Alaska is heating up at twice the rate of the rest of the country—a canary in our climate coal mine. A new report shows that warming in Alaska, along with the rest of the Arctic, is accelerating as the loss of snow and ice cover begins to set off a feedback loop of further warming.
The Swedish government this week decided to scrap an arms deal with Saudi Arabia, effectively bringing to an end a decade-old defense agreement with the kingdom. The move followed complaints made by the Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom that she was blocked by the Saudis from speaking about democracy and women’s rights at a gathering of the Arab League in Cairo.
Texas, North Dakota, Alaska, and Oklahoma are four of the five top oil- and natural gas-producing states, and they derive a significant share of their unrestricted operating revenues from taxes on oil and natural gas production. Although California produces more oil than both Alaska and Oklahoma, its economy is much larger, making it relatively less affected by changes in oil and natural gas prices and production.
Canada proposed tough new oil tank car standards on Wednesday and said even improved tank cars coming into service now would have to be off the rails by 2025 at the latest. The announcement comes after a rash of fiery derailments in Canada and the United States, including some that involved the newer, improved rail cars.
If you’re hoping to deny the reality of global warming, things aren’t looking so good for you right now. A couple of events are making it ever more clear that those vocal about it are in trouble. Deservedly.
Companies that make alternative fuels, pressured by lower oil prices and regulatory uncertainty, launched a push for legislation to make it more likely fledgling segments of the biofuels industry can survive.
Think about it this way: Every Nissan Leaf might run on electric power, but how that electricity was generated determines what greenhouse gas emissions the car is responsible for.
Clobbered by falling oil prices, Iraq is headed over a fiscal cliff, unable to make critical investments needed to keep its oil flowing and still pay the skyrocketing costs of fighting Islamic State extremists, according to government officials. Without a recovery in oil revenues, some fear the country is again sliding toward a breakup.
Some call it the “stinkweed.” Yet despite that inglorious moniker, there’s an awful lot to like about pennycress, say officials with one St. Louis startup company. That’s because pennycress seeds — five to seven thousand of them in a given plant — have the potential to produce the world’s next big biofuel …
A Syrian businessman facing European Union sanctions denied on Tuesday allegations that he bought oil from the Islamic State group for President Bashar Assad’s government.
