"ATLANTA -- The Southern Co. makes billion-dollar decisions that affect millions of people in Georgia, yet it has attracted little political scrutiny — until now. Leaders of the Atlanta Tea Party are challenging Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power over the monopoly's reluctance to increase its use of solar power, the ballooning costs of building a new nuclear power plant and even its legal right to monopoly status."

"OTTAWA -- A pipeline for exporting oil sands bitumen to Asia-bound tankers was dealt a severe blow on Friday when the province of British Columbia urged a federal review panel to reject the $6 billion plan."

"As shale hydrocarbons development surges, redrawing the U.S. energy map, so has construction of pipelines and processing infrastructure. Most of the cash that is financing the enormous capital projects comes from tax-favored investments called master limited partnerships."

"Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, who oversaw a broad expansion of the regulator’s oversight of the electric grid and several probes into improper trading tactics by Wall Street banks, will depart his post."

"A radical shift in the world energy picture is raising environmental concerns in the United States."

"A liberal watchdog group says the State Department’s inspector general (IG) is probing possible conflicts of interest in the federal environmental review of the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline."

"One of America's corporate giants is investing billions of dollars in the new boom of oil and gas drilling that relies on a controversial extraction method known as fracking."

"Hydraulic fracturing on Indian land may become more difficult under new rules proposed by the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management."