Energy & Fuel

In the first three months of this year, the number of active coal miners in West Virginia dropped from 18,200 to 15,604.

"KINGSTON - President Barack Obama on Thursday unveiled a major clean energy partnership at a Caribbean summit where he sought to reassert U.S. leadership in the region at a time when the economic clout of oil-producing Venezuela appears to be receding."

"Radon levels in buildings near unconventional natural gas development in Pennsylvania are higher than those in other areas of the state, suggesting that hydraulic fracturing has opened up new pathways for the carcinogenic gas to enter people’s homes, according to a study published on Thursday. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer worldwide."

"Pacific Gas & Electric Corp must pay a record $1.6 billion in penalties stemming from a natural gas pipeline explosion in 2010 that killed eight people near San Francisco, California's chief utility regulator ordered on Thursday."

"Despite a surge in oil tank car blasts, Obama stops short of strict regulatory action demanded by trackside residents".

"The U.S. Forest Service announced it will try to reinstate the exemption to Colorado’s roadless rule that allows coal mines to build roads in protected areas of Western Colorado.  The exemption was struck down last summer by a federal court because the government failed to assess the impact of that future coal mining on climate change."

"Utilities in the U.S. Northeast stand to lose as much as half of residential sales by 2030 as customers install solar and battery-storage systems and generate their own power, according to a report by the Rocky Mountain Institute."

"Shell filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday seeking to kick six Greenpeace activists off one of its chosen Arctic drilling rigs and block the advocacy group from boarding more of its vessels."

"The natural gas extraction method known as 'fracking' would be banned in Maryland until October 2017 under legislation approved Monday night by the Maryland Senate."

"Chesapeake Energy paid undisclosed fees to the lead author, whose study was based on water samples provided by the company."