TransCanada Corp, the backer of the Keystone XL pipeline project, on Tuesday again pushed back its already delayed schedule for building the pipeline. That may signal that the company believes current GOP gymnastics in Congress, trying to force the pipeline to be built, will have little effect -- but that conditions will be more favorable after the 2012 election.
"The United States should stop exports of natural gas to prevent domestic prices from rising, Democratic Congressman Edward Markey said on Tuesday while introducing two bills in the House of Representatives to prevent shipments.
The bills, which would face an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled House, come as U.S. regulators consider applications for exports of a glut of natural gas that has weighed down prices and caused some companies to step back from drilling.
The closing of an 83-year-old coal-fired power plant near Chicago, one of the area's top polluters, will have economic consequences.
"As plans for wind farms rising out of the ocean along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts inch closer to fruition, a new study from Carnegie Mellon University suggests that hurricanes could destroy a significant number of turbines in some of these areas, even coming close to wiping them out."
"With the U.S. Senate poised to begin debate on a bill that would greenlight the controversial Keystone XL pipeline as early as Tuesday, activists and other citizens have barraged the Senate with more than 350,000 petitions opposing the legislation in less than five hours. [Ed. Note: the count surpassed 500,000 a few hours later.]"
"President plans to spend big on green cars and biofuels as Steven Chu says US wants to lead in clean energy technology."
"PITTSBURGH -- As natural gas prices continue to drop, the recent nationwide boom in drilling is slowing. Drillers don't make money if prices go too low — and drilling wells isn't cheap."
"Harry Truman was president the last time we exported more energy than we imported. Now complete energy independence may be within reach as President Obama plans to tap all domestic sources to achieve that goal."
President Obama will send his budget request for fiscal 2013 to Congress today. It is expected to fund the clean energy programs he mentioned in his State of the Union speech. But Congress, which actually appropriates the money, will have the last word. Republicans want to cut many environmental and clean-energy programs drastically. After agency-specific budget briefings today, some agency heads will explain the budget requests to Congressional committees later in the week.
"When US government scientists began sampling the air from a tower north of Denver, Colorado, they expected urban smog — but not strong whiffs of what looked like natural gas. They eventually linked the mysterious pollution to a nearby natural-gas field, and their investigation has now produced the first hard evidence that the cleanest-burning fossil fuel might not be much better than coal when it comes to climate change."
