Greening of Oil: Exxon's battery wiz Pat Brant focuses on making lithium-ion batteries viable for vehicles 01/17/2010
Closing the economic gap between 5-pound laptops and 5,000-pound trucks
Pat Brant has a problem. Or rather, we all have a problem, and Brant is one of the people trying to solve it. The problem is that electric cars and plug-in hybrids, which could play a key role in re...

Time to take a stand on climate change? 01/10/2010
Alaska legislators want information to determine a strategy on responding to climate change actions and the use of the ESA in AK
The stakes are high and the rhetoric climbing in the debate between those who want to apply the Endangered Species Act for the protection of wildlife potentially threatened by a warming climate, and t...

Assuring your approval 01/10/2010
Modern permitting involves doing due diligence, proving sustainable benefits
There was a time when people tended to view permitting as simply a question of obtaining government agency approval for certain specific actions planned for a project. But that's no longer a viable ap...

Energy policy: a neglected stepchild? 12/27/2009
The Congressional focus on greenhouse gases and climate change is pushing U.S. energy policy into the background, lawyer says
While debate in the U.S. Congress centers on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, energy policy and U.S. energy security have become somewhat neglected, Tom Roberts, a member of Washington, D....

Planning for different power outcomes 12/20/2009
In developing an integrated resource plan for power generation and transmission in the Alaska Railbelt, consultancy firm Black and Veatch evaluated four possible future power scenarios, Kevin Harper, Bl...

Alberta opens nuke door 12/20/2009
The Alberta government is defying an uneasy public by inviting proposals to build nuclear power plants in the province. Energy Minister Mel Knight, on Dec. 14, issued the results of a telephone poll i...

Canada: Cleaning off a 'dirty' image 12/20/2009
Canadian, Alberta political, industry leaders defend record in oil sands, say they are ready to participate in any Copenhagen deal
Government and industry leaders are fighting back against a tidal wave of criticism and abuse flowing from the Copenhagen climate change summit that has Canada cast as a "corrupt petro-state" because...

Power for the future 12/20/2009
AEA publishes draft integrated resource plan for Alaska Railbelt electricity
The Alaska Energy Authority has published a draft regional integrated resource plan that presents options and recommendations for the future of electricity power generation, transmission and demand ma...

Exxon seeks new life 12/20/2009
Bets heavily on unconventional gas as fuel of choice by 2030 in takeover of XTO
The tipoff was there for anyone caring to pay attention when ExxonMobil declared on Dec. 8 that natural gas would be the fuel of choice in the United States by 2030, shunting aside coal and oil. Less...

Canada makes 'absolute' shift 12/13/2009
The Canadian government has entered the Copenhagen climate change summit hinting that it may be ready to make a fundamental course correction in its environmental policy by imposing absolute emission...

New economic age for Canada 12/13/2009
Final terms for Northern Gateway regulatory hearing coincide with Harper's declaration that Asia-Pacific supplanting US, Europe
The pieces are now in place for a Canadian regulatory hearing that carries profound overtones for Canada's economic future, now that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rated the Asia-Pacific region ahe...

Unintended consequences? 12/13/2009
Balash: Without exemption cap-and-trade scheme could sink NS gas line
Without some form of exemption for the planned gas treatment plant at the Prudhoe Bay end of a future gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope, current climate change legislation working its way through...

Harper, Stelmach feel the green heat 12/06/2009
Prime minister decides against boycotting Copenhagen summit; Alberta premier ready to accept climate-change goals in step with US
There is talk of a re-branding of the two Canadian political leaders - Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach - seen as the least supportive of cap-and-trade systems as part of...

Climate change legal impacts heat up 12/06/2009
U.S. legislation, regulation and litigation will all have far-reaching impacts on the Alaska oil and gas industry in coming years
In one sense it makes no difference who is right and who is wrong in the debate over the effect of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases on the Earth's climate: The legal fallout from a broad view...

Mining News: Yukon power line upgrades get under way 11/22/2009
Infrastructure project is expected to connect northern and southern grids, enhance mine development opportunities along route
Work got under way in October on stage 2 of Yukon Energy's Carmacks-Stewart transmission line, a long-needed infrastructure project aimed at dramatically improving access to and affordability of elect...

Beaufort expedition studies methane 11/22/2009
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory completed a 12-day Beaufort Sea expedition Sept. 26 to gather data on changing concentrations of methane...

Copenhagen summit shrinks 11/22/2009
Pacific Rim leaders give up on '09 climate-change treaty; 'rescue' effort under way; Canada insists on moving in lock-step with U.S.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries met in Singapore on Nov. 15 to seek common ground on a new climate change treaty. They found it. Leaders of the 21 Pacific Rim nations, including the...

It's big and it's 'real' 11/15/2009
Canadian study points to 5.3 million barrels per day from oil sands by 2043
The Canadian Energy Research Institute figures that a "realistic" target for oil sands production by 2043 is 5.3 million barrels per day, almost a five-fold increase over the next 34 years, hitting 1....

EIA expects continuing U.S. gas demand 11/08/2009
Abundant natural gas supplies likely to drive increased use of the fuel, regardless of government policies to curb carbon emissions
In these days of recession-related doldrums, the U.S. natural gas industry may be down, but it's certainly not out. At least not according to Dr. Richard Newell, administrator of the Energy Informatio...

Renewable energy investments recommended 11/08/2009
Draft report from Senate Resources, Energy committees also recommended 'staying the course' on AGIA state-supported gas project
The draft of a report on the state's energy situation, released Oct. 19 by members of the Alaska Senate energy policy group, provides a wide-ranging look at proposals from energy-efficient buildings t...

Canada's GHG plans: Where the buck stops 11/08/2009
Provinces respond sharply to case made by study that greenhouse gas reduction goals would be met by transferring wealth regionally
Leaders of Western Canada's petroleum-fueled provinces and the Canadian government have wasted no time shredding the most detailed estimate yet of how much it will cost to meet climate-change targets....

Mining Explorers 2009: Northern British Columbia plays important role in one of the world's top mining jurisdictions 11/01/2009
Mining in northern British Columbia has a rich history dating back over 150 years, providing jobs, supporting families and stimulating investment and economic opportunities throughout the region. Last...

Wins and losses for sands sector 11/01/2009
Industry gets boost from study estimating employment, economic spinoffs; runs afoul of chemical producers, who demand single standard
The Alberta oil sands, as is so often the case, are being pulled in opposite directions, quietly ramping up production, while unease builds as the sector awaits greenhouse gas regulations from the Oba...

No quick carbon fixes 10/25/2009
Oil sands leader argues 'absolute' limits on oil sands' GHG would burden sector; Imperial boss says answers could take 100 years
Two leading players in the Alberta oil sands - the flashpoint of Canada's climate-change wrangling - have answered criticism that the sector is not doing enough to explain itself. In the process, the...

Canada backs carbon capture 10/25/2009
Governments commit C$1.65B to 2 projects, claim they lead world in developing technology; others say industry should do cleanup
Canadian and Alberta taxpayers are starting to feel a rather large hand in their pockets as the two governments roll out plans for carbon capture and storage projects - their key technological initiat...