Latest Energy Headlines
All the headlines from our Energy Topic Page, ordered by recency.
North Dakota Oil Patch Highway Is State’s Most Dangerous
Feb 24 2015 // The main north-south artery in North Dakota’s oil patch is the most dangerous stretch of road in the state, newly released statistics show. U.S. Highway 85 had the most fatal accidents, injury accidents and property...
BP Appeals Ruling on Gulf Oil Spill Size
Feb 24 2015 // BP Plc on Monday appealed a federal judge’s finding of the size of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which leaves the company potentially liable to pay $13.7 billion in fines. In January, U.S. District Judge Carl...
CN Derailment Shows Inadequacy of New Oil Tank Cars Says Canada’s TSB
Feb 24 2015 // A train derailment in Canada this month that set ablaze several new-model tank cars carrying crude oil shows the need for tougher rail car standards, Canada’s safety watchdog said on Monday. The Canadian National...
Feds Say Speed Not a Factor in West Virginia Oil Train Crash
Feb 23 2015 // Speed doesn’t appear to have been a factor in an oil-train derailment in southern West Virginia, a federal transportation official said Thursday. The CSX train was going 33 mph at the time of the crash on Feb. 16 in...
Canada to Overhaul Rail Safety Rules; More Insurance Will Be Required
Feb 23 2015 // The Canadian government is overhauling its safety rules for crude oil shipments by train, creating a disaster fund and forcing railways to carry more insurance. Oil companies will pay into the fund, which will be used when...
Gas Vapor Possible Factor in West Virginia Oil Train Fireball
Feb 20 2015 // Federal investigators will examine whether pressurized gas played a role in the massive blast that followed the derailment of a train carrying crude oil through West Virginia this week, the U.S. Transportation Department...
Energy Workers at Loose Ends after Drop in Crude Prices
Feb 20 2015 // The drive from Ken Mercer’s home in Tennessee to the oil fields of western North Dakota takes 20 hours if you drive straight through. Every month, Mercer, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, would make the trip as...
Ohio’s Supreme Court Affirms State’s Power to Regulate Oil and Gas
Feb 18 2015 // Certain local zoning laws can’t be used to supersede Ohio’s state-level system for regulating oil and gas drilling, a fiercely divided Ohio Supreme Court has ruled. In a 4-3 decision with three written...
Calls for Safety Upgrades Follow West Virginia Oil Train Crash
Feb 18 2015 // A fiery oil train derailment in West Virginia this week exposes lax safety standards and strengthens the case for tougher U.S. rules governing such shipments, safety advocates said on Tuesday. A 109-car delivery of crude...
North Dakota Officials Stress Job Resiliency in Oil Industry
Feb 17 2015 // A recent slide in oil prices is leading to fewer jobs in the western North Dakota oil patch, but officials there and in northwestern South Dakota say the regional industry is resilient and will ride out the slump. Openings...
Court Rules BP Not Covered by Transocean’s $750M Insurance
Feb 17 2015 // BP Plc isn’t covered under Transocean Ltd.’s insurance policies for the undersea well blowout that caused the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the Texas Supreme Court said, blocking the oil company’s access...
Federal Judge Dismisses Louisiana Levee Board’s Suit against Oil Companies
Feb 16 2015 // A federal judge has dismissed a New Orleans-area levee authority’s lawsuit charging oil and gas companies with destroying Louisiana’s coastal wetlands. The lawsuit was filed by the Southeast Louisiana Flood...
Update: Crude Oil Train Derails in West Virginia
Feb 16 2015 // A CSX Corp train hauling North Dakota crude derailed in West Virginia on Monday, setting a number of cars ablaze, destroying a house and forcing the evacuation of two towns in the second significant oil-train incident in...
Global Climate Deal Blueprint Emerges From UN Gathering in Geneva
Feb 13 2015 // Envoys from some 190 nations are taking more seriously the idea of setting a goal for phasing out the pollution from fossil fuels, lending support to the movement against investments in oil and coal companies. After a week...
Oil-Tainted Feed Suspected in Death of 50K Turkeys in Michigan
Feb 11 2015 // Federal officials are investigating how feed likely contaminated with oil intended for industrial uses ended up killing 50,000 turkeys on a western Michigan farm in August. State scientists at a January meeting of the...
Geologists Look for Earthquake, Fracking Connection in Kansas
Feb 6 2015 // For at the last 15 months, Kansas geologist Rex Buchanan estimates, he’s spent 90 percent of his time studying something once relatively rare in the state — earthquakes. He has learned a lot, said the director of...
Oil Tankers Run Gauntlet in Nigeria’s ‘Pirate Alley’
Feb 6 2015 // A pirate attack that killed a supertanker crewman off the coast of Nigeria this week has highlighted a growing threat off oil-rich West Africa, as vessels carrying millions of barrels of crude traverse a region that has...
Trial Over, Judge to Decide Extent of BP’s Penalties for Gulf Oil Spill
Feb 4 2015 // The latest phase of a trial to determine how much BP should pay in Clean Water Act penalties for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill — which could reach $13.7 billion — ended on Feb. 2, but a decision from the judge is...
Penn. Public Utility Commission Gives Uber 2-Year License, Except in Philly
Feb 2 2015 // The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has given ride-sharing service Uber a two-year experimental license to operate anywhere in the state except Philadelphia, where it has been operating despite a local ban. The...
Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Develops Earthquake Plan
Feb 2 2015 // The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission now has a plan for future earthquakes after two small quakes rattled an area in Weld County that officials later determined were likely caused by a nearby injection...
