RSS Feed
Archive for January 21st, 2012
Industry scours lesser-known fields in search for next big play
Posted by Greenwire: Nathanial Gronewold on January 21st, 2012
Greenwire: With record-low U.S. natural gas prices worrying oil and gas companies that have invested heavily in breakthrough shale plays, the industry is sending drilling to tight oil prospects and resources rich in natural gas liquids -- better investments as crude prices linger near $100 per barrel.
And with competition already fierce in North Dakota's Bakken field and south Texas' Eagle Ford, companies are turning toward lesser-known oil-rich formations in what could be the next chapter in the North American...
Posted in 
Disbelief Still as Florida Reacts to Burning of 3,500-Year-Old Tree
Posted by New York Times: Lizette Alvarez on January 21st, 2012
New York Times: Back, way back, before King Tut was born and Alexander the Great roamed his empire, the Senator sprouted in a swamp here in central Florida, one of thousands of its kind. So on Monday, when word got out that the huge, 3,500-year-old bald cypress had burned and collapsed, people from the area who thought that nothing — not hurricanes, not loggers, not disease — could fell the Senator, sank into disbelief. In a state known for its sprawl and its zeal for pouring concrete, the Senator stood as a testament...
Congress has legal clout on Keystone pipeline: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 21st, 2012
Reuters: The Congress has the constitutional right to legislate permits for cross-border oil pipelines like TransCanada's Keystone XL, according to a new legal analysis released late on Friday. The study by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service could give a boost to Republicans drafting legislation to overturn a decision this week by President Barack Obama to put the $7 billion Alberta-to-Texas project on ice. Historically, U.S. presidents have made executive decisions on pipelines that cross borders....
Carbon dioxide is ‘driving fish crazy’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 21st, 2012
ScienceDaily: Rising human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous system of sea fishes with serious consequences for their survival, an international scientific team has found.
Carbon dioxide concentrations predicted to occur in the ocean by the end of this century will interfere with fishes' ability to hear, smell, turn and evade predators, says Professor Philip Munday of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.
"For several years our...
Exxon Mobil to Pay $1.6 Million in Penalties for Yellowstone River Oil Spill
Posted by Yahoo!: Rachel Bogart on January 21st, 2012
Yahoo!: Exxon Mobil has reached an agreement with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to pay $1.6 million in penalties over the Yellowstone River oil spill, according to the Associated Press. The agreement specifically details that the oil company will spend $1.3 million on future environmental projects, pay $300,000 in cash, and reimburse state agencies for $760,000 in emergency response costs. The penalty is the largest in the history of the agency. With this landmark decision, here are some...