ash spill
Energy

Coal Ash Crimes Cost Duke Energy $102 Million

WASHINGTON, DC, May 19, 2015 (ENS) – Admitting guilt for a massive coal ash spill last year, three subsidiaries of Duke Energy, the largest utility in the United States, will pay a $68 million criminal fine and spend $34 million to benefit rivers and wetlands in North Carolina and Virginia. […]

solar power
Energy

Bright Future for Utility-Scale Solar Power: MIT Report

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, May 7, 2015 (ENS) – Solar energy on a grand scale could meet humanity’s future long-term energy needs while cutting carbon emissions, but lower-cost technologies and more effective government policies are needed to achieve this potential, finds a study released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Energy Initiative. […]

Powerwall
Business

Tesla Debuts Rechargeable Solar-Powered Battery

HAWTHORNE, California, May 1, 2015 (ENS) – Tesla Motors, maker of luxury electric cars, is expanding to become the first manufacturer and distributor of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that store solar power for use in homes and businesses. […]

derailment
Energy

Oil Trains Ordered to Go Slow in Urban Areas

WASHINGTON, DC, April 19, 2015 (ENS) – Responding to the unprecedented number of recent fiery oil train derailments, the U.S. Department of Transportation Friday issued an Emergency Order requiring trains carrying large amounts of Class 3 flammable liquid through highly populated areas to go no faster than 40 miles per hour. […]

flaring
Air/Climate

Countries, Oil Companies Will Stop Routine Gas Flaring

WASHINGTON, DC, April 17, 2015 (ENS) – For the first time, chief executives of major oil companies joined today with senior government officials from oil-producing countries in an agreement to end the practice of routine gas flaring at oil production sites by 2030 at the latest. […]

Congress
Air/Climate

Obama Vows to Cut Federal Greenhouse Gases 40 Percent

WASHINGTON, DC, March 20, 2015 (ENS) – President Barack Obama is using his executive authority to control the climate-warming greenhouse gases emitted by operations of the federal government. His climate-saving actions have inspired a host of private sector government suppliers to follow suit. […]

fire
At Risk

Yet Another Oil Train Derails, Catches Fire in Ontario

GOGAMA, Ontario, Canada, March 9, 2015 (ENS) – Another Canadian National oil train derailed and caught fire early Saturday in Ontario near the town of Gogama, about 600 kilometers (400 miles) north of Toronto. It was the second such incident in Ontario and the fourth in North America since February 14. […]

No Picture
Energy

Third N. American Oil Train Inferno in Three Weeks: Illinois

GALENA, Illinois, March 5, 2015 (ENS) – No injuries to people have been reported, but the environment in Illinois’ northwest corner was injured today after a BNSF Railway oil train from North Dakota derailed at about 1:20 pm local time in a rural area south of Galena in Illinois’ northwest corner. […]

Modi
Energy

India Generates Enthusiasm for Financing Renewables

NEW DELHI, India, February 18, 2015 (ENS) – Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a conference of investors in renewable energy from India and across the world that his government is emphasizing renewables to light the homes of millions of India’s poor and change their lives for the better. […]

Energy

Fiery Oil Train Crash Lights Up Frozen Ontario Woods

TIMMINS, Ontario, Canada, February 16, 2015 (ENS) – A CN Rail freight train hauling 100 tank cars of crude oil derailed and caught fire in a remote area of northern Ontario over the weekend, the latest in a string of fiery incidents involving oil trains in Canada and the United States […]

aground
Energy

Arctic Oil On Life Support

WASHINGTON, DC, February 2, 2015 (ENS) – Oil companies have eyed the Arctic for years. With an estimated 90 billion barrels of oil lying north of the Arctic Circle, the circumpolar north is one of the last parts of the globe that is still almost entirely unexplored. But tapping the Arctic’s extensive oil reserves has been much harder than previously thought. […]

pumping station
Energy

U.S. Senate Votes to Force Keystone XL Pipeline Approval

WASHINGTON, DC, January 29, 2015 (ENS) – The new Republican-controlled Senate today voted for the first time to force U.S. approval of the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Proposed by TransCanada, the pipeline would carry diluted bitumen from the Alberta tar sands to TransCanada’s existing pipeline in Nebraska for transfer to refineries on the Gulf Coast. […]