Energy

The natural world has gotten a boost from the coronavirus pandemic.  With fewer cars on the roads and planes in the sky, the world has benefited from clearer skies and an unprecedented decline in carbon emissions.  Daily CO2 emissions decreased... Read More

As a four-year-old court battle over a breakup fee for an ill-fated merger between two energy pipeline companies continues, a new report by the Market Institute details a shocking campaign by Williams Companies CEO Alan Armstrong to scuttle the merger... Read More

WASHINGTON - Despite the fact that nearly every working American is doing so from home, necessitating video conferencing and the rest, the nation's power grid is doing just fine, according to the not-for-profit regulatory authority tasked with overseeing it. In... Read More

The day started like any other gloomy Monday in the oil market’s worst crisis in a generation. It ended with prices falling below zero, thrusting markets into a parallel universe where traders were willing to pay $40 a barrel just... Read More

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — OPEC, Russia and other oil-producing nations on Sunday finalized an unprecedented production cut of nearly 10 million barrels, or a tenth of global supply, in hopes of boosting crashing prices amid the coronavirus pandemic and a... Read More

WASHINGTON - In a case with implications to both maritime transportation and international trade, the Supreme Court ruled a firm that contracted for a delivery of oil was obligated to provide “safe berth” for the vessel carrying it. The underlying... Read More

CENTRALIA, Wash. — Later this year, the first of two burners is scheduled to shut down at the Centralia Coal Plant in this rural Washington state community halfway between Seattle and Portland, Oregon. When the second burner is extinguished in... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House and Senate considered proposals Tuesday that would expand production of nuclear energy at a time global warming is leaving few alternatives. Lawmakers, scheduled to vote as soon as this week on one of the bills,... Read More

President Donald Trump's tariff war with China significantly restricted the growth of the nation's solar energy workforce last year, an industry analysis shows. According to a report released Wednesday by The Solar Energy Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump drew the ire of tribes and environmentalists when he issued proclamations in December 2017 significantly reducing the size of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments, two sites designated by previous Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Senate handed President Donald Trump a policy victory on Thursday, backing USMCA, the new North American trade deal, the same day the chamber turned its attention to the president's impeachment trial. Once it's signed by Trump, USMCA... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled a proposed revision of the federal environmental review process, a move that would fast-track the construction of some infrastructure projects, including pipelines, highways and airports. The change, which would apply to the... Read More

Canada has narrowed to two communities its list of potential hosts for a permanent national repository for its most radioactive waste — spent fuel from nuclear power generation. And one of those two finalists is on the shores of Lake... Read More

WASHINGTON - Andrew Yang could hardly contain himself. A day after he surprised a group of Georgetown University students by joining their pick-up basketball game, Yang had taken just three steps onto the stage at the university's Healy Hall Thursday... Read More

WASHINGTON -  The New Democrat Coalition released policy principles and endorsed legislation to combat climate change Wednesday, seeking to "address the climate challenge with the urgency the crisis demands" and further their belief the U.S. is best positioned to be... Read More

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court Tuesday threw out legal challenges to the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, ending a long-running legal battle involving multiple states and scores of other parties. In a brief order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for... Read More

WASHINGTON -  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday upheld an Obama-era update of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule designed to protect downwind states from coal plant air pollution that blows across their borders. Congress enacted... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., couldn't be happier that the House Wednesday passed a pair of bills blocking offshore oil drilling in almost all waters around the United States. But in an interview with The Well News, he acknowledged... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House will vote next week on a trio of bills that would effectively block all new offshore oil and gas drilling in the waters around the United States. In a letter to House members, Democratic House Leader... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Thursday that it intends to revoke regulations on methane leaks from oil facilities, a decision even some oil industry giants oppose. In announcing the plan, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the proposal... Read More

WASHINGTON - Last week's sales of Gulf of Mexico leases for oil and gas exploration generated over $159 million in high bids for 151 tracts covering 835,000 acres in federal waters, the Interior Department reports. A total of 27 companies... Read More

WASHINGTON - A coalition of 22 states and seven major cities sued the Trump administration Tuesday in a bid to prevent it from dismantling an Obama-era regulation that established national limits on the carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. In... Read More

Freshman Representative Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., certainly didn't expect to be taking on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., let alone talking about gun control, when he returned to his South Carolina district for the August recess, but after mass shootings... Read More

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously adopted the Our County Sustainability Plan, which they are calling “the most comprehensive regional approach to sustainability ever issued by a county in the United States.” The plan was drafted... Read More

The New Democrat Coalition on Wednesday released a statement of principles aimed at reasserting the United States’ role as a global leader in addressing climate change. A statement outlining the principles says they are intended to combat climate change “with... Read More

Last week, a bipartisan, bicameral coalition led by freshman Representative Sean Casten D-Ill., introduced legislation aimed at encouraging innovation that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources. Casten and his counterparts in the Senate, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Democrats are trying to block a Trump administration effort to expand uranium mining in the United States. The House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources is considering a new bill that would severely restrict uranium mining. Democrats... Read More

For the first time in history, renewable energy surpassed coal earlier this month as a source of electricity generation in the United States, the Brookings Institution reported Wednesday. The paper underlying the report attributes this remarkable development to U.S. municipalities... Read More

WASHINGTON - Democratic members of Congress said Wednesday that environmental policies of the Trump administration are threatening the nation’s outdoor recreation industry. During two House Natural Resources Committee hearings, a Trump administration official defended the Interior Department’s record, but environmentalists... Read More

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., has launched a new House Task Force on Rural Broadband to provide coordination and leadership to end the rural-digital divide. The Task Force will work to advance solutions to ensure all Americans have access... Read More