Energy & Fuel

"The BP oil spill left an oily "bathub ring" on the sea floor that's about the size of Rhode Island, new research shows."

"The 2014 season for Lake Michigan's only coal-powered passenger and car ferry comes to a close Sunday, signaling the end of the controversial practice of dumping coal ash into the Great Lake. When the vessel resumes operations in 2015, it will no longer release the waste material into those waters."

"KIRKUK, Iraq — Roughly two dozen huge oil tankers are idly turning figure eights around the Mediterranean or on the high seas, loaded with oil pumped from wells in Iraqi Kurdistan but with nowhere to legally offload it."

"Local activists try to halt the shipment of explosive Bakken crude oil through their neighborhoods."

"The EPA touted decreased methane leaks during fracking, but environmentalists say the numbers are skewed."

"Massachusetts, California, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont are the most energy-efficient states in the U.S., according to an annual ranking released Wednesday by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, or ACEEE."

"Scott Kidwell, a top executive for Concho Resources Inc., came to Capitol Hill in July to urge senators to pass a bipartisan bill to expedite drilling permits on public lands."

"The U.S. government is drafting rules designed to close an accounting loophole that in recent years has helped coal companies boost export profits and likely cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, people familiar with the plan said."

"A watchdog group is suing the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to release communications with the oil industry over the 2014 renewable fuel mandate."

"As the Tomblin administration considers a plan to allow natural gas drilling under the Ohio River, a major chemical maker in Marshall County has been fighting a proposal for hydraulic fracturing near its plant, citing a 'near-catastrophic' gas-well incident last year that might be linked to geologic conditions beneath the river."