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Archive for January 4th, 2013
Bad weather prompting more British farmers to consider GM use
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey and Rebecca Smithers on January 4th, 2013
Guardian: The extreme weather of 2012 has turned British farmers on to genetically modified crops, with calls from farming leaders to start using the technology as a way to help combat the effects of climate change.
England's wettest year on record, and the UK's second wettest, which had begun with one of the worst droughts for decades, has persuaded an increasing number of farmers that the development of crop varieties with engineered resistance to extreme weather conditions is now a priority. Farming...
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Congress Extends Incentives for Biodiesel Industry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 4th, 2013
New York Times: The Congressional budget deal brokered this week kept tax breaks in place for a variety of industries, but biodiesel got something even better: a retroactive reinstatement of a dollar-a-gallon credit going back to January 2012, when it lapsed. The retroactive portion of the credit, which will run through the end of 2013, represents a benefit to the blenders of about $1 billion. And the $1 per gallon of biodiesel amounts to roughly one-quarter of the fuel’s current wholesale price. With the credit...
Bans and New Rules Make Gas Drilling’s Future Uncertain in New York
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 4th, 2013
New York Times: In three decades of drilling, John C. Holko said, his oil and gas business has never faced such a hostile environment. Years after he negotiated leases for gas drilling in upstate New York, strict rules on hydraulic fracturing that state environmental officials proposed threaten to put 20 percent of that land off limits, he estimated. And local drilling bans adopted by town boards could put him out of business altogether, he said. “Why should I put money in the ground if any one of the towns can...
Enbridge to Spend $400M to Expand Alberta-to-U.S. Pipeline Capacity
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 4th, 2013
Canadian Press: Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB) and its U.S. affiliate plan to spend $600 million to expand two pipelines on either side of the Canada-U.S. border.
One $400-million project involves increasing capacity on Enbridge's Canadian mainline between Hardisty, Alta. and the border.
The other, with a pricetag of $200 million, would expand part of the Lakehead system between Neche, N.D., and Superior, Wisc.
Both projects would boost pipeline capacity by 230,000 barrels per day by increasing pumping horsepower,...
Floods blamed for 2.4M gallons of spilled crude, feds say
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 4th, 2013
Associated Press: Pipeline spills caused by flooding and riverbed erosion dumped 2.4 million gallons of crude oil and other hazardous liquids into U.S. waterways over the past two decades, according to a new report from federal regulators.
The Department of Transportation report to Congress was crafted in response to a 2011 spill into Montana`s Yellowstone River. The spill highlighted gaps in federal pipeline rules that require lines to be buried just 4 feet below riverbeds -- scant cover that can quickly be scoured...