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Archive for January 22nd, 2016
The Coal Miner `On Everybody’s List’ as Next Bankruptcy Victim
Posted by Bloomberg: Jodi Xu Klein andTim Loh on January 22nd, 2016
Bloomberg: Plummeting coal prices have pushed almost half the debt issued by U.S. coal companies into default, and for miners and their investors there’s no end in sight.
Patriot Coal Corp., Walter Energy Inc. and Alpha Natural Resources Inc. have all filed for bankruptcy in the past year. Now that Arch Coal Inc., the second largest coal miner in the U.S., has joined their ranks, investors are wondering if the biggest, Peabody Energy Corp., could be next.
Peabody’s shares have been sliced roughly in half...
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US proposes rule to limit gas ‘flaring’ at drilling sites
Posted by Sun Times: None Given on January 22nd, 2016
Sun Times: The effort is part of President Barack Obama's broader climate change strategy based on executive actions, which includes a goal to reduce oil and gas sector methane emissions by up to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025. They would require oil and gas producers to limit the amount of gas they vent or burn off - known as flaring - as well as replace aging equipment, periodically inspect their oil and gas sites for leaks, which they are not now required to do.
"I think most people would agree that...
Climate change raises a troubling question: Who gets to eat?
Posted by InsideClimate: David Hasemyer on January 22nd, 2016
InsideClimate: Policymakers on Capitol Hill got a dire warning that climate change threatens food production, safety and affordability.
That stark message came in a briefing by the American Meteorological Society to congressional staff members, climate scientists and federal regulators that linked climate change to a host of troubling scenarios involving worldwide food availability.
Wednesday's briefing drew on a peer-reviewed study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture released during the Paris Climate Conference...
Obama Administration to Propose New Rules to Halt Methane Leaks
Posted by Reuters: Valerie Volcovici on January 22nd, 2016
Reuters: The Obama administration is expected to propose new rules as soon as Friday to curb methane leaks from oil and natural gas production, its latest attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy production under its control, sources familiar with the plan said. The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wants to limit venting and flaring natural gas at wells on public land, practices that let methane into the atmosphere. Methane is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas after...
Judge in climate suit tells feds to re-examine coal mine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 22nd, 2016
Associated Press: Federal officials must re-examine a 117 million-ton expansion of an eastern Montana coal mine after a judge sided with environmentalists who sued over the project's potential to make climate change worse and cause other environmental damage. U.S. District Judge Susan Watters gave the Interior Department nine months to look again at the proposal for the Cloud Peak Energy's Spring Creek mine near Decker, Montana, along the Wyoming border. In its prior review, the agency "failed to take a hard look"...