially extracted. that would be a huge relief from having to get foreign oil and it would create money for the treasuries of states and the federal government an create american jobs as well as the security aspect. so i just don't see why there's such opposition to this when they say it's not going to work. that doesn't make sense. they can't have it both ways. i say let the companies experiment at their own expense, no cost to the taxpayer and so i strongly urge opposition to this amendment and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from colorado, mr. lamb burn -- lamb born reserves, the gentleman from colorado, mr. polis is recognized. mr. polis: perhaps my friend and colleague isn't aware that there is already experimentation about the potential for oil shale to meet our energy needs. there are millions of dollars spent every year that industry itself has invested in this technology. furtherm

usgs cut their losses in sheet rock and closed down. it is gone. the houses are there but the people are gone. it is the real wild west, the way it was. it takes a lot of the romance out of it. so we have done several things. black rock solor, which came out of burning man in gerlach. the school is closing down because they do not have any kids. the economy has been based on mining. there are some tourists that come through. hunters. some of our people come through and leave money in their wake. a little town like that does not know how to make money. but they have learned in certain ways. we have made significant charitable contributions. i do not want to great -- take much credit for this, but we are helping to keep them alive. the thing about our event, we do not do commercial things at the event. it spreads out the economic development to our neighbors. the piutes down the road are now doing in the in taco stands now and we know them. there was the day when we were considered scary, coming from san francisco, you know. it is much easier to brea