energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.

GREEN BUSINESS

Beacon Power, Backed by U.S. Loan Guarantees, Files Bankruptcy (via Bloomberg Businessweek)

POLITICS

Boehner Demands $2 Billion for Ohio Plant...

Environmental groups are asking the State Department’s inspector general to investigate the department’s review of the Keystone XL pipeline, alleging that officals are abusing their authority and conducting a biased review of the project.

The proposed 1,700-mile pipeline would carry crude from Canada's oil sands region to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Opponents say oil-sands production is carbon and water-intensive, and that there is a danger of spills from the pipeline. However, a State Department...

Most of the testimony and debate at a hearing on the future of nuclear waste storage in the United States focused on the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, which the Obama administration says should not be built.

The federal government planned for 30 years to use the site in Nevada, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the nation’s permanent nuclear storage site, collecting more than $30 billion from electric ratepayers and spending about $15 billion in federal money in the process. However, the Obama administration has not sought further funding for...

Opponents of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline are making sure President Obama hears their concerns. A group of protesters interrupted president’s speech on student loans in Denver today, and he briefly acknowledged them before continuing the address. According to the White House transcript, a protester yelled, “Mother Earth -- backs of our children and our future.”

The president appeared to address the heckler directly, saying the White House is “looking at it.” And “no decision has been made.” He also told the protester he knows...

energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.

KEYSTONE XL/OIL SANDS

U.S. may miss year-end goal for Keystone oil line (via Reuters)

SOLAR/WIND/RENEWABLES

First Solar CEO Gillette Abruptly Leaves (via The Wall Street Journal)

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energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.

KEYSTONE XL

Nebraska governor to call session on Keystone pipeline (via Reuters)

Hillary Clinton faces big tests (via The Hill)

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A plan from BP to drill the company's first exploratory wells in the Gulf of Mexico since the 2010 oil spill was approved by U.S. regulators today.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management says it has approved a plan for the company to drill up to four exploratory wells off the coast of Louisiana in areas it acquired in 1997 and 2003 lease sales. The drilling would occur in water depths of more than 6,000 feet and at least 192 miles from shore.

BP must still obtain drilling permits from...

energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.

CLIMATE/ENVIRONMENT/EMISSIONS

New climate study deals blow to skeptics (via CNN)

Climate Skeptics Stay Unswayed (via The New York Times)

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energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.

SOLAR/WIND/RENEWABLES

US solar firms file trade complaint against China (via Associated Press)

Chinese solar firms face growth risk after U.S. petition (via Reuters...

Two U.S. House Republicans are renewing their call for White House documents on the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee to failed solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra.

The fresh demand, after President Obama’s aides refused to hand over some Solyndra-related documents last week, could lead to a legal showdown between Republicans and the White House. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), who leads the congressional investigation into the Solyndra loan guarantee and bankruptcy, told energyNOW! correspondent Lee Patrick Sullivan last month that Republicans may subpoena any...

Federal officials are “working very hard” to complete studies and approve permits that would allow Shell Oil to begin exploratory drilling for oil next year in Alaska’s outer-continental shelf, the nation’s top offshore drilling regulator said today.

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Director Michael Bromwich testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee about U.S. ability to respond to oil spills in foreign waters. However, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the committee’s ranking member asked about Shell’s plans...

energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.

NATURAL GAS/FRACKING

Senate approves pipeline safety bill (via Reuters)

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From left, energyNOW! photojournalist Ian McAllister; Shelly, our diving instructor; Tyler.

   I learned a fair share of the language while our energyNOW! team was in Israel, but I never figured out the Hebrew equivalent of...

A dramatic boost in domestic energy production is the key to a plan Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry says would create some 1.2 million jobs.

The Texas governor spoke this morning at a campaign rally in Pittsburgh. "We’re standing atop the next American economic boom, and it’s the energy underneath this country," Perry said. "The quickest way to give our economy a shot in the arm is to deploy American ingenuity to tap American energy."

energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.

POLITICS

Republican Perry to lay out energy jobs proposals (via Reuters)

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The head of the federal agency that oversees offshore drilling safety says he wants tougher penalties for companies that cause oil spills.

Despite an overall warmer weather forecast, consumers who heat their homes using natural gas, propane or oil can expect higher fuel costs this winter, according to an Energy Information Administration forecast released today.

The EIA’s Winter Fuels Outlook notes that federal weather forecasters are calling for temperatures in the lower 48 states to be 2 percent warmer than last winter during the October-March heating season. The West is projected to be about 3 percent colder than last winter, and the South is...

President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness says investment in clean energy is a key to creating new jobs.

The panel says in a report released today that the U.S. needs to maintain its clean-energy programs to spark private investment. “Foreign competitors like China, Canada and the United Kingdom have already put in place targeted, well-funded financing programs to drive their new energy enterprises,” the report states “Without bold action...

energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.

GOVERNMENT/REGULATIONS

Power or poison? EPA rules could limit coal-fueled plants' emissions (via The Roanoke Times)

Emails raise fresh questions on Obama energy loan (via Reuters)

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President Obama is defending the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program and its $535 million guarantee to solar-panel maker Solyndra, which declared bankruptcy last month.

In a White House news conference today, the president told reporters the U.S. government's decision to guarantee Solyndra’s loans was made "on the merits," knowing that the industry is competitive and that some companies will fail.

Within hours of the Obama press conference, the Energy...

The University of Maryland was the big winner at the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon, winning or tying for first in three of the 10 scoring categories. Purdue University came in second, with high marks for affordability, comfort and energy balance among its four top three finishes.

Nineteen teams from around the world entered...

Opponents of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline are suing the State Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to stop site preparation work along the planned route.

The lawsuit was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Nebraska...

Shale-gas drilling has been a “game changer” for U.S. energy production, but companies and regulators should do more to manage the impacts of the rapidly growing industry, the members of a federal advisory panel said.

The panelists, all members of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board’s Shale Gas Production Subcommittee, discussed the panel’s...

The State Department has released e-mails between a lobbyist for TransCanada, the company that wants to build the Keystone XL pipeline, and State Department staff members.

The e-mails, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the environmental group Friends of the Earth, include exchanges between lobbyist Paul Elliott and Marja Verloop, who works at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa. Friends of the Earth refers to Verloop as “senior diplomatic staff… with...