Energy & Fuel

"BEIJING --  China’s Commerce Ministry accused the United States government on Thursday of violating free-trade rules through support for six renewable energy projects, but did not identify the projects or the trade rules that had allegedly been violated. It was the latest volley in a widening conflict between the two countries over clean power.

The United States and China, the world’s two biggest energy users, have pledged to work together to develop renewable sources. But they accuse each other of improperly subsidizing or protecting their manufacturers.

"Earlier this month, the State University of New York at Buffalo released a report concluding that fracking is getting safer, as both industry and regulators are doing a better job. The study got plenty of coverage--the Associated Press, Forbes, WGRZ, Buffalo News--but in the week since it was released, it's been attacked for a number of flaws."

"HOUSTON -- As the Memorial Day weekend and the summer driving season approach, gasoline prices are easing. But most drivers will find prices only modestly lower than a year ago."

"COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Doctors given new access to the proprietary chemical recipes that oil and gas drillers use to crack into Ohio shale would be prohibited from sharing the information with the public under an energy proposal moving through the Ohio House."

"WASHINGTON, DC -- The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) signed an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to raise awareness of environmentally-friendly products and solutions."

"Oil fell to a seven-month low below $91 a barrel Wednesday after Iran agreed to allow the U.N. nuclear agency to restart an investigation into the country's nuclear program."

"In 2009 and 2010, the Delaware River near Wilmington got a little-noticed early taste of the waste left behind by the controversial natural gas drilling method called fracking. Some 1.4 million gallons of partially treated wastewater collected from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, wells outside the Delaware River basin were further processed and flushed into Delaware waters through the commercial side of DuPont Co.’s big wastewater plant in Deepwater, N.J., near the foot of the Delaware Memorial Bridge."

"One of Canada's top experts on Arctic issues is warning of the 'near-inevitability' of an Exxon Valdez-scale oil spill at a fragile choke point in Alaskan waters if Canada ends up shipping oilsands fuel to China via pipeline terminals on the British Columbia coast."

"Environmentalists battling Canadian oil companies over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to the Gulf Coast and another link west to Asia are now girding for what they see as industry's Plan C: Move heavy crude to the East.

At issue is a plan announced this week by Enbridge Pipelines Inc. to reverse the flow of a pipeline that now carries 240,000 daily barrels of imported oil west from Canada's East Coast.

"The United States on Thursday announced the imposition of antidumping tariffs of more than 31 percent on solar panels from China. The move by the Commerce Department is certain to infuriate Chinese officials already upset after recent bilateral frictions over China’s human rights policies and its increasingly confrontational approach toward American allies like the Philippines and Japan."