Latest Energy Headlines
All the headlines from our Energy Topic Page, ordered by recency.
New Mexico Jury Holds Utility Companies Partially Liable for Fire
Oct 30 2015 // A jury decided this week that two utility companies hold most of the liability in one of the largest wildfires in New Mexico’s recorded history. Jurors gave their verdict in Bernalillo following a weekslong trial...
Safety Experts: Oklahoma Quakes a National Security Threat
Oct 26 2015 // In the months after Sept. 11, 2001, as U.S. security officials assessed the top targets for potential terrorist attacks, the small town of Cushing, Okla., received special attention. Even though it is home to fewer than...
Study: Larger Oklahoma Quakes Caused by Industrial Activity
Oct 23 2015 // A sharp rise in earthquakes in Oklahoma in the past 100 years is likely the result of industrial activities in the energy-rich state, such as oil and natural gas production, a new study suggests. The paper by the U.S....
10 Oil & Gas Bosses Seek to Improve Image Before Climate Change Summit
Oct 16 2015 // Oil and gas industry bosses called for an “effective” agreement at the United Nations climate change summit in December, recognizing that current greenhouse gas emissions were inconsistent with the goal of...
Oklahoma Oil Company Disputing Required Reduction in Disposal Well Volumes
Oct 15 2015 // A Tulsa oil company has agreed to a technical meeting with Oklahoma regulators after challenging their response to earthquakes and saltwater disposal wells. The Oklahoman reports Marjo Operating Co. Inc. and staff for the...
U.S. and Alaska Won’t Seek Another $92M From Exxon For Spill Decades Ago
Oct 15 2015 // U.S. and Alaska state officials announced on Wednesday they will no longer seek an additional $92 million from Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay for environmental cleanup and restoration stemming from the massive Exxon Valdez oil...
BP to Pay Louisiana $58M for Legal Fees, Oil Spill Litigation Cost
Oct 14 2015 // BP will reimburse $58.25 million to the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office for its expenses, fees and litigation costs tied to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The Advocate reports money...
U.S. Says CSX Missed Rail Defect Blamed For Oil Train Derailment
Oct 13 2015 // A fiery oil train derailment that forced the evacuation of hundreds of people in West Virginia last February was caused by a rail defect that railroad inspectors from CSX Corp. missed twice in the preceding months, U.S....
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Approves Quebec Oil Train Crash Settlement
Oct 12 2015 // A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Friday approved a settlement that clears the way for payments to victims of Canada’s Lac-Megantic crude-by-rail derailment, according to the trustee for the insolvent railway at the heart...
California Wants Half Its Power from Renewable Energy by 2030
Oct 9 2015 // Gov. Jerry Brown dramatically increased California’s climate-change goals, committing the state to use renewable energy for half its electricity and make existing buildings twice as energy-efficient in just 15...
BP’s Oil Spill Settlement with Gulf States, U.S. Tops $20 Billion
Oct 6 2015 // The value of BP Plc’s settlement with the U.S. government and five Gulf states over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill rose to $20.8 billion in the latest tally of costs from the U.S. Department of Justice. The...
Watchdog Says Corporations Say One Thing, Do Another on Climate Change
Oct 1 2015 // It’s all a masquerade. The business world has not embraced action on climate change as statements from some corporations seem to indicate. So says a new watchdog group out of London. Nonprofit InfluenceMap late last...
Institutional Investors’ Fossil-Fuel Divestment Exceeds $2.6 Trillion
Sep 23 2015 // Portfolio managers have pledged to steer $2.6 trillion in investments away from fossil fuels in an effort to prevent catastrophic climate change. That’s a 50-fold increase from the cumulative total a year ago, $50...
Bermuda’s OIL Group of Companies Names Olsson as President and CEO
Sep 18 2015 // Bermuda-based OIL Group of Companies named Bertil Olsson as president and chief executive Officer, succeeding Robert Stauffer who is retiring in January 2016. With more than 25 years of energy insurance experience, Olsson...
Oil Company Fined $223K for Fracking Well Fire in Ohio
Sep 17 2015 // A fire at a natural gas fracking well that forced evacuations and killed thousands of fish in eastern Ohio last summer will result in fines of about $223,000 against an international oil and gas company. Environmental...
Germany’s Talanx Invests in Renewable Energy to Counter Low Interest Rates
Sep 16 2015 // Talanx AG, the German insurance company buying into its first offshore wind farm, said it’s likely to purchase more renewable-energy assets. The insurer sees renewables as offering “long-term, bigger yields...
Texas Oil Wells Services Company Cited for Rig Fatalities
Sep 10 2015 // Federal safety officials have cited a Texas oil well services company in the deaths of three workers killed while working to install a blowout preventer, which seals, controls and monitors a rig. The Occupational Safety...
No-Penalty Policy a Standard for Oil Wastewater Spills, Critics Say
Sep 10 2015 // In April 2013, a malfunctioning oil well in the countryside north of Oklahoma City caused storage tanks to overflow, sending 42,000 gallons of briny wastewater hurtling over a dike, across a wheat field and into a farm...
California Climate Change Bills Unlikely to See Easy Passage
Sep 9 2015 // California lawmakers negotiated frantically behind the scenes on Tuesday over the fate of several proposals to dramatically reduce the state’s use of fossil fuels and slash the amount of greenhouse gases that legally...
15,000 Schools Located Within ‘Blast Zone’ of Oil Trains
Sep 8 2015 // Thousands of U.S. schools sit along rail corridors used to carry toxic substances such as crude oil and would be at risk in the event of a derailment, an environmental group said on Tuesday as it called for a temporary...
