Energy & Fuel

A new report from the Royal Society of Canada provides a mixed verdict on the environmental impacts of oil sands extraction in Alberta.

"The California utility whose gas pipeline exploded last fall had rejected federal recommendations to install more automatic shut-off valves to help reduce the risks from a rupture and fire, an investigative panel was told Tuesday."

Some Iowa lawmakers are pushing a bill they say would protect children by removing from the market many plastic products containing BPA, which some scientists think harms health. Lobbyists for the chemical industry say that's premature.

"Hundreds of activists marched to the federal courthouse Monday to support a man who became an environmental folk hero by faking the purchase of $1.7 million of federal oil-and-gas drilling leases in an act of civil disobedience."

"[Australian] taxpayers spend about 11 times more encouraging the use of fossil fuels than on climate change programs - and the sum is growing."

"The new well will track one plugged after a moratorium. Obama administration officials say pressure from courts and Congress did not affect the decision, but that the firm met new safety rules."

As gas companies race to drill more wells that produce gas with a technique known as hydrofracking, the dangers of the toxic wastewater they discharge turn out to be greater than previously understood.

Greenwire sorts through the dust storm of counterclaims on the accuracy of "Gasland," an Oscar-nominated documentary about the impacts of gas drilling and production methods known as "fracking."

Oil prices rising because of turmoil in the Middle East and other factors pose a new and serious threat to the recovery of the U.S. economy, experts say.