Energy

Map shows Trans Mountain's existing pipe and possible twinning expansion. The Anchor project (red) was completed three years ago, while twinning from Darfield to Kamloops and from Hinton to Edson was done many years before that. [Kinder Morgan graphic]

Kinder Morgan investigates twinning Trans Mountain pipeline

By Keith McNeill - Clearwater Times
Published: January 23, 2012 10:00 AM

Many local residents have been following the hearings that recently began to look into the proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat.

Tar sands battle continues in California courts

InsideClimateNews | Jan 25, 2012

By Maria Gallucci

A high-stakes legal battle is underway in California over whether the state's clean air agency can enforce a first-ever rule to slash carbon emissions in transportation fuels. The fight is being closely watched because the rule could choke global market demand for Alberta's carbon-intensive oil sands at a very precarious time for the industry.

Ottawa plays down oil sands document

David Ljunggren - The Globe and Mail
January 26, 2012

The federal government disassociated itself on Thursday from an embarrassing official policy paper that said the country’s independent energy regulator, now studying a controversial oil pipeline, is in fact a government ally.

Critics have long charged the right-of-centre Conservative government is trying to pressure the regulator – the National Energy Board (NEB) – to approve Enbridge Inc. ’s plan to build a pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific Coast.

With the Keystone Pipeline Stalled, Canada Turns to China
Rachel Glickhouse
www.as-coa.org
January 19, 2012

Canada plans to expand oil shipments from Alberta to British Columbia, in order to increase trade with Asia.(AP Photo)

Saudi Arabia. Nigeria. Venezuela. Canada?
Is our neighbor to the north becoming a jingoistic petro-state?

By Will Oremus|Posted Friday, Jan. 20, 2012
Slate.com

January 19, 2012

When Will Environmentalists Ever Wake Up?
The Great Pipeline Scam
by MICHAEL LEONARDI
Counterpunch

Oil Shale Mining and Research Picking Up Steam
By Al Fin | Sat, 15 January 2011
Oilprice.com

Estonia's largest oil shale mining company, Eesti Energia, reported the largest oil shale production figures in 18 years for 2010 - 17 million tons, up 3 million tons from the year before.

The bulk of the national power company Eesti Energia's mining subsidiary's production is used in the furnaces of the Narva power plants, which have significantly geared up electricity production due to a sharp decline in imports after the closure of Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear plant. _ERRNews

Illegal rosewood logging in Masoala National Park. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

Black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata) feeding on a tamarind. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.

How lemurs fight climate change
Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
January 09, 2012

An interview with Kara Moses, a part of our on-going Interviews with Young Scientists series.

Exxon Mobil Gets $908 Million in Venezuela
By AP / IAN JAMES Sunday, Jan. 01, 2012

(CARACAS, Venezuela) —

An international arbitration body has awarded Exxon Mobil Corp. nearly $908 million in a dispute with Venezuela over compensation for the nationalization of its assets, the company said Sunday.

Exxon Mobil sought arbitration after President Hugo Chavez's government nationalized an oil project in the country in 2007.

TransCanada hopes to stick to 2014 timeline for Keystone pipeline

By Rebecca Penty, Calgary Herald; With Files From James Wood And Dina O'meara, Calgary Herald January 19, 2012

Keystone XL backer TransCanada Corp. is maintaining an ambitious plan to have its proposed Alberta-to-Texas oil pipeline operating by late 2014, though the Obama administration that rejected the line Wednesday says any subsequent application would spark a fresh review.