JFK arrests raise issue of pipeline vulnerability

A foiled plot to blow up a jet fuel pipeline under John F. Kennedy International Airport drew attention to what counterterrorism experts have warned could be a key target.

With Korea as Model, U.S. Ponders Long Role in Iraq

Critics on the left who have argued for years that the Iraq war was really about oil leap on such talk as evidence that the administration’s real agenda is to put its forces right on top of Iraq’s still-broken pipelines. Those who fear the next target is Iran — including the Iranians — will see the permanent bases as staging areas, in case the United States decides to take military action against Iran’s nuclear program and deal with the repercussions later.

Russia bullies BP - U.S. motorist, take note

This would be the latest in a string of incidents generally interpreted as Russia strong-arming its partners into deals more favorable to the government. These moves, analysts say, could hurt worldwide production and drive up energy costs for consumers everywhere.

NAFTA Kicked Up A Notch

Instead, the SPP has three fundamental objectives. The Bush administration wants to create more advantageous conditions for transnational corporations and remove remaining barriers to the flow of capital and crossborder production within the framework of NAFTA. It wants to secure access to natural resources in the other two countries, especially oil. And it wants to create a regional security plan based on "pushing its borders out" into a security perimeter that includes Mexico and Canada.

Longtime oilman reflects on evolution of industry, Basin

The one source I believe will eventually impact oil and gas consumption is nuclear power. Europe has greatly increased its use of nuclear energy and with more education about the increased safety of the new plants, the U.S. will probably follow Europe's example at some point in the future. For the public to be comfortable, it will take time, and the planning and construction of modern nuclear facilities will be a slow process and costly.

Mr. Gowger offers rich answers on rising gas prices

Motorists demand cheaper gas and complain while filling the fuel tanks on their home-size Hummers. Americans want inexpensive gas, but aren't willing to sacrifice to get it. Instead, they delude themselves into believing that this season's price hikes will subside later, as they have before. We call it the "roller coaster." We raise prices and keep them high. Just as the public is about to revolt, we lower them until calm is restored. Only this time, they may not get lowered.

Gas prices create dilemma

As fuel prices flirt with the $4 threshold, Michiana's small delivery-oriented businesses are left combating the same fuel price problems facing their larger corporate competitors.

Only, they have fewer resources.

Some in area opt to roll with single vehicle

In today's world of the three-car garage and the drive-through espresso shop, the notion of getting around Toledo as a one-vehicle family can seem quaint and impractical.

A Smarter Way To Use Power

Giving Connecticut consumers the power to take advantage oflower, off-peak rates will lead to the more prudent use of electricity.

75 gallons at $3.50

With the price of gasoline at marinas hovering around $3.50 a gallon, power boaters are still going out on the water, but not going as far as in past years.

"I think you're going to see guys using (their boats) as floating condos," said Wentworth Marina Manager Pat Kelley said. "These 30-, 36-foot boats with gas engines, it's too expensive to use them."

It Costs More To Mow

Drivers have been seeing red at the gas pumps. But now the high fuel prices are spilling over onto green lawns.

Farmers can cut fuel costs by not tilling

"At $3 a gallon, a farmer pays $29,500 in fuel costs for a 1,000-acre farm using conventional farming methods. Using no-till, that same 1,000-acre farm uses only $16,500 in fuel."

More drivers, including Utah's governor, are switching to natural gas

Primarily through the efforts of Questar Gas, Utah has one of the best CNG filling station infrastructures in the nation - 25 public refueling sites from St. George to Logan. Two more facilities, one in Bountiful and another in Brigham City, are due to go on line by the end of the year. There are another 75 privately operated refueling stations.

13 great fuel-efficient cars

Kelley Blue Book names cars in every category that save fuel without sacrificing very much else.

Biofuel gangs kill for green profits

A surge in demand for biofuels derived from agricultural products has unleashed a chaotic land grab by a new breed of gangster entrepreneurs hoping to cash in on the world’s thirst for palm oil and related bioproducts.

Vast areas of Colombia’s tropical forest are being cleared for palm tree plantations. Charities working with local peasants claim that paramilitary forces in league with biofuel conglomerates – some of them financed by US government subsidies – are forcing families off their land with death threats and bogus purchase offers.

Quest for better biofuels

Two critically important energy problems face us at this early point in the 21st century, and our best approach to dealing with each of them is likely to involve technology that resembles a lawn mower much more than it does an oil well. Our increasing dependence on foreign energy supplies and the climate-disrupting greenhouse effect are separate but closely linked issues, and our search for effective ways to deal with these challenges may ultimately focus on two seemingly unlikely suspects: plants and enzymes.

Texas leads carbon emissions: report

● Wyoming's coal-fired power plants produce more carbon dioxide in just eight hours than the power generators of more populous Vermont do in a year.

● Texas, the leader in emitting this greenhouse gas, cranks out more than the next two biggest producers combined, California and Pennsylvania, which together have twice Texas' population.

● In sparsely populated Alaska, the carbon dioxide produced per person by all the flying and driving is six times the per capita amount generated by travelers in New York state.

High gas prices hurt nonprofits

“Higher fuel costs ultimately force us to reduce the amount of services we can provide to our clients,” Williamson said. “It affects the ability to provide transportation to our Head Start children, delivery of food for Meals on Wheels and Congregate Dining Sites and the range of locations in which we can provide weatherization services.”

Stations watching for gas drive offs

"Gas is very expensive, and we aren't making anything from the gas," said Ghulam Sabir, manager at the AmPride station on Whitetail Drive in Cedar Falls. The store uses high-definition cameras to check license plates, and employees call police with the tag numbers of drivers who don't pay.

The Petroleum Marketers of Iowa, a Des Moines-based trade group, has been giving convenience store owners stickers to place at their pumps warning that people caught stealing gas can lose their driver licenses under a new state law.

Entergy Louisiana launches Energy Awareness Program

Everything points to a typical Deep South hot summer this year. And in keeping with past efforts to partner with customers in meaningful ways, Entergy Louisiana is urging customers to take a few simple steps to conserve energy and manage their summertime bills.

Opec still has us over a barrel - Will prices ever come down again?

IT takes a plucky writer to admit he is wrong, particularly when there is a certain type of reader out there – usually anonymous, sometimes using joined-up writing – who is happy to tell me I am wrong every week.

But I have been wrong, so far at least, on oil. High oil prices, one of the factors that have complicated the task of the Bank of England and its fellow central banks, are still with us, having climbed back above $70 a barrel in recent weeks. Last week they remained close to that level. Futures markets suggest $60-$70-a-barrel oil for the foreseeable future.

Global warming 'is three times faster than worst predictions'

Global warming is accelerating three times more quickly than feared, a series of startling, authoritative studies has revealed.

They have found that emissions of carbon dioxide have been rising at thrice the rate in the 1990s. The Arctic ice cap is melting three times as fast - and the seas are rising twice as rapidly - as had been predicted.

China set to confront climate change, defend growth

China's first plan for climate change will seek to fortify the country against damage from global warming but also against international pressure to cut greenhouse gas pollution that Beijing calls the cost of growth.

Greener by miles

Conscientious consumers are being urged to buy locally sourced food in the battle against climate change. But, as Richard Gray discovers, produce from the other side of the world can actually have a smaller carbon footprint.

Self-interest will do more to cut carbon emissions than all the low-energy light bulbs in the world

Only when rising prices and supply fears force the top 10 polluters to conserve fuel will progress really be made.

Cracks on climate as G8 leaders meet in Germany

Leaders from the world's major industrialized nations will try to paper over deep divisions on global warming and a range of foreign policy issues when they meet on the Baltic coast this week for a G8 summit.

Nigerian militants vow to halt attacks

The main militant group responsible for attacks on foreign oil installations in Nigeria's lawless south announced a one-month cease-fire Saturday, giving the new president a chance to resolve the crisis that has helped cause global crude prices to spike.

A few good (oil) men

Armed with their one cent worth knowledge that West Texas intermediate prices have not risen proportionally to gas prices, the politicians are looking for oil company scapegoats. In addition, a number of “experts’ have come out and blamed oil companies for not investing in new refineries.

5 bucks a gallon to clear the mind

In a USA Today/Gallup poll, people overwhelmingly said they would not move or change jobs in order to cut commuter miles, or use mass transit as their main transportation, even if gasoline prices climb to over $10 a gallon. In fact, they reportedly wouldn't take such actions no matter how high the price goes.

What might be more surprising is that 41 percent of the respondents said they would not replace their cars for models that get better mileage no matter how high the price of gasoline climbs.

Propafghanda: The Battle for Canadian Hearts & Minds

If maintaining Canada’s Afghan occupation requires a “perception war” on Canadian soil, then are Canadians now the enemy?

Iraq’s Curse: A Thirst for Final, Crushing Victory

PERHAPS no fact is more revealing about Iraq’s history than this: The Iraqis have a word that means to utterly defeat and humiliate someone by dragging his corpse through the streets.

The word is “sahel,” and it helps explain much of what I have seen in three and a half years of covering the war.