Energy & Fuel

"The United States doesn’t yet face the critical shortage of power that has left more than 600 million people in India without electricity this week. But the U.S. grid is aging and stretched to capacity. More often the victim of decrepitude than the forces of nature, it is beginning to falter. Experts fear failures that caused blackouts in New York, Boston and San Diego may become more common as the voracious demand for power continues to grow. They say it will take a multibillion-dollar investment to avoid them."

"Democrats, environmentalists and clean energy backers hope GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's solidified opposition to a key wind energy tax break helps motivate voters in closely contested, windy states to tip the election toward President Obama."

"The lines are now drawn on a political hot button in Iowa: a lucrative tax break for wind energy. Mitt Romney is against it, President Barack Obama favors it — opposing stances that could have political and economic implications in Iowa, which has more wind energy jobs than any other state in the nation."

"NEW DELHI -- India's energy crisis cascaded over half the country Tuesday when three of its regional grids collapsed, leaving 620 million people without government-supplied electricity in one of the world's biggest-ever blackouts."

"An environmental group launched ads Monday targeting three GOP lawmakers for failing to push for an extension of a tax credit for wind energy producers, charging them with killing green energy jobs."

"A single holdout could mean indefinite delay. The situation shows how difficult it will be to export Alberta oil sands to Asia."

"EPA's requirements for corn ethanol will drive food prices even higher after an already distressed harvest, growers warn."

"TransCanada, the company seeking to build the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline from oil sands formations in Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries, received the final go-ahead from the federal government on Friday for the southern leg of the project."

"Shell is scaling back plans to drill up to five wells in Arctic waters this summer amid a series of setbacks, including stubborn sea ice still clinging to Alaska’s shores and delays in construction of an emergency oil spill containment barge."