"County council elections turn on local issues, but the recent ballot in Washington State's Whatcom County drew big money and national interest. As Ashley Ahearn of public media's EarthFix reports,these councillors must approve any permit for a huge coal export facility, and those elected are considered by many to be opponents of such a coal terminal."
"Biofuels makers and corn producers are not happy about the Environmental Protection Agency scaling back on renewable-fuel levels for next year, and they're united about who's to blame: the oil industry."
"WASHINGTON — In windowless rooms from here to California, nearly 10,000 electrical engineers, cybersecurity specialists, utility executives and F.B.I. agents furiously grappled over 48 hours with an unseen 'enemy' who tried to turn out the lights across America. The enemy injected computer viruses into grid control systems, bombed transformers and substations and knocked out power lines by the dozen."
"WASHINGTON -- The Keystone XL pipeline section from the oil transport hub of Cushing, Okla., to the Texas Gulf Coast is plagued by construction problems, code violations and improper inspection and shouldn't be allowed to operate until the government steps up oversight, the watchdog group Public Citizen argued in a report Tuesday."
"New Mexico oil and gas regulators haven't fined a single driller for violations this year. They didn't last year, either. Or the year before that."
"A liquid petroleum gas pipeline south of Dallas, Texas caught fire and exploded on Thursday. The fire from the 10-inch line has forced evacuations from the small town of Milford, CBS DFW reported."
"Environmental regulators are likely to unveil rules on Friday dictating how much ethanol and other renewable fuels must be blended into the U.S. gasoline supply in 2014, following weeks of lobbying by the oil and biofuels industries, industry sources who have been briefed on the process said on Thursday."
"The Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the nation’s five biggest users of coal for electricity generation, said Thursday it would close down eight coal-fired power units with 3,300 megawatts of capacity."
"Huge proposed coal export terminals at Longview and Cherry Point, north of Bellingham, must get “exhaustive and independent review” of potential environmental, economic and climate change impacts, Washington’s four Catholic bishops said in a statement adopted Friday."
"The Obama administration may be about to hand the oil industry a major victory by reducing the federal requirement for blending ethanol into fuel — a decision with big implications for farm-state politics, food prices and the nation’s energy markets."
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