What's Hot

National News

Cap-and-trade is back with new White House and Senate "gang"
Politico
President Obama insisted on keeping cap and trade restrictions in a climate bill this year, bringing a bipartisan group of 14 key Senators and top cabinet officials for a White House meeting.   Read More...

First Solar signs 300-MW PPA with PG&E
RenewableEnergyWorld
First Solar has signed a 300-megawatt (MW) power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) with electricity from a utility-scale solar photovoltaic power facility that First Solar is developing in Southern California.   Read More...

Interior secretary dismisses 'land grab' memo as early 'brainstorming'
Great Falls Tribune
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar downplayed an internal memo Tuesday suggesting the federal government take over millions of acres in Montana and other Western states, saying his agency is not pursuing any such steps and would seek public input before it did.   Read More...

Denali: Pipeline companies to proceed without Alaska support
Business Week
BP and ConocoPhillips are working together on the $30 billion Denali natural gas pipeline without state support, saying it avoids strings attached to competing plan of TransCanada Corp. and ExxonMobil Corp., which accepts state funds.   Read More...

U.S. funds new nuclear power technology
UPI
Energy Secretary Chu has announced a $40 million grant to Westinghouse Electric Co. and General Atomics for design and workflow planning for the next generation of U.S. nuclear power plants.   Read More...

Insider says ideology and headlines trump actual clean energy
Houston Chronicle
No one's against cleaner energy. But is it material? Is it affordable? Can it deliver commercial, ample new energy to the ever-aging existing energy system? Let's be honest. It's incremental and expensive.   Read More...

FCC: "Smart Grid" depends on National Broadband Plan
TechNewsDaily
A federal plan to wire the entire United States with high-speed Internet access will be key to creating a nationwide "smart" power grid for reducing wasted electricity, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).   Read More...

Sage grouse will require 'closer scrutiny' of energy leases -- BLM
E&E News PM
The Bureau of Land Management will examine oil and gas drilling permits with "closer scrutiny" to determine if they might affect the imperiled greater sage grouse in light of the new protected status for the iconic Western bird, BLM Director Bob Abbey said today.   Read More...

Interior: Grouse listing warranted but precluded
Associated Press
The Interior Department announced Friday that it won't list sage grouse as endangered or threatened but will classify the bird among species that are candidates for federal protection.   Read More...

Grid battle threatens wind development
Forbes.com (blog)
That nationwide transmission backbone people like to dream about, the one that is meant to improve reliability while connecting the country's vast renewable energy resources with its power-hungry population? A group of utilities has gotten together to try to break that backbone before it even gets planned, never mind built.   Read More...

Senate proposal could hurt U.S. wind industry
RenewableEnergyWorld
This week, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced legislation that, if passed, would restrict any renewable energy project that uses less than 100% U.S. made components from receiving tax payer subsidies and grants.   Read More...

U.S. oil, gas taxes face ‘fierce’ opposition, lawmaker says
Bloomberg/BusinessWeek
The Obama administration should abandon plans to raise $45 billion by eliminating tax breaks for fossil-fuel producers such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu said.   Read More...

EPA asked to study gas-drilling technique
Reuters
Dozens of environmental groups have asked urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study the hydraulic fracturing technique of extracting natural gas, amid concern that it contaminates drinking water with toxic chemicals.   Read More...

Senate trio hopes to hit pay dirt with carbon 'fee' on fuels
New York Times/ClimateWire
Key senators are weighing a request from Big Oil to levy a carbon fee on the industry rather than wrap it into a sweeping cap-and-trade system that covers most of the U.S. economy.   Read More...

Kyocera to manufacture solar modules in the U.S.
RenewableEnergyWorld
Kyocera Solar announced plans to begin manufacturing solar modules in San Diego to serve the U.S. market's growing demand for clean energy. The U.S. module manufacturing will support a new milestone for Kyocera's solar energy business — global production capacity targeting 1,000 megawatts of solar cells per year by March 2013.   Read More...

Top scientists admit Climategate seriously damaged public trust
New York Times
A number of top scientists say the unauthorized release last fall of hundreds of e-mail messages from a major climate research center in England caused a major breach of faith in their research. They say the uproar threatens to undermine decades of work and has badly damaged public trust in the scientific enterprise.   Read More...

White House land grab plan exposed
Washington Times
A secret administration memo has surfaced revealing plans for the federal government to seize more than 10 million acres of Western lands from Montana to New Mexico, halting job-creating activities like ranching, forestry, mining and energy development. State governments are outraged that this land grab would dry up their essential tax revenues for funding schools, firehouses and community centers.
  Read More...


Scientists taking steps to defend work on climate
New York Times
For months, climate scientists have taken a vicious beating in the media and on the Internet, accused of hiding data, covering up errors and suppressing alternate views. Their response until now has been largely to assert the legitimacy of the vast body of climate science and to mock their critics as cranks and know-nothings.   Read More...

Transparency blacked out -- time to get the truth
Salt Lake Tribune (U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis)
Our nation's governing document grants every American the right to petition their government for a redress of grievances. Over the course of our history, we have gone to great lengths to ensure that every person has the same access to that right regardless of race, creed or class. In fact, the law dictates that citizens should be reimbursed for their legal expenses should they sue the federal government and win. No American should have to risk their livelihood or savings in order to seek justice. That is why, in 1980, Congress passed the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA).
  Read More...


States push EPA, Congress to curb business confidentiality claims
Greenwire
Federal law forces companies to provide detailed information to U.S. EPA about the toxicity of the chemicals they use.   Read More...

Coalition for Fair Transmission Policy launched
The Earth Times
A diverse group of electric utilities launched the Coalition for Fair Transmission Policy. The group will support legislative and regulatory policies within comprehensive energy legislation that will lead to the most efficient development of the nation's electric transmission systems and clean generation resources.   Read More...

2 House Dems join challenge to EPA on greenhouse gases
Two top House Democrats, Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson and Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton have introduced a resolution to veto the EPA's finding that CO2 and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.
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Defections shake up climate coalition
Wall Street Journal
Three big companies quit an influential lobbying group that had focused on shaping climate-change legislation, in the latest sign that support for an ambitious bill is melting away.   Read More...

A reactor that burns depleted fuel emerges as a potential 'game changer'
New York Times/ClimateWire
After years in a status closer to science fiction than reality, the traveling wave nuclear reactor is emerging as a potential "game changer," according to a U.S. Department of Energy official.   Read More...

EPA will need increased climate funding as regs ramp up, Jackson says
New York Times/Greenwire
U.S. EPA will need increased funding for climate programs in future years as the agency moves forward on efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, Administrator Lisa Jackson said.   Read More...

Obama reaffirms pledge of 'tough decisions' on new OCS areas
Oil & Gas Journal
Repeating a point that he made in his State of the Union address on Jan. 27, US President Barack Obama told business executives that his administration is willing to make tough decisions on opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.   Read More...

America’s wind energy potential triples in new estimate
Wired
The amount of wind power that theoretically could be generated in the United States tripled in the newest assessment of the nation’s wind resources.
  Read More...


Injecting tiny proteins into the hunt for clean coal
New York Times/ClimateWire
Working with some of the tiniest things in nature, scientists are engineering proteins found in living things to trap carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants.   Read More...

Salazar’s Cape Wind decision is difficult
WBUR
The fate of Cape Wind, a proposed $900 million wind farm in Nantucket Sound, likely rests with one man: U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.   Read More...

U.S. agency says Google can be power marketer
Reuters/Yahoo! News
Google Inc won approval from U.S. energy regulators to act as a power marketer, which will make it easier for the Internet search giant to obtain renewable energy to run its huge data centers.   Read More...

16 'endangerment' lawsuits filed against EPA before deadline
New York Times/Greenwire
Industry groups, conservative think tanks, lawmakers and three states filed 16 court challenges to U.S. EPA's "endangerment" finding for greenhouse gases before the deadline, setting the stage for a legal battle over federal climate policies.    Read More...

Senate weighs final push to move climate bill
Reuters
A last-ditch attempt at passing a climate change bill begins in the Senate this week with senators mindful that time is running short and that approaches to the legislation still vary widely, according to sources.   Read More...

Green energy jobs? Not from Obama's big government meddling
U.S. News & World Report
The Obama administration and its congressional allies have been promising to usher in a green economy that will create millions of new green jobs. There's only one problem with all of the feel-good talk of creating green jobs: It makes no economic sense whatsoever, and where it has been tried most extensively, evidence shows that it's a job-destroying, economy-weakening fiasco.    Read More...

Battle lines harden over new transmission policy for renewables
New York Times/ClimateWire
A group of Pacific Northwest and California power companies has joined utilities from the Southeast and other regions to oppose widespread cost-sharing for transmission expansion to carry wind and solar power to distant markets.
  Read More...


The long road to an alternative-energy future
Wall Street Journal
Blame it on technology, infrastructure or policy. But it's going to take many years for new technologies to make much of a dent in our current energy mix.   Read More...

Key energy players pump up the volume on tax plan
Houston Chronicle
For the second year in a row, the Obama administration is asking Congress to ax $36.5 billion in oil and gas industry tax breaks at a time when many lawmakers view Big Oil as a prime target for raising federal revenue.   Read More...

EPA to soften CO2 requirements on industry
Reuters
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it would slow a phase-in of new limits on carbon dioxide from coal and other heavy industry plants to ease concerns about the impact on the economy.    Read More...

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