The Keystone oil pipeline may have won approval from Nebraska’s governor Tuesday, but the final decision rests with President Obama.
And after the heavy emphasis on climate change in his inaugural speech Monday, analysts say Obama is likely to feel even more pressure to reject the pipeline. Keep reading →
With Secretary of Energy Steven Chu set to depart his post in the coming weeks, many are watching for clues as to who President Obama will pick to be his successor. Some hope for a more industry-friendly pick, such as Duke Energy’s CEO Jim Rogers. Environmentalists have been pulling for names like Tom Steyer, billionaire investor and cleantech enthusiast, or John Podesta, head of the Center for American Progress. Considering Secretary Chu’s struggles with Congress, many want a more politically-adept pick like former Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND).
Whomever President Obama chooses, the nominee will be critical in laying out the energy agenda for the next four years. Keep reading →
While national opposition to the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project has focused on the environmental risks of pumping synthetic crude from Alberta’s oil sands across the United States to Gulf Coast refineries, it’s the issue of eminent domain that has riled critics in Texas.
Several appeals have been filed by Texas landowners trying to resist the efforts of pipeline company TransCanada to use a local law to force reluctant landowners to permit construction of a southern extension of the line from Cushing, Oklahoma to Nederland, Texas. Keep reading →
At the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico along the Texas-Louisiana border, Cheniere Energy could be just weeks away from breaking ground on the first natural gas exporting facility ever built in the lower 48 states. It’s also where a new fight with echoes of the Keystone pipeline is building, pitting economic development against environmental protection. To Cheniere and its supporters, the 500-plus acre, $10 billion plant represents a boon for the American economy.
