Energy

Politics & Government

Senate May Bypass White House And Approve Keystone XL Pipeline

7:40am May 05, 2014

by Jeff Brady

The Senate is expected to vote soon on the controversial pipeline. Supporters introduced the bill after the White House put its approval process on hold indefinitely because of a legal dispute.

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Chevron's El Segundo Refinery is just one of many in the Los Angeles area that must stock up on workers during fast turnaround projects.

Playing Matchmaker To Empty Jobs And Those Seeking Them

9:50pm May 04, 2014

by NPR Staff

Hundreds of thousands are out of work, yet employers say they struggle to fill positions. Oil refineries in L.A. often have temporary work, but even entry-level jobs require specialized training.

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Between Farmers And Frackers, Calif. Water Caught In Tussle

1:08pm May 01, 2014

by Lauren Sommer

California's extreme drought has drawn battle lines over who gets water and who doesn't. As KQED's Lauren Sommer reports, fracking and farming are vying for freshwater in California's Central Valley.

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Concerns Raised Over Exporting Liquefied Natural Gas

8:22am April 30, 2014

by Elizabeth Shogren

Environmental groups that have mired the Keystone XL pipeline in delays now are focusing on LNG export terminals. They say opening up exports of natural gas will hasten domestic hydraulic fracturing.

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MidAmerican Energy's wind farm in Adair, Iowa. Facebook is working with MidAmerican to build a similar wind farm near Wellsburg, Iowa, where it will help power Facebook's planned data center.

Searching The Planet To Find Power For The Cloud

9:55am April 23, 2014

by Steve Henn

The quest for cheap, reliable electricity to power enormous cloud computing facilities is sending tech companies to the ends of the earth.

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The 300,000 wells drilled in Louisiana are connected by tens of thousands of miles of pipelines that are vulnerable to leaks, like this one in a coastal marsh.

Telltale Rainbow Sheens Show Thousands Of Spills Across The Gulf

12:26pm April 20, 2014

by Bob Marshall

Since the disastrous BP spill in 2010, environmentalists have kept watch over Louisiana's coastline. One consortium says there's far more oil leaking into the Gulf than companies are reporting.

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Oil Is Not All That's Booming In North Dakota — So Is Drug Trade

5:29pm April 15, 2014

by NPR Staff

Local and federal authorities worry over a rise in North Dakota's drug trade. Sharon Cohen of the Associated Press explains the proposed solutions to the issue, which some tie to the recent oil boom.

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Is The Latest Climate Report Too Much Of A Downer?

12:08pm April 01, 2014

by Geoff Brumfiel

One researcher who participated in the latest U.N. report on climate change says the final product is simply too depressing. Others say the somber tone is justified — but that humans can also adapt.

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German Chemical Giant BASF Benefits From Cheap U.S. Natural Gas

7:39am March 26, 2014

by Jackie Northam

Thanks to fracking, there is an abundance of natural gas at about a quarter of the European price. This influx of business may be good for the U.S., but it's cause for concern for European leaders.

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A hunk of salt from the underground nuclear waste dump in Carlsbad, New Mexico. A piece of salt is believed to have fallen from a cavern ceiling and crushed drums of waste.

Science

13 Workers Exposed To Radiation At N.M. Nuclear Waste Dump

1:21pm February 28, 2014

by Geoff Brumfiel

An accident at the site appears to be more serious than first disclosed. Nobody knows what happened, but it's shaping up to be a major setback for the nation's only dedicated nuclear waste dump.

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