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Most recent stories

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Superior refinery expansion: The $6 billion question
The prospect of thick, gooey tar flowing from Alberta’s vast oil-sand formations has Murphy Oil USA contemplating a $6 billion expansion of its Superior refinery. By 2010, Enbridge plans to open a new 42-inch diameter pipeline that will carry the Canadian tar — called bitumen — in diluted form throu... Continued...

Friday, May 16, 2008

Scenes From the Tar Wars
At a small airport in the northern Alberta town of Fort McMurray, a rickety, single-engine Cessna hurtles off the ground with a roar. Dr. John O'Connor ignores the shuddering fuselage, the tail wiggle, the steep climb above the spruce trees at the end of the runway. For O'Connor, a bush doctor who h... Continued...

Construction can begin on oil pipeline
BISMARCK – TransCanada can start building the Keystone crude oil pipeline through eastern North Dakota, a judge ruled Thursday. South Central District Judge Gail Hagerty denied a request by the Dakota Resource Council and six landowners who asked her to stay the Public Service Commission’s Feb. 2... Continued...

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Pipeline expansion thru Minnesota would boost oil flow from Canada
Permitting decisions are due early this summer and $3 billion in construction is slated to begin later this year. With oil prices at record highs, approaching $120 per barrel in late April, Enbridge’s big pipeline expansion projects between western Canada and the Midwest have an impeccable sense ... Continued...

HATCH ASKS ENERGY COMMITTEE TO LIFT MORATORIUM ON OIL SHALE DEVELOPMENT
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today called on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to lift a moratorium that essentially bars the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from leasing land for commercial oil shale development. During his testimony, Hatch also presented a letter from Uta... Continued...

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Environmental Groups Go After Big Oil
Environmental advocacy organization EARTHWORKS is calling on the American Petroleum Institute to cease its multi-million dollar public-relations campaign designed to burnish the green credentials of the oil industry, while gearing up for a marketing campaign of its own. "The best public relations yo... Continued...

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

French assembly rejects proposal on GM crops
The Government's law proposal on GM crops was rejected by the French Assembly. French PM Fran篩s Fillon has appointed a commission of deputies and senators to find a consensus and put the proposal back on the table. (Analysis: D. Crossan) The French parliament rejected a bill on genetically m... Continued...

Farm Bill a Missed Opportunity
The 2008 Farm Bill to be voted on by the House and Senate this week includes incremental gains for conservation, renewable energy, food aid and healthier, local food systems. However, it fails to reverse decades of deregulation that have increased agricultural market volatility to the benefit of glo... Continued...

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Cal-Water wins $49.7 million in gasoline-additive settlement
WATER COMPANY WINS $49.7 MILLION IN SETTLEMENT A San Jose-based water company will receive $49.7 million as part of a national deal to settle a lawsuit with oil companies over water contamination from the gasoline additive MTBE. California Water Service Co. is one of 156 plaintiffs in the case... Continued...

Friday, May 9, 2008

San Francisco to Test Drinking Water Security System
SAN FRANCISCO, California, May 9, 2008 (ENS) - Improving the security of U.S. drinking water systems has gathered urgency since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced an $8 million grant to San Francisco to help the city develop and evaluate a contam... Continued...

Oil prices: Another prediction
Last week Hamish McRae, one of the world's best economic journalists, declared in "The Independent" that "Hardly anyone a year ago successfully predicted the rise in the oil price to $120 a barrel --in fact I have not found a single forecast of that." Regular readers of this column may recall that I... Continued...

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Biodiversity: It's In The Water
ScienceDaily (May 8, 2008) — What if hydrology is more important for predicting biodiversity than biology? New research challenges current thinking about biodiversity and opens up new avenues for predicting how climate change or human activity may affect biodiversity patterns. Researchers have in... Continued...

Japan Petroleum to expand Canada oil sands project
CALGARY, Alberta, - Japan Canada Oil Sand Ltd, a unit of Japan Petroleum Exploration Co (1662.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it plans to expand its Canadian oil sands operation to produce an additional 35,000 barrels a day by 2014. The company, which has run a pilot project for the... Continued...

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Water and Space: Perchlorate, a major ingredient in rocket fuel found in the water supply
Of all the things to worry about in a glass of tap water -- rust from old pipes, giardia and that strange, recurring mossy taste -- perhaps the last thing that comes to mind is the possibility of rocket fuel and aircraft-engine cleanser. Yet America's commitment to flight, space exploration and inte... Continued...

Will the Food Crisis Finally Get the Attention of Presidential Candidates?
As we head into another round of presidential primaries, the specter of a growing world food crisis looms on the horizon. Fueled by rising apprehension over increasing price volatility in agricultural commodity markets, the debate continues to escalate over what are the underlying causes of rising f... Continued...

Greed behind food price rises-development bank head
BRUSSELS, - The food price crisis is caused largely by greed and speculation rather than food shortages, the head of Southern Africa's development bank said on Tuesday. Spiralling food costs -- called a "silent tsunami" by the World Food Programme -- have ignited fury and a rash of protests from... Continued...

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Play It as It Dries
Last December, I got a taste of what golfers are likely to experience, if not quite so starkly, in the years ahead. I played a course in Georgia whose fairways, due to strict drought restrictions across the northern third of the state, hadn't been watered in months. The look was a little eerie. ... Continued...

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Monsanto's Harvest of Fear
Monsanto already dominates America?s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation?s tactics?ruthless legal battles against small farmers?is its decades-long history of toxic contamination. No thanks: An anti-Monsanto ... Continued...

Canadians Investigate Death of Ducks at Oil-Sands Project
OTTAWA — Canadian federal and provincial government officials were conducting an investigation Wednesday into Syncrude Canada, a large oil-sands project operator, after hundreds of migrating ducks that landed in a company tailings pond died. Water used to separate and process the oil-bearing tar ... Continued...

Florida takes issue with plan to keep more water in Georgia
Florida told the federal government Wednesday it "strongly opposes" a proposal to store more water in Georgia while limiting flows into Apalachicola Bay, saying to do so would harm oysters and federally protected sturgeon and mussels. In a letter, Florida Department of Environmental Protection Se... Continued...