"A chemical spill along a West Virginia river on Thursday triggered a tap water ban for up to 300,000 people, shutting down schools, bars and restaurants and forcing residents to line up for bottled water at stores. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency for nine counties following the spill of 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol, a chemical used in the coal industry."

"A multinational banking giant is backing away from a proposal to build the West Coast’s biggest coal export project near Bellingham, Washington."

"Radio Disney made 26 stops across Ohio with a pro-fracking group to promote oil and gas to elementary school students."

"Some 80,000 tank cars that don't meet current industry safety standards need to be replaced or retrofitted after several crashes of trains carrying crude oil, the head of railcar maker The Greenbriar Companies said on Wednesday."

"A 60 Minutes segment claiming that federal government efforts to encourage clean tech -- the production and use of alternative energy sources and more efficient technology -- have failed drew some harsh disagreement among reporters covering the energy beat who say the negative report ignored many successes and focused too narrowly on a few unsuccessful companies."

Sometimes hydraulic fracturing of underground shale formations to produce oil and gas goes awry. Pumping fluids into formations at high pressure to release hydrocarbons can cause oil, gas, and toxic liquids to spew from old abandoned wells.

"BEIJING -- China approved the construction of more than 100 million tonnes of new coal production capacity in 2013 - six times more than a year earlier and equal to 10 percent of U.S. annual usage - flying in the face of plans to tackle choking air pollution.

"Several homes near the village of Plaster Rock, N.B., were evacuated Tuesday evening after a train carrying 'dangerous goods' derailed and caught fire."

"WASHINGTON -- The oil industry's leading trade group on Tuesday praised Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski's (R) call for a review of the country's effective ban on exporting crude oil."