Energy & Fuel

"WPX Energy Appalachia has paid a $1.2 million civil penalty for oil and gas violations that affected groundwater and private water supplies in Westmoreland County."

"China's consumption of coal fell in 2016 for a third year in a row, official data showed Tuesday, as the world's top carbon polluter has emerged as a global leader in addressing global warming."

"A natural gas pipeline has been leaking since at least Feb. 7 and the company says it can't safely stop the flow of gas." "Natural gas from a 52-year-old underwater pipeline has been leaking for at least two weeks into Cook Inlet in Alaska, home to a number of endangered species, including beluga whales."

"The Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago became the city’s African American intellectual, artistic and economic mecca as segregationist policies kept black people out of other areas. Local leaders hope to build on that legacy with the microgrid that ComEd is proposing for the neighborhood."

"In what appeared to be a belated adoption of an Obama-era directive, the U.S. energy agency responsible for approving multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline projects has directed companies to start disclosing potential climate change impacts."

"ExxonMobil announced Wednesday that it had wiped off its books all 3.5 billion barrels of tar sands oil reserves at one of its projects in Canada. Because of recent low oil prices, the company said none of those reserves can be considered economical according to the accounting rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission."

"Armed occupation brought an anticlimactic and forlorn end to the camp, which had been home to thousands of activists opposing the Dakota Access pipeline".

"A new study looks at fracking sites in four states, finding 6,648 spills between 2005 and 2014. Their research, the study's authors say, highlights a need for better data collection – and may help prevent future incidents."