"MANSFIELD, La.—The brilliant green artificial turf on high-school football fields here serves as a vivid symbol of the natural-gas boom that brought prosperity to this traditionally poor corner of northwest Louisiana.
But the foundation of this wealth has started to crumble. The price of natural gas has plunged to a 10-year low, prompting a flight of energy companies from gas fields across the country.
"The Energy Department is mismanaging oversight of $34 billion in taxpayer-backed loans for green-energy and other projects, congressional auditors said Monday in a new report."
"The Government Accountability Office said it took Energy Department staff more than three months to come up with data on the status of applications for loan guarantees, leading auditors to question whether oversight of the program is timely or fair to companies seeking federal subsidies.
"WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is bringing a new trade case against China that seeks to pressure the rising economic power to end its export restrictions on key materials used to manufacture hybrid car batteries, flat-screen televisions and other high-tech goods."
"Visiting the Daimler truck manufacturing plant in Mount Holly, North Carolina Wednesday, President Barack Obama announced a new $1 billion set of incentives to help consumers and businesses purchase new advanced trucks and cars."
"BP paid out $1.1 million worth of shares on Feb. 15 to former chief executive Tony Hayward under a three-year incentive plan, even though Hayward resigned in the wake of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010.
Hayward also earned $194,973 in fees in 2011 as a director of BP’s TNK-BP joint venture in Russia, according to the company’s annual report released Tuesday. The company’s stock price is down more than 20 percent since the spill.
"General Motors, a company that's made strides to lower the carbon footprint of driving, is taking heat from 10,000 of its customers for a donation its charitable foundation made to an institute that casts doubt on climate science."
Billionaire Aubrey McClendon CEO of Chesapeake Energy, the nation's second-largest natural gas producer, is an evangelist for "fracking." Is the boom in natural gas a bubble that will go bust as the price of gas itself continues a dizzying fall?
"The help-wanted sign is out in Canton, Ohio, for Chesapeake Energy."
"The company that has led the charge in shale gas drilling is looking for truck drivers with licenses for hazardous materials, a purchasing coordinator for oil field equipment, a pipeline technician, a field safety coordinator, administrative assistants, troubleshooting electricians, a tax analyst and more.
"Two utility companies announced the closure of 10 aging U.S. power plants Wednesday, a move environmental groups hailed as a major victory even as critics warned it could raise the price of electricity."
Juliet Eilperin reports for the Washington Post February 29, 2012.
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