Russian Army Trains for Arctic Combat to Defend Resource Claim

Bloomberg) -- Russia's military is training its forces for combat in the Arctic to protect its claims to resources on the continental shelf.

``After the heads of several countries disputed Russia's rights to the resource-rich Arctic Ocean shelf,'' the military ``immediately'' began adapting its training plans for units ``that might be called upon to fight in the Arctic,'' Lieutenant General Vladimir Shamanov said in an interview published today in Krasnaya Zvezda, or Red Star, the army's newspaper.

Colombia: Caño Limon-Coveñas oil pipeline bombed, shut down

Colombia's 780-km Caño Limon-Coveñas oil pipeline was shut down after guerrillas of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) dynamited it in two places in the northeastern provinces of Arauca and Norte de Santander.

The oil pipeline, which has a capacity of 240,000 b/d, normally transports about 100,000 b/d to the Caribbean seaport of Covenas from the Caño Limon fields operated by Occidental Petroleum in the eastern Colombian province of Arauca.

State oil company Ecopetrol, which operates the line with Occidental, said the FARC attacks occurred in the municipalities of Tibu in Norte de Santander and Arauquita in Arauca. It said the first attack took place on June 21 when three men dynamited the pipeline at El Progreso, while the second attack occurred on June 22.

Shell restarts Nigeria's Bonga offshore production

LAGOS (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell said it had restarted production at its Bonga offshore oilfield in Nigeria on Tuesday after an attack by militants last week.

"We have restarted production," said Precious Okolobo, a Shell spokesman in Nigeria. He declined to say whether the production had resumed at full capacity.

DOE to Purchase Heating Oil for the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today issued a solicitation seeking to purchase heating oil for the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve (NEHHOR) using $3 million in appropriated funds. The Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve provides an important safety cushion for millions of Americans residing in the Northeast region of the country. Due to the modest volume of heating oil expected to be purchased with the available funds, no impact on market prices is expected.

IEA Energy Scenarios: Change We Have to Believe In

The International Energy Agency has published its vision of how a cleaner, less oil-dependent future could look like. Dolf Gielen, one of the study’s lead authors, talks about the way out of the current oil crisis and explains how we can halve carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

OPEC document warns of uncertainty

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - OPEC faces considerable uncertainty over how much to invest in supplying oil, with crude demand seen in the range of 29 million to 38 million bpd by 2020, a document tabled at EU-OPEC talks on Tuesday showed.

"Scenarios for the call on OPEC crude oil suggest that the range of uncertainty for OPEC oil is considerable," said the document, seen by Reuters.

Oil speculation: What Congress wants

Lawmakers have introduced nine different bills on speculation - not to mention many more that tackle other causes of escalating fuel and oil prices. Several of the speculation measures have bipartisan support. No fewer than four separate hearings have been scheduled for this week, including a House hearing held Monday exploring foreign trade regulation.

On Tuesday, a Senate panel will explore legislative options for ending "excessive speculation" in commodity markets.

Senators seek to block Iraq oil contracts

Sens. Schumer and Kerry appeal to Bush administration to stop no-bid deals with big companies until equal royalty distribution is guaranteed.

Bush administration to leave Iraq oil deals alone

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration indicated Tuesday that it had no plans to interfere with negotiations between Iraq and several Western oil giants to boost crude production in that country, despite concerns by some Democrats that the deal could inflame anti-U.S. sentiments.

Iraq to establish new oil company

Iraq will create a fourth state-owned oil company to develop massive reserves in the province of Maysan, the oil minister said Tuesday.

OPEC, European Union Clash Over Record Crude Prices

(Bloomberg) -- OPEC and the European Union clashed over record oil prices as producer countries blamed speculators while EU importers called for more crude output.

Clever and deceptive: API's new ads

The high price of oil has given birth to a thousand solutions. They include such fantasies such as running cars on water and perpetual motion machines. And, they include sensible ideas for quickly cutting the consumption of oil and moving to electricity to power most of our transportation fleet. The American Petroleum Institute (API), the oil and gas industry's lobbying arm, has its own proposals, of course, and not surprisingly they include opening up protected public lands and U. S. coastal areas to drilling.

On New Energy Projects: Time to Get Real

Lately there has been a lot of “supply” side chatter about oil, as people tout various drilling projects as a solution to high gas prices, suggest that various nations increase production, propose investments/projects to help countries like Iraq increase production, etc, etc. The problem with nearly all of the chatter is that it doesn’t take into account the realities of present day oil production, and the ability of a particular project, production increase, etc, to even have an impact on energy prices.

El Paso may cut services to offset rising gas costs

Members of Commissioners Court are concerned about gasoline costs as they prepare for budget sessions, and cutting back on services could be one way to defray the impact.

"I truly hope it doesn't blow our budget," Commissioner Dan Haggerty said. "I will not vote for a tax increase."

Diesel burnt to power up the west

WESTERN Australia's major energy producer, Verve Energy, is burning through an extra two million litres of diesel every day as it struggles to provide electricity during the state's severe gas shortage.

Verve, which supplies electricity to the state's power retailer Synergy, has been burning distillate at some of its gas-fired plants to free up gas for the state's booming, energy-hungry industries, particularly mining.

Australia: Gas crisis may be a summer disaster

WA will still be desperately short of gas when air conditioning use in office blocks and homes starts to escalate with the onset of summer after beleaguered gas producer Apache Energy conceded yesterday it would be December before supplies returned to normal.

Phosphorus food danger

BATTERED by soaring fertiliser prices and rioting rice farmers, the global food industry may also have to deal with a potentially catastrophic future shortage of phosphorus, scientists say.

Researchers in Australia, Europe and the US have given warning that the element, which is essential to all living things, is at the heart of modern farming and has no synthetic alternative, is being mined, used and wasted as never before.

NAFTA and oil: Old ghosts and false fuel fears

Mr. Laxer’s case, just like those of his brethren 30 odd years ago, is based on the alleged fact that we are running out of oil and gas, and thus need government controls to prevent us from freezing in the dark. Canada has only 9.3 years of proven conventional natural gas reserves! How can we dream of exporting any of this precious resource? Mr. Laxer believes, despite a superabundance of evidence to the contrary, that security lies in state control. Lurking not very far beneath the surface of such anti-economic ideas is pure anti-Americanism (although not against Mr. Obama, of course).

Energy Crisis Puts Marshall Islands on Alert

The urban centers of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) may be without electrical power next month, and government officials are looking for solutions to the pending crisis.

...The RMI-Marshalls Energy Company fuel crisis has been on-going for several years. Currently, there is a $6.5 million payment due on July 10 to the utility fuel supplier, SK Networks of South Korea.

Covering All the Energy Bases

I have spent so much time writing about the Saudi meeting lately I have neglected reporting on some things happening around the world regarding energy. Without going into detail I will try to hit the highlights today.

Russian crude exports fell by 2.4% in the first four months of 2008. Their fields are in decline and lack of investment in infrastructure is taking its toll.

Iran has increased its insistence that it will never back down from its nuclear future despite growing sentiment that somebody will attack it over the next four months. Iran promised a blistering retaliatory strike if anyone dared attack them.

Pakistan gives cues to India to tackle oil crisis by direct subsidy

New Delhi (PTI) Giving some cues for tackling the problem of rising oil prices and soaring inflation, Pakistan told Indian planners that it was proposing to introduce Benazir Card to provide direct subsidy to poor and owners of two-wheelers and small cars.

"What we are trying to do is to introduce what we call Benazir card, which will give Rs 1,000 per month to every poor and disadvantaged households," Deputy Chairman of the Pakistani Planning Commission, Salman Faruqui, told reporters after meeting his counterpart Montek Singh Ahluwalia today.

Qatar and Shell to Build China Oil Venture

BEIJING (Reuters) - Qatar and Royal Dutch Shell, together with PetroChina, plan to build an oil refining and petrochemical complex in China, the companies said.

Although it supplies less than one percent of China's crude imports, the refinery and petrochemical venture represents Qatar's first foray into the massive Chinese oil market, following Middle East peers Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

"This step will help draw up a road map for setting up economic bridges between Qatar and China and opens investment opportunities," Qatar's Oil Minister Abdulla Bin Hamad Al Attiyah said.

Shipments let stations sell diesel to all drivers

Though relieved the diesel crisis was over, gas station owners worried about what steps national oil company Pemex might take to try to avert a future shortage.

Over the weekend in Mexico City, the director of Pemex suggested that station owners in the border region limit sales to drivers from the United States.

Americans fail to face real enemy in energy crisis

Those looking forward to a change of presidents to usher in a serious change in energy policy should consider this: It took Congress more than three decades to increase vehicle fuel-efficiency standards and eliminate a loophole through which SUVs had boldly driven. The inertia prevailed regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans were in charge of Capitol Hill and the White House.

Even the Gas Crisis Needs a Culprit

Michael Masters was quite the star on Capitol Hill yesterday as he testified before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, a group that is currently tasked with delving into the question of what role "speculation" is playing in soaring energy prices.

With just a little prodding from elected officials, he went so far as to say that, if his recommendations are turned into legislation, the price of gasoline will drop by 50 percent within a month.

Let consumers, not pols, deal with high gas prices

But wait a minute. The average price of gasoline in 1979 was 90 cents a gallon. Even after you adjust for inflation, that's still only $2.69 in today's dollars. In other words, when Carter was scaring the bejeebers out of the country, gas prices were about a third lower than today's. That's not to say that the country wasn't suffering an energy crisis back in 1979. It was. And its cause is instructive to the energy situation consumers face today, and what politicians should or, more appropriately, shouldn't do to fix it.

No New Gasoline-Powered Vehicles in the U.S. by 2014 ... Can It Be Done?

LOUISVILLE, Ky., June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The world seems to be in the midst of an energy crisis, fueled (if you'll pardon the pun) by issues related to petroleum oil and gasoline. Among the consequences of these issues are: soaring prices of other consumer products and services; limited freedom of personal movement; erosion of individual wealth; funding of global terrorism; and the granddaddy of all oil/gasoline consequences, pollution.

The remedy may be as simple as the elimination of gasoline-powered vehicles, or at least the elimination of all new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2014. That's the premise of The Auto Channel's new investigative study into finding a solution to the energy crisis, soaring prices, and environmental deterioration.

Skeptics doubt Saudi Arabia can boost oil supply

There are many skeptics. Bruce Bullock of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University says the Saudis are struggling to hit 10 million barrels a day, even though they say they have the ability to produce well above that.

Other analysts say the Saudis are making the market even more precarious by cutting into their spare capacity – the cushion between what they can produce over expected demand.

This lack of confidence in the kingdom stems from a theory that predicts world oil supply has peaked and will decline in the future even as demand increases. The only way to get supply and demand in balance again is by raising the price, and there's been plenty of that this year.

The Saudis did not help their cause by decreasing production in 2006 and 2007.

OPEC President: No need to raise supply

BRUSSELS, Belgium - OPEC President Chakib Khelil said Tuesday that oil producers saw no need to raise supply and blamed record oil prices on factors outside the cartel's control, such as U.S. pressure on Iran and the weak U.S. dollar.

Following talks with European Union nations, Khelil said oil states believe they are pumping enough oil to satisfy demand and there is also stock and capacity to spare.

Net Exports of Major Oil Exporters Likely to Fall

The table below (from this Oil Drum post), points out that global net exports of oil have been falling in 2006 and 2007. That’s interesting, even dramatic, information because it seems to go a long way to explaining why oil prices have been rising. It also validates a position Matt Simmons has taken that shrinking global inventories are primarily the way that the world has been adjusting to demand outrunning supply in recent years.

Don't Blame the Saudis

There is no oil shortage, not yet at least. The reason oil has skyrocketed to nearly $140 per barrel is because of rampant speculation. The peak oil doom-sayers are simply confusing the issue. This is not about shortages or scarcity; it's about gaming the system to fatten the bottom line. The whole scam is being executed by the same carpetbagging scoundrels who engineered the subprime fiasco; the investment bankers. The Wall Street Goliaths are using the futures market to recapitalize their flagging balance sheets after sustaining huge losses in the mortgage-backed securities boondoggle. That's the whole thing in a nutshell. Now they're on to their next swindle; distorting the futures market with gargantuan leveraged bets on food and oil.

Chevron, Nigeria oil union to meet as strike looms

ABUJA (Reuters) - Talks between Nigeria's oil workers' union and Chevron will resume on Thursday in an effort to avert an all-out strike that could further slash output from the OPEC producer, a top union official said.

Union workers continued a partial strike on Tuesday, stopping administrative staff from getting to their offices in Lagos for the second straight day, but oilfield operations were not affected, said PENGASSAN Secretary General Bayo Olowoshile.

Iraq And Energy Haven't Played Out In The Presidential Election The Way We Thought

My Creators Syndicate column illustrates how a couple of key issues--Iraq and energy--seem to be working differently in the presidential election from what just about everyone expected a few weeks or months ago. The success of the surge strategy in Iraq and the sudden appearance of $4 gas have undermined narratives that seemed to be working strongly for Barack Obama and the Democrats.

Iran Seeking Supertanker to Store More Crude Oil, Brokers Say

(Bloomberg) -- Iran, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, is seeking to hire a supertanker to store crude oil in the Persian Gulf for as long as 60 days, three shipbrokers said.

National Iranian Tanker Co. is seeking a very large crude carrier, or VLCC, to store oil for 30 to 60 days from July 7, according to Charlie Fowle from London-based Galbraith's Ltd., Nikos Varvaropoulos from Optima Shipbrokers in Athens and Halvor Ellefsen at SeaLeague AS in Oslo.

Iran had to use as many as 15 VLCCs for storage in the last several months while its refinery customers carried out annual repair work.

Saudis Try to Cool Off Oil

To be sure, many of those attending the conference saw it as an encouraging sign of recognition that the world does have a serious problem that needs to be addressed. "Everybody tries to blame the other guy," says Jeroen van der Veer, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell. "I really admire them (the Saudis) for showing leadership."

But the meeting seemed to be short on substance. One oil company chief sheepishly joked about it being remarkable that the Saudis could snap their fingers and have so many of them dash to Jeddah on a Sunday at short notice. He said the Saudis really hadn't produced much, and called the 200,000-barrels-per-day increase—which had leaked out ahead of the meeting—"a drop in the ocean." It amounts to about one-quarter of 1% of total world oil output. This executive said it was good that energy leaders were talking about these issues now, rather than five years from now when the problems will get more serious.

Aramco hiking production capacity by 850,000 b/d

Saudi Aramco, repeating long-announced plans, will increase production by yearend by a combined 850,000 b/d from its Khursaniyah, Nuayyim, and Shaybah fields, according to a senior official.

Amin Al Nasser, Saudi Aramco's senior vice-president for exploration and production, said the company will bring Khursaniyah on stream by yearend, adding 500,000 b/d of oil production, while boosting output at Shaybah to 750,000 b/d from 500,000 b/d, and bringing newly developed Nuayyim field to 100,000 b/d.

Saudi certain new oil mega project will be on time

KHURAIS OILFIELD, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - State oil giant Saudi Aramco is adamant the biggest new field in its plan to raise oil capacity will arrive bang on schedule in June next year.

A chorus of senior executives lined up Monday to tell reporters visiting the Khurais project south of Riyadh the 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) expansion would avoid the delays that have plagued the global energy sector.

Inside Saudi Arabia's New Mega-Oil Field

Al Khurais is the centerpiece of a Saudi effort to lift production capacity from the current 11 million or so barrels per day to 12.5 million barrels daily by next year. Aramco executives want to emphasize that their approach is conservative and long term. To make the point, exploration and production chief Amin Nasser said that Aramco's average depletion rate—the volume of oil it produces a year as a percentage of reserves—was only about 2%. By contrast, he said other producers and international oil companies average 4% to 9% depletion rates. This approach, he said, lets the Saudis deploy better technology and recover more oil than an energy company under pressure to produce as much as possible before its lease runs out.

Russia may end European gas supplies in favor of Asia - scholar

(RIA Novosti) - Russia could call time on natural gas supplies to Europe in 10-15 years in favor of sales to China and India, a prominent U.S. scholar said.

Marshal Goldman, an expert on Russia and the author of the recently published book, "Petrostate: Putin, Power and the New Russia," said the switch was likely because China and India - with their growing economies hungry for energy - were very interested in Russian natural gas supplies. The only question was whether Russia would be able to deliver the gas.

Demand Destruction: A Natural Cure For Peak Oil

Marine Atlantic recently announced that they are tripling the price for the fuel surcharge for all vehicles bound to and from Newfoundland. The surcharge will increase on July 1, 2008 from 9.9% to a hefty 27.7%. Increased rates and fuel surcharges have been the norm on a month over month basis for the better part of one year.

From a manufacturers perspective and eventually the consumers, affordability has to becoming into play. When does it become uneconomic to ship to Newfoundland? This also begs the question for shipping anywhere involving long distances where freight charges start to affect the economics of shipping.

Analysis: Middle East nuclear renaissance?

"In the span of the 11 months between February 2006 and January 2007, at least 13 countries in the Middle East announced new or revived plans to pursue or explore civilian nuclear energy," said Chipman.

As the IISS director pointed out, this sudden interest by Middle Eastern countries in nuclear energy is "remarkable" in view of the region's abundance of traditional energy sources -- such as natural gas and crude oil.

Contracts for Big Oil in Iraq Confirm Earlier Suspicions

Didn't you just know this was coming?

A consortium of Western oil companies -- the very definition of Big Oil -- is on the verge of receiving no-bid contracts in Iraq, giving them access to one of the most sought-after prizes in the petroleum industry, according to The New York Times. Can it be mere coincidence that the leading companies in the deal -- ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Total -- are the very same companies that Saddam Hussein threw out when he nationalized the Iraqi oil industry more than three decades ago?

UK: Energy bosses warn on further price rises

Centrica and Scottish & Southern Energy today admitted to MPs that UK customers face a further increase to their energy bills, adding to the 15 per cent rise both companies imposed on millions of Britons earlier this year.

BP Russia boss 'should quit job'

The Russian chairman of BP's joint venture, TNK-BP, has called on the firm's chief executive to step down.

Speaking to the BBC, billionaire Mikhail Fridman said that Robert Dudley was concerned only with BP's interests and this was "unacceptable".

Even Texan oilmen think energy supplies have to be diversified

The Texan oilmen dining at Midland's Petroleum Club are not very happy with the energy policies coming out of Washington these days.

While they're pleased that President George W. Bush is pushing to open up drilling along the coasts and in Alaska, they're frustrated that it's taken so long for politicians to take US energy dependence seriously.

And they have little hope that either of the presidential candidates -- Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama -- are going to make the tough calls needed to prevent a looming supply crisis.

Russian leader says environment problems a security threat

Russia's environmental problems are a threat to national security and could make parts of the country uninhabitable within 30 years, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday.

Surging prices may force more people from homes: UNHCR

The head of the UN refugee agency warned Friday that instability created by surging oil and food prices may force increasing numbers of people from their homes in search of basic necessities.

Flooding muddies push for ethanol

Massive flooding in the Midwest has ruined millions of acres of crops, spurring record corn prices and raising serious questions about whether the United States can meet new requirements for using corn-based biofuels in the nation's cars and trucks.

Bill McKibben: End of the Open Road

In July 1893, 115 years ago, the historian Frederick Jackson Turner told an academic symposium that the American frontier was closed -- a shocking notion for a people who'd defined themselves by their steady expansion across the continent. This spring, something just as profound and defining has happened: Pulled back by the inescapable gravity of higher prices and the growing scarcity of fossil fuels, we're starting a slow recoil into more dense and compact regions and localities. The frontier of endless mobility that we've known our entire lives is closing.

Utilities cut off more customers who are behind on their bills

As skyrocketing food and gasoline prices strain budgets, utilities are disconnecting many more customers who fall behind on their bills, and even moderate-income households are getting zapped.

Electricity and natural gas shutoffs are up at least 15% in several states compared with last year. Totals for some utilities have more than doubled.

The Saudis’ Oily Con Game

In a famous historic deal struck just after World War II on an American destroyer, President Roosevelt and King Abdulaziz al-Saud pledged America would help the Saudis find and produce their oil and protect them in return for fair and secure supplies. The meeting is recorded in abundant grainy documentaries and numerous official documents.

America and the West have kept their end of that deal for 60 years. Neocons might argue it is time for payback. Crazy as they can be sometimes, they may argue to some sympathy that the health of world economies, indeed world order, demands cheaper oil. One sure way of doing this is by invading and occupying Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, the mother of all oil reserves.

Peak Oil and the New Administration

There is a distinct uneasiness in America today. The confidence of the people in our nation has been shaken by a series of serious problems that seem to have descended upon our society at the same time. The housing bubble, sub-prime mortgages, foreclosures, massive Wall Street financial problems, the threat of recession and, at the same time, inflation. But the problem with the greatest possibility of lasting damage to our society and our economy is the specter of Peak Oil looming over us.

Speculators Are Largest U.S. Oil Contract Buyers

(Bloomberg) -- Speculators became the largest players in oil futures markets, nearly doubling their share in the past eight years as prices rose to records, in a ``radical shift'' for the market, according to a congressional committee.

Obama Targets Speculation On Energy

Sen. Barack Obama rolled out a proposal yesterday to curb speculation in energy markets, which his advisers said would help stabilize soaring gasoline prices.

McCain defends position switch on offshore oil

SANTA BARBARA, California (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain is defending his decision to switch position in favor of U.S. offshore oil drilling as he seeks votes in environmentally conscious California.

In appearances in coastal Santa Barbara and inland Fresno, McCain said on Monday he believed he had made the right decision at a time of record-high gasoline prices but that it would be up to individual states to choose whether offshore drilling is right for them.

Gas at $4 brings promises, pandering

WASHINGTON - Like two rival filling-station owners across the highway in long-bygone price wars, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain keep putting up flashy signs and offering new incentives in hopes of attracting customers battered by $4 gas prices.

Hitting credit card limits at the pump

With skyrocketing gasoline prices, many customers are bumping up against pay-at-the-pump credit card limits -- often $75. Rules limiting these transactions are nothing new, but these days it's increasingly easy to exceed the limit, leaving many customers to face the hassle of dealing with two-transaction purchases.

Back in 2003, when Jeff Urban bought his Hummer, paying $75 to fill up would have been unthinkable. Now, Urban said, his goliath SUV will soon be a three-transaction vehicle.

Some signs of relief on gasoline prices

New York - Some of the long-term factors that have pushed oil prices to record levels are starting to change.

In large part because gasoline prices are over $4 a gallon, demand for fuel in the US is falling for the first time in 17 years. China is raising prices for gasoline and diesel – a move that might ultimately lower demand. And, on Sunday, there were signs supply might increase as Saudi Arabia's oil minister indicated that the country would increase production through the end of the year if needed. Iraq is also set to sign contracts with foreign companies to hike production.

Petrol cap in hand

In attending the Saudi King's energy summit at the weekend, the Prime Minister colluded in a publicity stunt of the first order. Not very long ago, he was so worried about appearing to jeopardise our national sovereignty that he signed the Lisbon Treaty by himself, as far from the glare of television cameras as he could.

Yesterday, the cameras charted his every move, as he hobnobbed with oil producers in Saudi Arabia. The clear intention was to convince hard-pressed British consumers that he feels our pain on energy prices and is doing his level best to bring them down.

UK: Action call after fuel raid death

Farmers leaders have called for action to tackle rising fuel thefts after a woman died during a raid on her County Durham farm.

Houston's Pipelines of Prosperity

HOUSTON -- Soaring oil and gas prices may be a fiscal drag for much of the nation, but here in the self-styled energy capital of the world they are feeding an economic surge.

McCain's $300M lure for new, 'green' car battery sparks buzz

The proposed prize would cost $1 for "every man, woman and child in the U.S.," McCain said in a town hall meeting at California State University, Fresno. He called that "a small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency."

Historians said the offer of a multimillion-dollar prize appears to be a presidential campaign first.

Energy is spent to protect birds from threat of power lines

Scientists are increasingly concerned about the number of birds killed by running into power lines and wind turbines, said Al Manville, a senior wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but there are reports of success in preventing such incidents — at least in the case of the power lines.

Years Later, Climatologist Renews His Call for Action

Twenty years ago Monday, James E. Hansen, a climate scientist at NASA, shook Washington and the world by telling a sweating crowd at a Senate hearing during a stifling heat wave that he was “99 percent” certain that humans were already warming the climate.

...To many observers of environmental history, that was the first time global warming moved from being a looming issue to breaking news. Dr. Hansen’s statement helped propel the first pushes for legislation and an international treaty to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. A treaty was enacted and an addendum, the Kyoto Protocol, was added.

Major cities can take climate change lead: study

LONDON (Reuters) - The world's major cities are also among the planet's worst polluters but they have the solutions to most of their problems at their fingertips, a leading environmental consultancy said on Monday.

Former UN sec-gen Annan calls for 'climate justice'

GENEVA (AFP) - Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan on Tuesday called for 'climate justice', saying that it was polluters who should pay for the effects of climate change, and not the poorest and most vulnerable.