2013

Dow, ConocoPhillips Spar Over LNG Exports

Manufacturers need five years to ramp up domestic plants being built to take advantage of America's glut of cheap shale gas, according to a Dow Chemical executive, and the country should be careful not to undercut them by depleting that supply with…

Any wind farmer will tell you that wind turbines kill far fewer birds than buildings, power lines, cars, pesticides and—those lethal predators—housecats. But Americans love their eagles, and windfarms from Maryland to California have made headlines…

Former CIA Director: The Grid Is Vulnerable To Attack

The electric power grid in the United States is vulnerable to attacks that have already begun, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey said in Chicago Thursday night, and America needs distributed generation as backup—primarily in the form of…

Fracking Truck Sets Off Radiation Alarm At Landfill

A truck carrying drill cuttings from a hydraulic fracturing pad in the Marcellus Shale was rejected by a Pennsylvania landfill Friday after it set off a radiation alarm, according to published reports. The truck was emitting gamma radiation from…

U.S. power plants began burning more coal in February as natural gas prices rose, but coal's resurgence will not overcome its long-term decline, according to a report released today by the U.S. Energy Information Agency.
EIA analyzed the horse race…

Nobel Physicist: Society Should Convert To Natural Gas

Of all the energy sources in play, natural gas offers the most immediate promise as a clean, abundant fuel that can meet society's needs, including the need to mitigate global warming, Nobel prize winning physicist Carlo Rubbia said in Chicago…

New U.S. Nuclear Waste Policy May Be Illegal: GAO

In January The U.S. Department of Energy adopted a new policy for the storage of nuclear waste, embarking on a plan to build two new interim storage sites and a new permanent storage facility. On Thursday, a General Accounting Office official told…

5 Things U.S. Must Do To Win At Fracking

The United States can use fracking as a bridge to a cleaner future, or it can damage land, pollute water, and spew even more greenhouse gases, an energy advisor to two presidents said at the University of Chicago Thursday night.
“I think as a rule…

The acting EPA director on Friday signed a revised version of the EPA's Protective Action Guide for radiological incidents, which critics say radically relaxes the safety guidelines agencies follow in the wake of a nuclear-reactor meltdown,…

Keystone Aside, U.S. Eyes Its Own Tar Sands

While partisans spar over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring oil south from the Alberta tar sands, the U.S. Department of Energy yesterday announced a new technology to make U.S. oil sands and heavy oil viable for refining.
The…