"WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- A federal judge has approved settlement with a Texas firm over the discharge of fluids from a Marcellus Shale natural gas well site in Lycoming County."
"The nominee for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman reached out to executives at oil giant BP PLC for help with the confirmation process, according to emails released yesterday by a conservative think tank opposing his nomination."
"The U.S. government rejected the sale of coal in Wyoming after an auction drew the lowest top bid in 15 years, as the outlook for the power-plant fuel weakens because of cheap natural gas and new rules coming out this week."
"New rules limiting emissions from U.S. power plants that are expected to be proposed on Friday will 'provide certainty' to the coal industry, environment and energy chiefs told lawmakers anxious about the fuel's future."
"Coal’s future is being built in rural Mississippi, and so far this is what it looks like: a $1 billion cost overrun, a stew of legal battles, a revolt by ratepayers and a credit downgrade for the local utility."
"Two environmental activists who climbed an OAO Gazprom (GAZP) Arctic rig to protest planned oil extraction were taken into custody following warning shots from Russia’s Coast Guard."
"Colorado's richest oil field -- the Denver-Julesburg Basin -- is buried in floodwaters, raising operational and environmental concerns, as state and industry officials work to get a handle on the problem."
"It was supposed to be a few days of relative bipartisan bonhomie in the Senate: A modest but popular energy bill was on the floor. Though senators may have faced a tough vote or two on U.S. EPA rules or the Keystone XL pipeline, the bill was expected to make it across the finish line, demonstrating that at least one chamber of Congress could function."
"Drilling for shale gas through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, appears to cause smaller leaks of the greenhouse gas methane than the federal government had estimated, and considerably smaller than some critics of shale gas had feared, according to a peer-reviewed study released on Monday."
"WASHINGTON — The coal industry, feeling threatened by federal efforts to promote wind and solar power, has opened a counterattack by opposing President Obama’s nomination of a renewable electricity advocate to head the federal agency with jurisdiction over power lines."
Advertisement 
