Greenwire http://www.greenwire.com The Premier Information Source for Professionals Who Track Environmental and Energy Policy. en-us 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC The Interior Department today announced plans to significantly downsize a George W. Bush administration plan to develop oil shale in the West, a move likely to spark fury among Capitol Hill Republicans. The proposal -- which is backed by conservationists, agricultural groups, some local officials and Democrats -- would scale back research and development of a fuel that has tantalized industry and policymakers for more than a century in the West. SPOTLIGHT 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/1 Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune is trying to explain more than $25 million in donations connected to natural gas giant Chesapeake Energy Corp. for the club's anti-coal efforts. The… Top Stories 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/2 New Mexico's Eddy and Lea counties want America to send them its nuclear waste. County officials are offering to turn 1,000 acres in the state's southeast corner into a parking… Top Stories 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/3 State resource management officials and 29 attorneys general are trying to convince the Obama administration to take their side in a dispute now before the Supreme Court over whether stormwater… Top Stories 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/4 The House Ways and Means Committee this morning passed its portion of the five-year, $260 billion transportation and energy bill in the House, approving a tweak to a transit account… Congress 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/5 A bill to streamline federal property sales received bipartisan kudos at a hearing this morning of the House Rules Committee, which sent the bill to the floor under a structured… Congress 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/6 Partisan tensions over the Keystone XL pipeline today hit another high in the House, as Democrats offered a bill aimed at forcing the GOP to acknowledge that some of the… Congress 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/7 A House subcommittee put U.S. EPA's science under a microscope again today, asking whether the scientific underpinnings for controversial rules from climate change to smog are the products of a… Congress 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/8 The Department of Homeland Security today faced pointed questions from a congressional panel about the effectiveness of its program to secure chemical facilities from terrorist attacks and thefts, including calls… Congress 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/9 Actress and comedian Roseanne Barr, who won an Emmy for her sitcom "Roseanne" about a blue-collar family, is running for president and hopes to become the Green Party's candidate. "I… Politics 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/10 A federal appeals court today ruled that Jersey City, N.J., should get another shot at preventing the sale of a historic railroad embankment to a developer. The U.S. Court of… Law 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/11 A California Small Claims Court commissioner this week ruled in a high-profile case over fuel economy claims that American Honda Co. negligently misled Civic owner Heather Peters when it claimed… Law 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/12 A marine biologist who has been charged with a misdemeanor for feeding killer whales in Monterey Bay, Calif., was released without bail yesterday after pleading not guilty in U.S. district… Law 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/13 With concerns rising among military officials that severe power outages could take down key national security facilities, the Defense Department yesterday announced a new program aimed at bringing the utility… Energy 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/14 The Vermont House of Representatives this week passed legislation that would ban hydraulic fracturing for three years. The final vote, taken Wednesday, was a formality following what's known as preliminary… Energy 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/15 Officials are questioning the integrity of equipment at California's San Onofre Unit 2 nuclear power plant after finding unusual wear on reactor tubes that carry heated radioactive water. The discovery… Energy 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/16 The Canadian government today will announce a new oil sands-monitoring strategy in collaboration with the government of Alberta. Expert reports from the past two years have called for a more… Energy 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/17 Federal rules for hydraulic fracturing on public lands could serve as a model for states to get companies to disclose chemicals used in the oil and gas production process, an… Energy 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/18 The radioactive tritium that was released from an Illinois nuclear power plant during a shutdown earlier this week was not enough to endanger the public, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said… Energy 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/19 Just because Butch Cassidy and his notorious gang occasionally dabbled in graffiti doesn't mean that today's visitors to the famous outlaw's old hideout on National Park Service land in southern… Federal Agencies 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/20 As part of a major new jobs initiative for military veterans that was announced today, President Obama will ask Congress for $1 billion over the next five years to create… Federal Agencies 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/21 The Navajo Nation is collaborating with an Energy Department laboratory to explore technologies for developing energy resources on the tribe's reservation. Although the Navajo Nation has not been a major… Federal Agencies 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/22 Amtrak is asking Congress for $2.167 billion in fiscal 2013 -- including $60 million for high-speed rail -- a request that flies in the face of House Republican efforts to… Transportation 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/23 A Texas-based biodiesel company allegedly created more than 48 million fake renewable fuel credits, U.S. EPA said yesterday in a notice of violation to the company, Absolute Fuels. Absolute Fuels… Business 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/24 Swiss companies Glencore International AG and Xstrata PLC said yesterday they are in talks for an all-share merger of equals, forming an $80 billion colossus. A deal may be announced… Business 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/25 Policy changes that incentivize the deployment of green roofs, rain gardens and other green infrastructure are key to luring private investment in stormwater cleanups, according to a new report by… Air and Water 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/26 Tests of domestic orange juice showed trace levels of the fungicide carbendazim, but the levels pose no safety risk so the juice will not be recalled, the Food and Drug… Chemicals 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/27 Efforts to coax whooping cranes into migrating from Wisconsin to Florida for the winter have ended after meeting a feisty opposition: the birds themselves. The cranes, an endangered species, have… Natural Resources 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/28 Conservative Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper will make seal-product exports a priority when he visits China next week in an effort to resurrect his country's flailing sealing industry. The industry… Natural Resources 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/29 BP PLC money has sparked a boom in the expansion of parkland, the restoration of oyster reefs and other environmental campaigns in Texas and the other Gulf states. The five… Natural Resources 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/30 Despite reports of jellyfish proliferation, there is no evidence to show that populations are on the rise, according to a new study from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Robert Condon,… Natural Resources 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/31 SAN DIEGO -- California is more than a third of the way toward achieving Gov. Jerry Brown's goal for more community-based renewable power generation, but the effort still faces significant… States 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/32 While much of Europe is racing to cut its reliance on nuclear power after last year's Fukushima disaster, France has not shut a single reactor since the incident and is… International 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/33 Britain's energy and climate change secretary has stepped down following charges that he tried to pin a speeding penalty on his ex-wife. After an eight-month investigation, prosecutors are charging Cabinet… International 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/34 A new reality television show is tracking a Louisiana family that struck it rich in the oil and gas boom. "Bayou Billionaires" follows the Dowdens, a family that has made… Society 2012-02-03 12:01:00 UTC http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/rss/2012/02/03/35