WHAT'S HOT

Is corporate America our best hope against climate change?
Time
Surprise! Time magazine says industry is not just the polluter, but also the best source of clean-energy solutions, which are emerging from every layer of the business world.

The U.S. is sitting on a rare earth stockpile: Can it help against looming shortage?
SmartPlanet
According to a new U.S. Geological Survey report, the U.S. is sitting on large, mostly untapped reserves that could serve as a hedge against a looming shortage of the rare earth minerals needed building out the clean tech economy, including hybrid cars and wind turbines.  

Warning: New federal program will predict climate impacts to justify regulating nearly everything
R&D Magazine
The Departments of Energy and Agriculture and the National Science Foundation announced a joint research program to produce high-resolution models for predicting climate change impacts and the impacts of energy production and use on climate, so government can "manage food and water supplies, infrastructure construction, ecosystem maintenance, and other pressing societal issues."

Once a solar boom town, Spanish city goes bust
Mother Nature Network
Spain's former coal mining town of Puertollano hosted a brief, 21st-century solar gold rush; and set an example for what not to do.

What's the rush on natural gas bill?
Denver Post
When lawmakers appear hell-bent on passing an important and complex bill as quickly as possible, maybe we should wonder why.

EPA initiates hydraulic fracturing study
Fort Worth Business Press
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with a Congressionally requested investigation into the potential adverse effects of hydraulic fracturing on water quality and public health, the agency announced.

Tri-State to build largest cooperative-owned solar PV facility
NRECA
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Cooperative is partnering with First Solar to build Cimarron I, the largest cooperative-owned photovoltaic (PV) project in the world and one of the largest solar facilities in the U.S.

CLIMATE NEWS

Meat, dairy diet not tied to global warming
Washington Times
Forget all that indecorous talk of animal flatulence, cow burps, vegetarianism and global warming. Welcome to Cowgate.

Details of climate bill trickle out
Politico
The latest draft bill has a weaker cap on greenhouse gas emissions than environmentalists want, along with sweeteners for coal, oil, offshore drilling and nuclear power — key to picking up the votes of a handful of moderate Republicans.

Senate's draft climate bill pre-emption clause alarms Democrats
New York Times
Some Democratic senators and state and local air regulators are concerned that the latest draft of a Senate climate and energy bill would help industry survive by pre-empting EPA and state GHG regulatory power.

Britain bans exaggerated climate change ads
USA TODAY
The British Advertising Standards Authority has told the government's Department of Energy and Climate Change to stop running its exaggerated climate change ads because they were "too scary."  

EPA studying own carbon-trading system
Business Week
The Obama administration is considering a carbon-trading system under existing law if Congress doesn’t pass cap-and-trade legislation.  

Trusting science on climate change
CNNMoney.com
Do climate change scientists really know what they're talking about? CNNMoney went beyond the climate scientists and put the question to a broader swath of scientific opinion.  

Natural-gas group comes out against EPA rules
NASDAQ
Natural-gas providers are lining up against planned Environmental Protection Agency rules to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, citing concerns that the regulations could make it harder to obtain permits needed to boost supplies.

ENERGY SECURITY

National Monument issue heats up in Congress
New York Times
Efforts to strip the Obama administration's authority to create new national monuments are gaining momentum in Congress as lawmakers continue to roll out bills aimed at protecting their states from what they view as a White House agenda to tie up large tracts of land.

Nuclear industry getting boost from smaller, more affordable reactors
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Westinghouse Electric Co. is designing a small nuclear reactor the size of a bus that can be built in a factory and shipped to a power plant.  

Developers say timing is key to Wyoming-Colorado power line
BusinessWeek
Developers of a proposed power transmission line linking southeast Wyoming wind fields and the Colorado Front Range say they are forging slowly ahead, despite a Colorado utility's rejection of Wyoming wind.

Poll shows 75% support for solar on federal lands, but partisan gap persists
SolveClimate
When asked which energy source should be the top priority for the U.S. government, Democrats and Independents selected solar as their No. 1 choice, followed by wind and nuclear power. For Republicans, however, solar farms came in fourth.

Refinery Association chief says EPA rules will freeze investment
Wyoming Energy News/Reuters
The U.S. refining industry will freeze investment in anything beyond maintaining operations if the Environmental Protection Agency moves to regulate carbon pollution, the chief executive of Valero Energy Corp said.   

FERC slows Tres Amigas plan to link U.S. power grids
Bloomberg
Tres Amigas LLC failed to win the expedited approval it sought to unite the three continental U.S. electricity grids at a 14,400-acre superconductor hub in New Mexico.

Arch Coal acquires 35% equity stake in clean-coal plant
Wall Street Journal Online
Arch Coal Inc. has acquired a 35% interest in the Trailblazer Energy Center, a clean fossil-fuel power plant being developed by Tenaska Inc. in Texas.   

Governors' Wind Energy Coalition wants national renewable energy standard
Environment News Service
A group of 29 state governors is asking Congress and the President to adopt a national minimum requirement for the use of renewable electricity.  

Peabody Energy acquires equity interest in Calera Corporation
PR Newswire
Peabody Energy has reached an agreement to purchase a $15 million equity interest in Calera Corporation, which has proprietary technology that converts carbon dioxide into green building materials.

Environmental groups' lawsuit against Shell offshore plan could cause more delays
Alaska Journal of Commerce
The Department of the Interior has delayed submitting a revised environmental assessment of Shell Oil's $300 million Chukchi Sea exploration plan to a Washington, D.C., court.

MINERALS SECURITY

Montana governor says coal money could reduce budget cuts
Flathead Beacon
Gov. Brian Schweitzer says that if Montana's Land Board approves an $86 million Arch Coal bid for the Otter Creek state coal leases, the money could be used to reduce pending state budget cuts he is considering.

Nevada judge to rewrite mining tax increase petition to show true intent
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Carson City District Judge James Wilson rewrites mining tax ballot petition to show anti-mining sponsors' intent to impose 300 percent more taxes on mining gold, silver, copper and hyrdothermal steam.

Mesa Uranium expands the Green Energy lithium project
MarketWatch.com
Mesa Uranium Corp. has added 1,740 acres of new claims at the 7,850-acre Green Energy lithium project in Utah.

Colorado uranium mill owner eyes startup by 2012
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
Energy Fuels Inc.‘s $150 million uranium mill could be operating in early 2012, if prices for uranium begin to rise again, Energy Fuels President George Glasier has reported.

Congress won't act on mining law reform this year
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says Congress won't act on mining law reform this year.

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Coal drying extracts more energy
Laboratory Equipment
Test shows innovative coal-drying technology extracts more energy from high moisture coal at less cost, reduces emissions, and is now ready for commercial use.

Chevron tests solar power projects in California desert
San Francisco Chronicle
Chevron is testing eleven different new solar technologies in unlikely California testbeds: an old refinery in Bakersfield and a rooftop in its San Ramon headquarters.  

Nuclear industry getting boost from smaller, more affordable reactors
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Westinghouse Electric Co. is designing a small nuclear reactor the size of a bus that can be built in a factory and shipped to a power plant.

Beet buzz: sugar-based fuel has pep, big-time backers say
Houston Chronicle
Shell and Virent Energy Systems of Wisconsin say they have made significant progress in jointly developing a sugar-based fuel that is nearly identical to gasoline and has advantages over other alternative fuels.

Anadarko's CO2 "experiment" pays off big in Wyoming
New York Times/Greenwire
Anadarko bought Wyoming's "played-out" Salt Creek oil field, injected CO2 into the ground, and now production will last until at least 2050 and yield 800 million more barrels of crude.

GE scientists use hair product ingredients to capture carbon
Fast Company
The next time you wash your hair, think about this: the same ingredients that make your hair super-shiny can also scrub carbon dioxide from the air.    

Five doomsday scenarios for power grid: Tech apocalypse
PC World
Grid worry: how likely is a "tech doomsday" scenario, how long it would take us to recover, and how might we prevent it?   

First Solar signs 300-MW PPA with PG&E
RenewableEnergyWorld
First Solar has signed a 300-megawatt power purchase agreement to supply Pacific Gas and Electric Company with electricity from a utility-scale solar photovoltaic power facility that First Solar is developing in Southern California.  

Superconducting underground cable: Massive electrical transmission solution?
GreeningOfOil.com
Electric Power Research Institute says moving huge quantities of electricity over vast distances is feasible with new transmission system using direct current and superconducting cables.

NEWS FROM THE STATES

California climate change law may cause short-term job loss and energy cost increase
CAIVN
The independent and nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office in Sacramento says there will be some economic disruption and higher energy costs if the 2006 climate change law is implemented.   

California utility regulators not quite ready for fuel cells
New York Times
California regulators have turned down requests from the state’s two biggest utilities to install fuel cell technology.   

Colorado: Coal industry questions speedy clean air bill
Denver Daily News
The Colorado Mining Association questions the speed of the Colorado Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act through the Legislature and the exclusion of mining industry viewpoints; calls for study of consequences.

Montana: Schweitzer asks feds to cancel oil and gas leases near Glacier Park
Missoulian
Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Monday asked the federal government to formally cancel oil and gas leases near Glacier National Park that have been in limbo since a 1988 federal appeals court ruled them improper.  

Nevada: Chinese wind power group to build factory in state
Greentech Media
China's A-Power Energy Generation Systems said it will build a previously announced U.S. wind turbine assembly facility in Nevada.  

New Mexico seeks emissions cap and trade program
NewsWest9.com
The New Mexico Environment Department says it plans to petition a state regulatory board for a cap and trade program aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Oregon hydropower on a small scale
Medford Mail Tribune
Oregon's Rogue River Valley Irrigation District hopes to add a 100-kilowatt micro-hydropower plant to an irrigation diversion, and sell the power to offset some of its operation costs.   

Texas: Developing wind energy transmission lines vital to state grid
MyWestTexas.com
Permian Basin Petroleum Meeting: Creating additional transmission lines for wind energy in Texas is vital to the development of the industry and the state's future economy.  

Texas: Pattern Energy Group buys big wind farm
Wall Street Journal
Pattern Energy Group LP, a wind-power specialist, is buying the already-built, 118-turbine, 283-megawatt Gulf Wind project - with a radar shutdown bird detector - from Babcock & Brown, located in Kennedy County, Texas.   

Utah: Cities seek wind energy from Idaho farm
Deseret News
Three Utah County cities are working toward wind energy from an Idaho farm that could be operational by 2011.   

Utah: Sierra Club pushes new power plant from coal to gas
Deseret Valley Times
Energy developer Sithe Global will drop its coal-fired plan, and construct a natural gas-fired power plant at the Toquop site in Lincoln County after an intense Sierra Club "Beyond Coal" campaign.  

Wyoming: Marathon Oil plans 25 more wells in northern part of state
Casper Star-Tribune/The Billings Gazette
Nearly a century after oil was discovered in Oregon Basin, companies are still working to find new reserves there, and to find new ways to recover untapped oil from wells drilled decades ago.

Wyo., neighboring states bear burden of grouse 'candidate' listing
New York Times/Greenwire
The Interior Department's decision to place the greater sage grouse on its "candidate list" for Endangered Species Act protection sent a shock wave through the Interior West, where resource-strapped state governments now must try to preempt a final ESA listing by adopting even tougher conservation policies.   

Wyoming Supreme Court upholds coal plant permit
Wyoming Energy News
The Wyoming Supreme Court has upheld a state air quality permit for a power plant being built at a coal mine north of Gillette.  

NEW STUDIES / REPORTS

China largest ‘exporter’ of CO2 emissions in traded goods
Environmental Leader
More than one-third of carbon-dioxide emissions linked to the consumption of goods and services in many developed countries are emitted outside their borders, according to a new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution of Science.

Report: Tribes key in renewable energy development
AP/WJTV.com
A new report says American Indian tribes can help combat climate change by creating jobs and revenue through renewable energy development.   

Poll charts rising U.S. environmental satisfaction
Reuters
Americans have grown more content about current environmental quality over the past year, though 53 percent still rate conditions as only fair to poor, according to a Gallup poll.

KUDO OF THE WEEK

Letter to DOI: Red tape jeopardizes Wyoming jobs and coal production
Little Chicago Review
In a letter to the Department of the Interior, Governor Dave Freudenthal, U.S. Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis criticized new DOI guidelines that could jeopardize jobs and coal production in Wyoming.

OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK

Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign threatens 379,000 acres in CO
AMA
The AMA has learned that within the next few weeks an anti-access group will present U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) with the Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign, which would designate 379,000 acres of public land in Colorado as federal Wilderness.