"Duke Energy will close two of its oldest coal-fired power plants, Riverbend west of Charlotte and Buck in Rowan County in April, two years ahead of schedule."
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Long-term forecasts for coal production in West Virginia and the rest of Central Appalachia continue to show major declines are underway -- and still to come -- for the region's mining industry."
"U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize winner who shepherded an effort to help spur a clean energy U.S. economy, will step down after a tenure rocked by the failures of some costly government investments."
"Three senior Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee defended a clean-energy grant program Wednesday, saying Republicans used misleading figures in a report earlier this month to slam the initiative."
"Appalachian coal producers worry about new environmental laws as poverty and pollution rise in some mining regions."
"The EPA found serious flaws in two earlier environmental reviews. Soon it will have another opportunity to weigh in, with climate impacts a major concern."
"One of the biggest unknowns in the unfolding Keystone XL debate is the role the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency might play."
"MEXICO CITY -- An explosion rocked the headquarters of Mexico's state-run oil monopoly Pemex, killing 25 people, injuring 101, and damaging three floors of Mexico's second tallest building before sending plumes of smoke into the Mexico City skyline."
"Chevron ignored potentially life-threatening dangers to workers at its Richmond refinery and should pay a record fine of nearly $1 million stemming from the fire there in August, state regulators said Wednesday."
"A report by two energy-consulting firms says the US government has not protected US taxpayers well enough against the risks of federal loan guarantees to a new nuclear power project."
"Last month Fox News reported on the 'grizzly deaths' of 500 songbirds in West Virginia. Behind the fell deed: a wind farm, caught red-turbined. 'To date, the Obama administration... has not prosecuted a single case against the wind industry,' the Fox reporter laments. Opponents of renewable energy love to trot out the risk wind turbines pose to birds, and some engineering work has gone into making them more avian-friendly. But a new study released today in Nature shows that if you really want to protect birds, forget about wind: You need to lock up Kitty."
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