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Archive for December 12th, 2013
House Dems press Obama to halt Keystone XL review
Posted by Hill: Laura Barron-Lopez on December 12th, 2013
Hill: House Democrats are calling on President Obama to delay the highly anticipated release of the State Department's environmental review on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline.
In an effort led by Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) on Thursday, 24 House Democrats sent a letter to Obama, highlighting "serious corporate conflicts of interest" in State's preparation of the environmental impact statement (EIS) on TransCanada's proposed pipeline.
At issue is the contractor brought on by State, Environmental...
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Keystone Pipeline Seen Bigger for Suncor Than TransCanada
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 12th, 2013
Bloomberg: U.S. President Barack Obama’s ruling on Keystone XL is becoming more critical for oil-sands producers such as Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ) than pipeline builder TransCanada Corp.
Calgary-based TransCanada has about C$33 billion ($31 billion) of projects on its books, even without the $5.4 billion pipeline the company had targeted for completion in 2012. For producers, Keystone is the earliest export line scheduled to ease bottlenecks which have helped push Canadian heavy crude $27 a barrel...
TransCanada proposes new Energy East pipeline route to bypass N.B. town
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 12th, 2013
Canadian Press: A spokesman for TransCanada says the company is looking to address concerns raised by the mayor of Edmundston, N.B., about the route for the Energy East pipeline project. Edmundston Mayor Cyrille Simard had wanted assurances the route for the west-to-east pipeline would not harm his city’s watershed area and wouldn’t run close to residential neighbourhoods. Philippe Cannon, a spokesman for TransCanada’s project, says a new route was proposed during an open house held by the company in Edmundston...
Governments fail to agree EU limit on food-based biofuels
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 12th, 2013
Reuters: EU energy ministers on Thursday failed to agree on a compromise deal to limit the use of transport fuels made from food crops, which critics say pushes up food prices and can do more harm than good to the environment.
EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said the delay would only damage the European Union in its efforts to reduce dependence on imported oil and gas and curb greenhouse gas emissions.
"If we delay and postpone, the winners will be OPEC and Russia," he said.
Last year in...
Scientists Map Vast Reserves Freshwater Under The Seabed
Posted by National Public Radio: Alan Yu on December 12th, 2013
National Public Radio: Scientists think there are vast reserves of fresh groundwater buried under the oceans - a potentially valuable resource for coastal cities that need freshwater.
A recent report in Nature estimates the amount of fresh groundwater around the world at about 120,000 cubic miles - that's 100 times more than all the groundwater that has been pumped up from wells since the 1900s. The reserves are scattered across coastal regions around the world.
Researchers drilled down at various spots and used...