Energy & Fuel

Oil prices rising because of turmoil in the Middle East and other factors pose a new and serious threat to the recovery of the U.S. economy, experts say.

After a December 2008 spill of toxic coal ash at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston plant, EPA vowed to bring the ubiquitous waste under regulation. First, industry got to the Obama White House to sandbag the effort. Now, GOP lawmakers heavily funded by electric utilities have slipped a rider into the House stopgap spending bill to quash EPA's effort to protect the public altogether.

"The EPA's Hydraulic Fracturing Public Informational Meeting was probably the strangest exhibition of performance art ever to grace the stage of the Broome County Forum Theater in Binghamton, New York."

"Oil-price swings have doubled this year as unrest spreads through the Middle East, source of one- third of global crude supply, hampering producer and consumer efforts to stabilize the world’s biggest commodity market."

"Navajo lawmakers on Tuesday approved a lease extension for a northwestern New Mexico power plant that means more money for the tribe, sending it to the tribal president for consideration."

"Environmental groups said Wednesday that a 1,700-mile oil pipeline planned between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico posed safety risks and should be delayed."

"The United States' reliance on coal to generate almost half of its electricity, costs the economy about $345 billion a year in hidden expenses not borne by miners or utilities, including health problems in mining communities and pollution around power plants, a study found."

Anti-government protestors took to the streets of Iran yesterday and were brutally suppressed by police. Just as high food prices helped fuel this month's revolution in Egypt, shortages of refined fuel and high prices for a range of goods are heightening pressures in Iran. Economic sanctions are one cause of the fuel shortage. The consequences ripple well beyond Iran's borders -- to Afghanistan, Armenia, and nations of the former Soviet Union, as well as oil-rich Persian Gulf nations.
 

"President Obama’s budget, released Monday, essentially treads water on energy and the environment, trying to maintain momentum for alternative energy research even as it cuts deeply into some environmental protection programs."