Energy & Fuel

"A federal appeals court on Thursday turned down the Obama administration’s effort to enforce a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico."

"More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one — not industry, not government — is checking to see if they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows."

Just as harmful to the Gulf of Mexico as the BP oil spill is the annual "dead zone" whose increase in recent years has been driven by nitrogen fertilizer used to produce corn ethanol in the U.S. heartland.

"Less than four months after President Barack Obama took office, his new administration received a forceful warning about the dangers of offshore oil drilling."

"OTTAWA - Federal politicians from the government and opposition benches have mysteriously cancelled an 18-month investigation into oilsands pollution in water and opted to destroy draft copies of their final report."

"As the utility industry embarks on a potential $1 trillion-plus expansion in renewable energy transmission and energy-saving smart grid technologies over the next two decades, it must also confront a new and growing fragility while demands on the grid increase. It must be able to protect the grid against so-called "high-impact, low-frequency" threats to the power system."

Proposals afloat in Congress would raise taxes on the oil industry to help pay for spill cleanup. The industry objects, claiming the burden would harm not only companies, but the country. But the oil industry already gets tens or hundreds of billions in tax breaks and outright subsidies from the federal government.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are balking at backing loans that include federal stimulus financing for solar panels and other energy improvements.