"Americans worried about the pain of $100 U.S. oil should worry a lot more. Although $100 oil is the headline in U.S. newspapers, most refineries that supply fuel to service stations are paying the equivalent of a much higher price -- and those costs are already being felt when consumers fill up their vehicles."
"Pennsylvania has come under fire lately as pollution from drilling in the Marcellus Shale threatens water resources across the state. But instead of ratcheting up oversight, Gov. Tom Corbett wants to hand authority over some of the state’s most critical environmental decisions to C. Alan Walker, a Pennsylvania energy executive with his own track record of running up against the state’s environmental regulations."
"Wyoming, famous for its crisp mountain air and breathtaking, far-as-the-eye-can-see vistas, is looking a little bit like smoggy Los Angeles these days because of a boom in natural gas drilling."
The boom in cellulosic ethanol that was predicted four years ago never happened. Or hasn't happened yet. The idea of making ethanol from all manner of plant material other than corn still promises major net environmental benefits -- unlike corn ethanol, which doesn't do much for the environment. But a lot depends on oil prices, electric car sales, financing, and the economies of scale.
"Democrats have attempted to get Republicans to confront the science on climate change, in an effort to halt moves to block regulation of greenhouse gas pollution. But it's not clear that the appeal to reason worked."
"The Interior Department will study the potential impacts of a 'very large oil spill' in the Arctic Ocean as part of a court-ordered supplemental review of oil and gas leasing off Alaska's northwest coast, the agency said."
"The Lone Star state is several years ahead of Pennsylvania when it comes to deep natural gas drilling." So the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette went to Texas to see what might be in store, especially as densely settled suburban areas are drilled. For some, such as homeowners, it has meant economic loss; but for drillers, it has meant fortunes.
"With Congress in friendlier hands, oil and gas lobbyists are shifting more of their attention away from Capitol Hill and to a new arena: the federal agencies developing aggressive regulations that will affect how the industry does business."
Henry Waxman (D-CA), ranking member of the House Energy Committee, speaking Monday at the Center for American Progress, said "The Republicans in Congress have become the party of science deniers, and that is profoundly dangerous."
Few energy conferences can match the annual event, organized entirely by students, at MIT for sheer unbridled enthusiasm.
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