(National Biodiesel Board)   The last thing a hiker wants to encounter is a haze of smog that diminishes the view from atop a picturesque vista.  With more than 11 million visitors annually, Great Smoky Mountains …

by Tim Meko and Laris Karklis (The Washington Post)  There are more than 900,000 active oil and gas wells in the United States, and more than 130,000 have been drilled since 2010, according to Drillinginfo, a …

by Juliet Eilperin (The Washington Post)  President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, who has represented Montana’s at-large congressional seat for one term, to serve as secretary of the Department of the Interior, according …

by Bobby Magill  (Climate Central)  U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a sixth-term Republican from Washington State who is a climate change denier and an ardent opponent of regulations for greenhouse gas emissions, has been nominated …

by Chelsea Harvey (The Washington Post)  The Great Plains lost more grassland to agriculture in 2014 than the Brazilian Amazon lost to deforestation, says a recent report from the World Wildlife Fund. And it argues that …

by Anthony Adragna (Politico’s Morning Energy)  …  Biofuels: Trump said in Iowa in January that he wants ethanol volumes set under the Renewable Fuel Standard restored to statutory levels, but he has surrounded himself with RFS …

by Paul Raeburn (Newsweek)  … (Myron) Ebell, the director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and a prominent climate-change skeptic, was chosen at the end of September to head the …

(U.S. Geological Survey) The Northern Great Plains of North and South Dakota, which support over 40 percent of United States commercial honey bee colonies, are quickly becoming less conducive to commercial beekeeping as a result of …

by Katie Fehrenbacher (Fortune Magazine)  This is how much methane pollution that eleven oil and gas companies emit annually. Eleven oil and gas giants in the U.S. leak so much of a potent green house gas into …

(U.S. Department of Justice)  Thomas Davanzo, of Estero, Florida, and Robert Fedyna, of Naples, Florida, pleaded guilty today for their participation in a multi-state scheme to defraud biodiesel buyers and U.S. taxpayers by fraudulently selling …

by Corinne Young and Michele Jalbert (re:chem/Biofuels Digest)  A Billion Ton Bioeconomy. For those of us who have worked in this space for the last decade, the US government’s aspiration to grow the sector to such …

by Nika Knight  (CommonDreams.org)  ‘This spill shows why there is a new and vibrant movement in the Gulf of Mexico for no new drilling’  —  Royal Dutch Shell’s offshore drilling operations were pouring oil into …

by Darryl Fears (The Washington Post)  But a study by the U.S. Geological Survey appears to have answered a critical question about the millions of gallons of chemical-laced water that are injected into the wells to …

by Mark Drajem (Bloomberg)  Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, says he’s confident that the next president — whether Donald Trump, or Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton — would be fine for the biofuel industry. …

by Adam Klasfeld (Courthouse News Service)  Officially linking a controversial natural gas-drilling method to earthquakes for the first time, the U.S. Geological Survey released a groundbreaking report documenting links between fracking and skyrocketing seismic activity.
Released …

by Eric Wolff (Politico Morning Energy)  The massive methane spill at the Aliso Canyon storage field has pumped out at least 77,500 metric tons of gas since Oct. 23, and it will be months before …

by Chris Mooney (The Washington Post)  Even as President Obama further amplifies his rhetoric about addressing climate change, a coalition of environmental organizations released a letter Monday seeking to push his administration much further still. Not content with …

(Office of Senator Tom Udall (D-NM))  In a letter this week to Office of Management and Budget (OPM) Director Shaun Donovan, U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Reps. Ben Ray Luján and …

by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The White House Office of Management and Budget has published a statement of administration policy that details its opposition to several components of an appropriations bill pending the in …

by Lori Montgomery (The Washington Post)  … What to do about the plague of earthquakes is, however, very much an open question in Oklahoma. Last year, 567 quakes of at least 3.0 magnitude rocked a swath of …

(Associated Press/The Washington Post)  The Obama administration on Wednesday announced its latest move to combat global warming, this time trying to rein in heat-trapping methane gas that escapes from oil and gas fields.
The plan relies …

by Esther Whieldon (SNL)  The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will feature a new subcommittee in 2015 dedicated almost entirely to energy issues and another that will examine cybersecurity, incoming Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, announced …

(The White House Office of Science and Technology)  …  Continued progress into the future will depend on ensuring a climate-smart citizenry and a next-generation American workforce of city planners, community leaders, engineers, and entrepreneurs who understand the urgent …

by Jeff Guo (The Washington Post)  Assateague, a 37-mile-long smear off the shores of Maryland and Virginia, is the East Coast’s climate change canary. It’s one of the most vulnerable islands in America, almost certain …

by Lenny Bernstein (The Washington Post)  Ninety health, environmental and sportsmen’s groups asked the federal government Thursday to clamp down on the release of methane gas by the petrochemical industry, asserting that the United States …

by  Jessica Goad and Matt Lee-Ashley  (Center for American Progress)  Spanning more than one-fifth of the U.S. landmass, America’s national forests, national parks, and other public lands have long been valued for their ability to absorb and store …

by Matthew Daly (Associated Press/ABC News)  The National Park Service has withdrawn “inappropriate” comments about a proposed rule regulating hydraulic fracturing operations on public lands.
Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis says no one in management reviewed …

by Raquel Hendrickson (Bugle/Verde Independent)  … The unprecedented project intends to treat and restore ponderosa pine forests in the Coconino, Kaibab, Tonto and Apache-Sitgreaves national forests in Arizona. Now, the massive stewardship contract has been transferred …

by Col. Bill Holmberg (ret.)  (American Council On Renewable Energy)   “Up with octane, down with aromatics, and embrace the needs of people and nature,” says ACORE’s legendary biomass guru. But less freak-out, more reach-out is …

by Patrick Rucker (Reuters)  President Barack Obama wants Congress to create a $2 billion clean-energy transportation fund using fees paid by oil and gas producers on federal lands, the White House said Wednesday, expanding a plan announced …

(U.S. Geological Survey)  USGS scientists have developed a new method for mapping grasslands that demonstrate high potential for growing biofuel crops with relatively little energy input and environmental impact.
The pioneering investigation used remote sensing data …

by Evan Bush (iwatchnews)  In election year, Interior Department may take on a popular target: Big Oil
The Obama administration may be readying for a fight with the energy industry as it prepares to raise royalty …