"Lax trade restrictions and high sugar prices should allow the United States to overtake Brazil in ethanol exports during the second half of 2011, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

During the first five months of 2011 U.S. ethanol exports more than doubled from the same period last year, the EIA said.

"The nuclear regulator said on Thursday that it will require operators of the nation's 104 nuclear reactors to review their earthquake risks as part of an ongoing update of seismic hazards for power plants.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it will provide existing plants with a seismic analysis tool later this year that will allow plants to perform "an updated review."

"WASHINGTON — Federal geologists published new estimates this week for the amount of natural gas that exists in a giant rock formation known as the Marcellus Shale, which stretches from New York to Virginia.

The shale formation has about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas, according to the report from the United States Geological Survey. This is drastically lower than the 410 trillion cubic feet that was published earlier this year by the federal Energy Information Administration.

"BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Crews facing adverse weather forecasts rushed to bolster protective lines around blazes that have scorched tens of thousands of acres in the Northern Rockies, while firefighters in Oregon worked to corral a range fire that forced a kids' science camp to evacuate.

Fire conditions rose to critical Thursday as steady winds fanned several blazes and scattered storms threatened to spark new ones across Montana, north central Idaho and northwest Wyoming.

"DUCK, N.C. — Hurricane watches were posted for New York and much of the Northeast on Friday morning as Hurricane Irene jogged northward, putting the whole of the East Coast on alert.

The hurricane warning that was put into effect in North Carolina on Thursday was extended by the National Hurricane Center to Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey on Friday morning, indicating that preparations for the storm should be completed as soon as possible.

"In an email to Climate Progress, green jobs champion Van Jones explains how The New York Times misrepresented his quotes and his views."

"ST. JOHN'S — Canada's doctors are condemning the Harper government for its 'shameful' decision to block listing asbestos as a hazardous product.

Delegates to the Canadian Medical Association's general assembly voted nearly unanimously — 99 per cent — in support of a motion Wednesday opposing the federal government for contesting the international designation of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance.

"BP Plc has paid out more than $5 billion to 204,434 victims of last year's massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, fund administrator Kenneth Feinberg said on Tuesday."

"Top military brass, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the UN Secretary General have all warned that climate change will create conflicts in the future. But environmental shifts are already causing wars, argues a team of experts in a new paper in Nature published this month."