Greenwire

The Obama administration is not stopping its review of Keystone XL despite the legal morass snarling the controversial oil sands crude pipeline's route through Nebraska, a victory for the oil industry and a setback for environmentalists.

U.S. EPA staffers are feeling slighted after the agency publicly explained why their jobs aren't needed.

The Interior Department today announced plans to nearly double the current $75 million oil spill liability cap for offshore oil and gas development to keep pace with inflation, marking the cap's first increase since passage of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

President Obama's use of executive power to tackle global warming goes on trial Monday when the Supreme Court hears arguments in a challenge from industry and a dozen states to a U.S. EPA effort to curb industrial emissions of greenhouse gases.

A federal court yesterday scrapped the so-called Stream Buffer Zone Rule promulgated under President George W. Bush to govern strip-mining activities. Environmentalists restarted litigation against the rule last year amid federal Office of Surface Mining delays in developing a substitute, called the Stream Protection Rule.

How are local hydraulic fracturing bans affecting natural-gas-intensive industries? During today's OnPoint, Jennifer Diggins, chairwoman of the Consumer Energy Alliance and director of public affairs at Nucor Steel, explains how growth in infrastructure and manufacturing tied to shale development is helping the steel industry stay globally competitive. She also addresses how the natural gas industry can effectively engage consumers on the local level.

A French winemaker is facing possible prison time after refusing to follow a government mandate to spray his vines with pesticide.

The road adjacent to Buckingham Palace has the highest levels of nitrogen dioxide in the United Kingdom, according to figures released under freedom of information laws.

Ohio's Department of Health plans to launch a study of the role land formation may play in causing disease with a $286,000 grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The state Senate in West Virginia on Friday cleared a bill that would invest a portion of oil and gas revenues in a fund for future economic and infrastructure development.

Alaska's Supreme Court has upheld a decision by the state's Department of Natural Resources to issue a permit to explore for coalbed methane on 200,000 acres of state-owned land near Denali National Park and Preserve.

State and federal investigators are looking into leaking trailers that may contain thousands of pounds of radioactive oil and gas drilling debris that are parked on a rural property near Watford City, N.D.

A portion of the Mississippi River, including the Port of New Orleans, was closed to all water traffic yesterday as cleanup crews attended to the aftermath of a collision between an oil barge and a towboat.

The Federal Railroad Administration on Friday revised its grant agreement with the California High-Speed Rail Authority to give the state more time to provide required funding for its troubled bullet train project.

President Obama will not reintroduce a controversial proposed inflation federal retirement benefits change in his fiscal 2015 budget plan, according to White House officials.

The Agriculture Department will give the public more time to comment on an environmental review of corn and soybean crops genetically engineered to resist the herbicide 2,4-D.

General Electric Co. announced plans today to spend $10 billion through 2020 on developing waterless hydraulic fracturing for gas production, deploying more efficient gas turbines, tapping energy from flared gas and lowering the cost of wind power production through its Ecomagination division.