Washington - Congress opens a historic debate today over lifting the federal
moratorium on offshore drilling, which for nearly three decades has
blocked oil and gas development along most of the Pacific and Atlantic
coasts.
In a strange election-year twist, House Democrats will lead the push
to eliminate the ban and give states the right to drill off their
shores. Most Republicans, who have sought to end the ban, plan to
oppose the bill, saying it would still keep too many coastal areas
off-limits.
WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats, balancing political reality against a policy they have long opposed, are on the cusp of approving legislation that would open the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to oil drilling as close as 50 miles offshore.
A government scandal mixing alleged drug use,
cronyism and sex at a federal office that handles billions of dollars
in oil-drilling royalties has ensnared Chevron Corp.
The oil company, America's second largest, figures prominently in a
report released this week that accuses government officials of growing
far too close to their oil industry contacts. The report focuses on a
little-known government agency at the heart of the offshore drilling
debate, the Minerals Management Service, which leases government lands
to oil companies.
There's a showdown in West Virginia today pitting old dirty energy against renewables -- and one side is armed with explosives.
Coal giant Massey Energy is planning as early as today to begin blowing up the mountains in the Bee Tree Branch area of Coal River Mountain, West Virginia. More specifically, Massey is planning to blow off the top of a local mountain, push all the debris into the surrounding valleys and repeat until they hit a big fat coal seam.
SAN FRANCISCO - An award-winning American
filmmaker arrested and imprisoned on spying charges was freed by the Nigerian State Security Service Tuesday, after an international campaign pressed authorities for his release. His translator continues to be interrogated.
PARIS - The IEA cut its estimate for global oil demand this year and next on Wednesday, saying consumers mainly in the United States are changing their lifestyles in response to high prices.
Oil demand in North America "shrank for the seventh month in a row, by 2.9 percent year-on year in July," the IEA said on the basis of preliminary data.
Sharp revisions to June data meant that North American demand in June fell by 5.3 percent on a 12-month comparison.
The oil price rise and economic slowdown had been "devastating" for US consumers.
WASHINGTON - As Congress prepares to debate expansion of drilling in taxpayer-owned coastal waters, the Interior Department agency that collects oil and gas royalties has been caught up in a wide-ranging ethics scandal - including allegations of financial self-dealing, accepting gifts from energy companies, cocaine use and sexual misconduct.
UNITED NATIONS - Disarmament groups and peace activists are urging Congress to reject the Bush administration's plan to send U.S. nuclear technology to India after the proposal gained the assent of an international monitoring body late last week.
"It will undermine the security of the American people and people
everywhere, if Congress allows it to go through," said David Krieger,
president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, about the U.S.-India pact on nuclear technology.
BAGHDAD - Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to a gas joint venture with Iraq worth up to four billion dollars, the Iraqi oil ministry said Tuesday, becoming the first Western oil major to gain access to the violence-wracked country's vast energy reserves.
The deal to capture unwanted gas burned off during oil production for sale both inside Iraq and abroad is expected to be signed in Baghdad next month, ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP.
The UK government should develop a comprehensive set of standards
covering all aspects of the impact our food has on the environment and
society, according to an influential food policy adviser.
