Energy

Conservatives call to revive Keystone XL, but the pipeline company has moved on

4:29pm March 17, 2022

by Arielle Zionts

A popular conservative response to calls to boycott Russian oil is to restart the Keystone XL pipeline. But the pipeline company has already moved on and is selling land and other assets.

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National

Raw materials needed for energy have been found on Native Americans' sacred land

5:04am March 17, 2022

by Kirk Siegler

Rising gas prices and the war in Ukraine supercharged demand for mining to support electrifying the country's transportation grid, but some of it lies on land considered sacred to Native Americans.

A pump jack operating in an oil field in Midland, Texas, July 29, 2020. A Texas law aims to punish investment firms that divest from fossil fuels.

Texas and other states want to punish fossil fuel divestment

4:03pm March 16, 2022

by Mose Buchele

A Texas model law was written by the head of a group that opposes climate action and takes money from fossil fuel interests. It could shift billions away from major investment firms.

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Companies that divest from fossil fuel could face a state boycott in Texas

4:26pm March 15, 2022

by Mose Buchele

As threats from climate change grow, big financial firms are betting on the energy transition. But that's provoked a conservative backlash, with Texas leading states aiming to boycott such funds.

Drivers and a man pushing a lawnmower line up at a gas station in San Jose, Calif., on March 15, 1974. The Arab oil embargo of the era led to supply shortages, lines at gas stations and prices at the pump roughly doubling.

Politics & Government

Surging gasoline prices bring back memories of past energy wars

5:00am March 13, 2022

by Ron Elving

American gas stations displaying high prices this summer and fall will matter more than all the campaign billboards put together in affecting the November midterm elections.

A worker assembles Volkswagen electric cars at the company's plant in Zwickau, Germany on Jan. 27. Automakers like Volkswagen are racing to secure enough metals to power the batteries needed to make electric vehicles.

Environment

How a handful of metals could determine the future of the electric car industry

5:00am March 13, 2022

by Camila Domonoske

Automakers want to sell you an electric vehicle, but to do that, they'll need the world to dig a lot more minerals out of the ground. The challenge is transforming both mining and the auto industries.

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Russian forces returned fire in the direction of the Ukrainian defenders, striking a power line leading to the plant.

Video analysis reveals Russian attack on Ukrainian nuclear plant veered near disaster

11:58am March 11, 2022

An NPR analysis of security footage and photos following the attack on Europe's largest nuclear power plant shows that many of the plant's critical safety systems were in the field of Russian fire.

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Asmeret Asefaw Berhe speaks at TED2019: Bigger Than Us. April 15 - 19, 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Bret Hartman / TED

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe: How can soil's superpowers help us fight climate change?

9:47am March 11, 2022

Earth's soil can store vast amounts of carbon. Biogeochemist Asmeret Asefaw Berhe says soil could be a powerful tool for fighting climate change - if only we stopped treating it like dirt.

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Politics & Government

Soaring gas prices have Biden talking up the importance of domestic drilling

5:08am March 10, 2022

by Scott Detrow

Russia's war on Ukraine and the resulting oil price spike have forced the Biden White House to consider all kinds of measures for fossil fuel that it once would have shunned.

Americans on low incomes are hit harder by high gas prices due to the war in Ukraine

5:20pm March 09, 2022

by Chris Arnold

Gas prices are hitting record highs in the U.S. amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That's got a lot of people on modest incomes worried as inflation is already making it tough to scrape by.