The Energy Report
Oil Train Disasters Increase Safety Concerns
A train carrying crude oil derailed and ignited during a snowstorm in West Virginia on Feb. 17, sending a fireball into the sky. The inferno burned down one home and forced residents from three nearby towns to evacuate. At least one of the 25 overturned tankers spilled into a tributary of the nearby Kanawha River.
Read MoreObama Orders More Climate Change Mitigation
President Obama signed an executive order in March to address human-caused climate change by cutting federal agencies’ greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent and increasing their renewable energy generation by 30 percent.
Read MoreDOE Pulls Support for “Clean Coal” Plant
Citing a desire to “protect taxpayer interests,” the U.S. Department of Energy announced in February plans to withdraw its $1.1 billion funding commitment to FutureGen 2.0, one of the most high-profile and costly coal-related projects in history.
Read MoreSolar Industry Leaders Arrive in NC
Two national solar companies that focus on residential and business installations have announced they will begin operating in North Carolina.
Read MoreRevisions Expected for Surface Mine Blasting Rules
The federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement announced that it will revise current rules to prevent toxic gas emissions from surface coal mine blasting operations.
Read MoreNew Contaminants Found in Fracking Waste
Researchers tested wastewater discharged or leaked into Pennsylvania and West Virginia waterways and found ammonium and iodide in abnormally high levels in hydraulically fractured and conventionally drilled oil and gas operations, both of which are exempt from the Clean Water Act.
Read MoreLooking on the bright side, states seek solar benefits
U.S. jobs grew nearly 20 times faster in the solar industry than the whole economy’s national average, reports The Solar Foundation, and some southeastern states are catching the rays of the burgeoning industry with policies encouraging growth in both privately-owned and utility-scale solar.
Read MoreWhite House moves to regulate methane emissions
After years of scientific research pointing to methane’s outsized contribution to climate change, the Obama administration will use its executive power to regulate emissions of the potent greenhouse gas from oil and gas productions and pipelines.
Read MoreRegulators Restore 1983 Stream Protection Rule
To comply with a federal court ruling, the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement restored an earlier version of a rule meant to protect water quality and stream channels from coal mining waste.
Read MoreAlpha Agrees to Water Pollution Settlement
Alpha Natural Resources agreed to a settlement in a 2012 lawsuit, brought by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, regarding high levels of conductivity found in streams at two of its mountaintop removal mining complexes in West Virginia.
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