"The federal government could soon give the final go-ahead for Royal Dutch Shell to begin drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean. Shell has spent $4 billion since 2007 to prepare for this work, and is hoping to tap into vast new deposits of oil."
"But the plan to drill exploratory wells is controversial — opposed by environmental groups and some indigenous people as well.
"Environmentalists are furious at President Barack Obama — he failed on cap and trade, his energy message has turned into the more GOP-friendly “all of the above” and he’s all but done talking about global warming. But he’s racking up the endorsements anyway."
"Diplomats from over 190 countries agreed on a draft text on green global development on Tuesday to be approved this week at a summit in Rio de Janeiro, but environmentalists complained the agreement was too weak."
"Japan approved on Monday incentives for renewable energy that could unleash billions of dollars in clean-energy investment and help the world's third-biggest economy shift away from a reliance on nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster."
"Brazilian negotiators have been accused of using strong-arm tactics at Rio+20 to secure a deal before heads of state start arriving for the Earth Summit later this week."
"The Energy Department announced Wednesday that it was stepping in to shore up an ailing company it created in the 1990s to privatize uranium enrichment, calling the rescue vital to maintaining nuclear weapons and national security."
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In the weeks before last year's settlement of a major water pollution case, lawyers for Mingo County residents were saying they'd unearthed records indicating Massey Energy tried to cover up the extent of its underground pumping of coal-slurry waste."
"Oil drilling has sparked a frenzied prosperity in Jeff Keller's formerly quiet corner of western North Dakota in recent years, bringing an infusion of jobs and reviving moribund local businesses. But Keller, a natural resource manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, has seen a more ominous effect of the boom, too: Oil companies are spilling and dumping drilling waste onto the region's land and into its waterways with increasing regularity."
"LONDON -- The price of oil fell to below $83 a barrel on Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave no hint that the central bank is planning stimulus measures to revive a faltering recovery."
"At a U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing Wednesday, Congressional Republicans heaped criticism on Al Armendariz, who resigned this spring as head of the Environmental Protection Agency's south-central regional office after controversial comments surfaced about his regulation philosophy."
