Energy & Fuel

"There is a new front in the fight over whether Texas should build more coal-fired power plants -- water."

"Just nine days after the Obama Administration lifted the deepwater drilling moratorium, Chevron announced on Thursday that it was going forward with a $7.5 billion project to develop two giant deepwater fields in the gulf."

"A new set of federal rules issued for shallow-water drilling are null and void because federal regulators didn’t offer the proper notices or public comment period, a judge in New Orleans said this week."

Gordon Murray, celebrated for designing the fastest, most powerful cars in the world, has gone to the other extreme. His latest product, the T.25, a fuel-abstemious three-seater passenger car, is made from metal tubes and recycled plastic bottles."

 

"BEIJING-- A dispute between China and the United States over Beijing’s subsidies to clean energy industries escalated on Sunday when a senior Chinese economic official warned that Washington 'cannot win this trade fight.'"

To judge by the U.S. federal spending on energy research and development, you wouldn't think there was any problem with energy independence, climate change, or unemployment. But you might think that the oil, nuclear, and coal industries had succeeded in strangling renewable energy in its crib.

"The Obama administration made a gesture of support for the ethanol industry on Wednesday, with a declaration by the Environmental Protection Agency that gasoline retailers can sell fuel blends containing up to 15 percent ethanol for use in late-model cars."

Interviews suggest that politics initially blinded the Obama administration on oil drilling.

"A set of proposed regulations to modernize safety in Pennsylvania's booming natural gas industry and force drillers to disclose the chemicals they use cleared a first procedural hurdle Tuesday."

Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, who held President Obama's nomination for OMB director hostage over the deepwater drilling ban, has said she will now hold it hostage until she is satisfied with the pace at which drilling permits are granted.