Energy & Fuel

"The party is in talks with Republicans to lift a longtime ban on U.S. exports in exchange for clean-energy and other tax breaks."

"Imagine an oil slick quickly growing through the Straits of Mackinac from a rupture of the 62-year-old, twin pipelines known as Line 5 traversing the bottom of where Lakes Michigan and Huron connect."

"A fire on an oil platform in the Caspian Sea burned on Monday for a fourth day, and the Azerbaijani company that operates the site warned that the fire could spread to the oil wells that feed the platform, heightening the risk of a spill."

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has petitioned the federal agency that regulates hazardous materials transport to set limits on the volatility of oil shipped by rail -- a major factor in explosions.

"As representatives of nearly 200 countries gathered in Paris to discuss ways of reducing emissions from fossil fuels, many pointed to what they consider a simple and obvious way to change behavior: Stop widespread subsidies that encourage the use of fossil fuels."

"OPEC has abandoned all pretense of acting as a cartel. It’s now every member for itself. At a chaotic meeting Friday in Vienna that was expected to last four hours but extended to nearly seven, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries tossed aside the idea of limiting production to control prices."

"A Russian-flagged oil tanker has run aground off Nevelsk on the southwest coast of Sakhalin Island, spilling oil into the sea, Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations reports."

"Former Massey Energy Co. chief executive Don Blankenship, once one of the most powerful men in the region’s coal industry, was convicted Thursday by a federal jury of conspiring to violate mine safety and health standards at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine, where 29 miners died in an April 2010 explosion."

"The House passed the Energy and Commerce Committee's broad energy legislation [Thursday] morning, sending the Senate a bill aimed at modernizing the electric grid and speeding natural gas exports."

"Whistleblowers and experts allege safety violations, inadequate oversight surrounding new project near Indian Point".