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A proposed energy park at Hanford could include piped natural gas, a biofuel plant and acres of solar panels that may help power the vitrification plant and one day produce commercial power. Gary Petersen, vice president of Hanford programs for the Tri-City Development Council, told Benton County commissioners Wednesday that Cascade Natural Gas has proposed piping natural gas to the future site, which could supply a significant amount of the energy needed to power the vitrification plant being built there. Two Cascade pipelines could be used. One would have to cross the Yakima River and the other would have to cross the Columbia. Natural gas is one of four proposals being eyed to offset energy consumption by the massive plant being built to turn some of Hanford's worst waste into a stable glass form.

A proposed energy park at Hanford could include piped natural gas, a biofuel plant and acres of solar panels that may help power the vitrification plant and one day produce commercial power. Gary Petersen, vice president of Hanford programs for the Tri-City Development Council, told Benton County commissioners Wednesday that Cascade Natural Gas has proposed piping natural gas to the future site, which could supply a significant amount of the energy needed to power the vitrification plant being built there. Two Cascade pipelines could be used. One would have to cross the Yakima River and the other would have to cross the Columbia. Natural gas is one of four proposals being eyed to offset energy consumption by the massive plant being built to turn some of Hanford's worst waste into a stable glass form.

"There's a potential problem when drilling for gas, other than the possibility of well-water contamination by methane, brine or "fracking" chemicals (Plain Dealer, Sunday). In 1995, a national organization called the State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations (STRONGER) reviewed state regulations on gas and oil wells. One recommendation it made was that the state should test for naturally occurring radioactive material at oil and gas exploration and production sites. In the 2000 and 2005 reviews, the same recommendation was made. Now, 15 years later, legislation requiring the testing has not even been proposed. Is there a reason to be concerned? Yes. An Environmental Protection Agency map of the radioactive gas radon shows statewide distribution. The gas slowly percolates through soil as a decay product of radium, so the potential for bringing both radon and radium to the surface during drilling exists. Additionally, gas-well borehole "cuttings" are normally buried on-site at completion of the drilling. Do those "cuttings" contain radioactive material, which would continue to expose local residents to radiation after completion of the drilling? When is legislation addressing this potential problem going to be proposed and adopted? "

"Two Republican US senators Monday introduced a bill that would increase the use of natural gas, nuclear power and electric vehicles as a means of reducing the US power sector's air emissions and building domestic energy supply without specifically targeting greenhouse gas emissions. Senators Richard Burr of North Carolina and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, said their bill (S. 3535) would move the country toward cleaner domestic fuel sources through financial incentives. According to a bill summary, the measure would expand US use of natural gas with incentives for vehicles run by the fuel, including requirements for federal purchases of natural-gas fueled vehicles and extending income tax credit for vehicle purchases. For nuclear power, the bill would increase loan guarantees, provide a 15-year accelerated depreciation period for new plants, a 10% investment tax credit and launch a policy for recycling spent nuclear fuel. "

The federal Bureau of Land Management has agreed to Noble Energy's plan to drill 79 natural-gas wells in western Colorado near the site of an underground nuclear blast 40 years ago, according to a news report Monday. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported that Noble Energy will drill the wells over the next three to five years, and that gas produced by the wells will be tested for radioactivity. In 1969, a federal test called Project Rulison was conducted to determine if nuclear blasts could be used to retrieve natural gas deep underground. A nuclear device was set off about 8,400 feet underground near Rulison, Colo.

The federal Bureau of Land Management has agreed to Noble Energy's plan to drill 79 natural-gas wells in western Colorado near the site of an underground nuclear blast 40 years ago, according to a news report Monday. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported that Noble Energy will drill the wells over the next three to five years, and that gas produced by the wells will be tested for radioactivity. In 1969, a federal test called Project Rulison was conducted to determine if nuclear blasts could be used to retrieve natural gas deep underground. A nuclear device was set off about 8,400 feet underground near Rulison, Colo.

The main beneficiaries of more than $700 billion of federal energy incentives over the past five decades have been the oil and natural gas industries. The oil and natural gas industries together garnered 60 percent of federal incentives between 1950 and 2006, with 46 percent of the roughly $725 billion in federal support going to the oil sector. Our new report shows that the oil industry has benefited from $335 billion in combined incentives, with natural gas receiving $100 billion.

Here is your word for the day: Fracking or fraccing. [No, fellow Battlestar Galactica fans, this is a different use of the word "frack," although for some, the sentiment is the same.] Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique that releases natural gas trapped in underground shale formations by injecting water, chemicals, and sand to "frack" the rock structures and release the gas. Often, large quantities of groundwater contaminated by chemicals, radioactive elements, or other minerals are produced in the process. Unless great care is taken, this "produced water" mixed with water used for fracturing can flow to the surface or into groundwater systems and contaminate land, drinking water supplies, and natural waterways.

Here is your word for the day: Fracking or fraccing. [No, fellow Battlestar Galactica fans, this is a different use of the word "frack," although for some, the sentiment is the same.] Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique that releases natural gas trapped in underground shale formations by injecting water, chemicals, and sand to "frack" the rock structures and release the gas. Often, large quantities of groundwater contaminated by chemicals, radioactive elements, or other minerals are produced in the process. Unless great care is taken, this "produced water" mixed with water used for fracturing can flow to the surface or into groundwater systems and contaminate land, drinking water supplies, and natural waterways.

"Rulison resident Marion Wells, who last summer told the Colorado Independent she was an oil and gas industry "guinea pig," recently bit back with a lawsuit against Williams Companies, the largest natural producer on the Western Slope. According to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Wells, whose home is about 10 miles from the Project Rulison nuclear blast site, is suing Williams for building too large of a well pad for drilling on her property, as well as failing to remove construction materials and drilling waste. Those, Wells contends, are violations of her surface-use agreement. Wells has been a frequent critic of the industry on a number of topics, including the failed 1969 underground detonation of a 43-kiloton by the Atomic Energy Commission. The federal government was trying to free up natural gas with the explosion but produced gas that was too radioactive for commercial sale."

"There are four "fairly firm" proposals from companies interested in a proposed energy park at Hanford that would help provide power to the vitrification plant under construction at the site, a representative of the Mid-Columbia Energy Initiative said Tuesday. The Mid-Columbia Energy Initiative, a group seeking to establish the energy park, is working to secure 20 square miles of reclaimed land on the Hanford site for the energy park by 2013 and 60 square miles by 2015. Gary Petersen, vice president of Hanford programs for the Tri-City Development Council, told Richland City Council members at a Tuesday workshop that the types of energy the companies interested in the park would provide include piped natural gas supplied by Cascade Natural Gas, and biofuel, anhydrous ammonia and liquefied natural gas plants."

Will there be a nuclear power renaissance in the United States, as a host of rosy-glassed prognosticators have predicted? Not as long as it remains such an abysmal investment opportunity, Matthew Wald writes in Technology Review's November-December issue. Wald, a New York Times reporter, contends that nuclear has come a long way in reliability and efficiency but still carries some serious financial baggage. "As the possibility of an accident that panics or injures the neighbors has diminished," he writes, "the likelihood has grown that even a properly functioning new reactor will be unable to pay for itself." Wald cites three factors, all in flux, that make nuclear a huge financial risk. One is the sheer cost of building a new reactor, $4,000 per kilowatt of capacity using optimistic math, which is more than coal ($3,000) and far more than natural gas ($800). Another is the future competitive landscape in energy, and thus the price of electricity. And finally, no one is certain of the future price of fossil fuels, especially natural gas, which could change the whole equation.

Will there be a nuclear power renaissance in the United States, as a host of rosy-glassed prognosticators have predicted? Not as long as it remains such an abysmal investment opportunity, Matthew Wald writes in Technology Review's November-December issue. Wald, a New York Times reporter, contends that nuclear has come a long way in reliability and efficiency but still carries some serious financial baggage. "As the possibility of an accident that panics or injures the neighbors has diminished," he writes, "the likelihood has grown that even a properly functioning new reactor will be unable to pay for itself." Wald cites three factors, all in flux, that make nuclear a huge financial risk. One is the sheer cost of building a new reactor, $4,000 per kilowatt of capacity using optimistic math, which is more than coal ($3,000) and far more than natural gas ($800). Another is the future competitive landscape in energy, and thus the price of electricity. And finally, no one is certain of the future price of fossil fuels, especially natural gas, which could change the whole equation.

France's vast nuclear power network has largely shielded it from the Russian gas crisis, handing the country's atomic energy sector an unexpected public relations coup. With 80 percent of its electricity generated by nuclear power stations, the highest proportion in the world, France was able to reassure nervous households and industry after the Russia-Ukraine dispute cut off gas supplies to Europe. The gas crisis coincided with exceptionally cold weather in France, testing its power system to the limit as households turned up their heaters to maximum.

TVA is scaling back plans for new reactors at its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama as it moves forward with building a natural-gas-powered generator adjacent to a coal-fired steam plant near Rogersville, Tenn. Advertisement The Bellefonte plant, picked three years ago as a possible site for America's next reactor and once eyed for up to four reactors, is now being studied for a single reactor to be built within the next decade. TVA announced Friday that falling power sales and rising cleanup costs at the Kingston ash spill have changed plans for the nuclear plant in Hollywood, Ala. "As the valley grows, TVA intends to meet the demand for power with a combination of conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and additional base load generation," TVA Senior Vice President Ashok Bhatnagar said.

TVA is scaling back plans for new reactors at its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama as it moves forward with building a natural-gas-powered generator adjacent to a coal-fired steam plant near Rogersville, Tenn. Advertisement The Bellefonte plant, picked three years ago as a possible site for America's next reactor and once eyed for up to four reactors, is now being studied for a single reactor to be built within the next decade. TVA announced Friday that falling power sales and rising cleanup costs at the Kingston ash spill have changed plans for the nuclear plant in Hollywood, Ala. "As the valley grows, TVA intends to meet the demand for power with a combination of conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and additional base load generation," TVA Senior Vice President Ashok Bhatnagar said.

TVA is scaling back plans for new reactors at its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama as it moves forward with building a natural-gas-powered generator adjacent to a coal-fired steam plant near Rogersville, Tenn. Advertisement The Bellefonte plant, picked three years ago as a possible site for America's next reactor and once eyed for up to four reactors, is now being studied for a single reactor to be built within the next decade. TVA announced Friday that falling power sales and rising cleanup costs at the Kingston ash spill have changed plans for the nuclear plant in Hollywood, Ala. "As the valley grows, TVA intends to meet the demand for power with a combination of conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and additional base load generation," TVA Senior Vice President Ashok Bhatnagar said.

The Town of Vian and the Cherokee Nation are asking the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to overturn a decision that re- commends approval of a commercial disposal well in the city limits. I-MAC Petroleum Services of Muskogee is seeking to construct the well for disposal of salt water that comes from the natural gas drilling process at wells in Arkansas. Greg Riepl, a geologist for I-MAC, said that Arkansas doesn't have a lot of underground rock formations that are conducive for water disposal. "Arkansas put a moratorium (on salt water injection wells) until they can gin up some regulations," because some of the gas companies were not following the existing rules, Riepl said. Ideal sites for injecting salt water are thick formations that are porous and permeable so that fluids can move through them, Riepl said.

The Town of Vian and the Cherokee Nation are asking the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to overturn a decision that re- commends approval of a commercial disposal well in the city limits. I-MAC Petroleum Services of Muskogee is seeking to construct the well for disposal of salt water that comes from the natural gas drilling process at wells in Arkansas. Greg Riepl, a geologist for I-MAC, said that Arkansas doesn't have a lot of underground rock formations that are conducive for water disposal. "Arkansas put a moratorium (on salt water injection wells) until they can gin up some regulations," because some of the gas companies were not following the existing rules, Riepl said. Ideal sites for injecting salt water are thick formations that are porous and permeable so that fluids can move through them, Riepl said.

Late changes could have impact on BGE, ratepayers BALTIMORE - Consumer advocates said Wednesday that newly proposed changes to the Constellation Energy deal with a French nuclear power company could bring less money into the state than originally expected and potentially impact how much Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. spends on capital improvements. BGE is a subsidiary of Constellation Energy, which provides power to homes in Central Maryland, including 88,600 natural gas and 221,500 electricity customers in Anne Arundel County.

Late changes could have impact on BGE, ratepayers BALTIMORE - Consumer advocates said Wednesday that newly proposed changes to the Constellation Energy deal with a French nuclear power company could bring less money into the state than originally expected and potentially impact how much Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. spends on capital improvements. BGE is a subsidiary of Constellation Energy, which provides power to homes in Central Maryland, including 88,600 natural gas and 221,500 electricity customers in Anne Arundel County.

Two conservation groups have joined several local landowners in a lawsuit to try to force the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to rescind a decision to permit natural gas drilling near the site of a 1969 atomic blast test in western Colorado. The suit, filed in the state District Court of Denver County on December 18, seeks to prevent Denver-based EnCana Oil and Gas from drilling five directional wells from a well pad within three miles of the Project Rulison site near the town of Battlement Mesa in Garfield County. The plaintiffs in the suit say that the COGCC in November issued EnCana permits to drill the wells without holding hearings on the potential of drilling so close to the site where the Atomic Energy Commission detonated a 43-kiloton nuclear bomb 8,4000 feet below ground.

The ground rippled when a nuclear blast shattered the earth beneath Doghead Mountain south of Rulison 40 years ago, witnesses remember. "It was an ocean wave that came across the valley, and you could see it coming at you clear as a bell," said Cristy Koeneke, who was a college freshman watching the detonation of Project Rulison from an observation tent set up several miles away, across the Colorado River. The Project Rulison experiment was conducted Sept. 10, 1969. The federal government and private companies were trying to free natural gas from underground sandstone formations. The experiment continues to cause reverberations today because of the nuclear contamination it left behind. The gas Project Rulison produced was less than anticipated and too radioactive to use. But hydraulic fracturing subsequently has unlocked the enormous gas reserves in the Rulison area and elsewhere in the Piceance Basin

Beyond ecological imperialism Climate change isn't just a battle between rich and poor - it shows how an obsession with economic growth is a dead end o guardian.co.uk, Monday 21 December 2009 12.30 GMT So the Copenhagen summit did not deliver any hope of substantive change, or even any indication that the world's leaders are sufficiently aware of the vastness and urgency of the problem. But is that such a surprise? Nothing in the much-hyped runup to the summit suggested that the organisers and participants had genuine ambitions to change course and stop or reverse a process of clearly unsustainable growth. Part of the problem is that the issue of climate change is increasingly portrayed as that of competing interests between countries. Thus, the summit has been interpreted variously as a fight between the "two largest culprits" - the US and China - or between a small group of developed countries and a small group of newly emerging countries (the group of four - China, India, Brazil and South Africa), or at best between rich and poor countries. The historical legacy of past growth in the rich countries that has a current adverse impact is certainly keenly felt in the developing world. It is not just the past: current per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the developed world are still many multiples of that in any developing country, including China. So the attempts by northern commentators to lay blame on some countries for derailing the result by pointing to this discrepancy are seen in most developing countries as further evidence of an essentially colonial outlook. But describing this as a fight between countries misses the essential point: that the issue is really linked to an economic system - capitalism - that is crucially dependent upon rapid growth as its driving force, even if this "growth" does not deliver better lives for the people. So there is no questioning of the supposition that rich countries with declining populations mu

Beyond ecological imperialism Climate change isn't just a battle between rich and poor - it shows how an obsession with economic growth is a dead end o guardian.co.uk, Monday 21 December 2009 12.30 GMT So the Copenhagen summit did not deliver any hope of substantive change, or even any indication that the world's leaders are sufficiently aware of the vastness and urgency of the problem. But is that such a surprise? Nothing in the much-hyped runup to the summit suggested that the organisers and participants had genuine ambitions to change course and stop or reverse a process of clearly unsustainable growth. Part of the problem is that the issue of climate change is increasingly portrayed as that of competing interests between countries. Thus, the summit has been interpreted variously as a fight between the "two largest culprits" - the US and China - or between a small group of developed countries and a small group of newly emerging countries (the group of four - China, India, Brazil and South Africa), or at best between rich and poor countries. The historical legacy of past growth in the rich countries that has a current adverse impact is certainly keenly felt in the developing world. It is not just the past: current per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the developed world are still many multiples of that in any developing country, including China. So the attempts by northern commentators to lay blame on some countries for derailing the result by pointing to this discrepancy are seen in most developing countries as further evidence of an essentially colonial outlook. But describing this as a fight between countries misses the essential point: that the issue is really linked to an economic system - capitalism - that is crucially dependent upon rapid growth as its driving force, even if this "growth" does not deliver better lives for the people. So there is no questioning of the supposition that rich countries with declining populations mu

After months of on-again, off-again markups, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee appears on the verge of passing an energy bill that makes good on Democrats' pledge to tilt the energy balance heavily in favor of renewables. But the regional nature of the energy debate will be on full display when the bill moves to the Senate floor, where the key fights will include a controversial first-time national renewable energy mandate as well as provisions to expand nuclear power, and onshore and offshore drilling of oil and natural gas.

The rocks in the Marcellus Shale not only hold an abundance of natural gas, they also contain quite a bit of radioactivity. It comes in the form of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials, which the drilling industry refers to by the acronym NORM. Is NORM harmful to human health?

Increased toxins likely as energy companies seek oil, gas, uranium When the Colorado River emerged as an important piece of his coverage, Lustgarten started working with The San Diego Union-Tribune's David Hasemyer, who has written about uranium mining's impact on the waterway for more than a decade. Together, they looked at the potential environmental and water-use consequences of increased mining and drilling in the river's watershed. The Colorado River has endured drought, large-scale climate changes, pollution, ecological damage from dams and battles by seven states to draw more water. Now the life vein of the Southwest faces another threat: Energy companies are sucking up the Colorado's water to support increased development of oil, natural gas and uranium deposits along the river's basin. The mining and drilling will likely send more toxins into the waterway, which provides drinking water for one out of 12 Americans and nourishes 15 percent of the nation's crops along its journey from Wyoming and Colorado to Mexico.

Reuters) - Several people who could serve as energy secretary in U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's administration already have been mentioned by Washington insiders, lobbyists and blog writers, including: * U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He advocates renewable energy and energy efficiency measures. * Wesley Clark, retired Army general and former NATO commander who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. * General Electric Co Chief Executive Jeff Immelt, who says government investment in environmental technologies can create green jobs. * Ray Mabus, former Democratic Governor of Mississippi and U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer. He served as a senior adviser to the Obama campaign. * U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. A long-time critic of OPEC and nuclear power, he supported higher fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. * Dan Reicher, director of climate change and energy initiatives at Google.org. A former assistant energy secretary under President Bill Clinton, he wants more U.S. electricity generated by renewable sources and promotes plug-in vehicles. * Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat who has called for a $850 million state Energy Independence Fund to invest in clean energy projects and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. * Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat who is a big promoter of developing liquid fuel from coal. * Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat who fought efforts to allow a coal-fired power plant to expand in her state, saying it would spew more greenhouse gas emissions.