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Norma Fiorentino's drinking water well was a time bomb. For weeks, workers in her small northeastern Pennsylvania town had been plumbing natural gas deposits from a drilling rig a few hundred yards away. They cracked the earth and pumped in fluids to force the gas out. Somehow, stray gas worked into tiny crevasses in the rock, leaking upward into the aquifer and slipping quietly into Fiorentino's well. Then, according to the state's working theory, a motorized pump turned on in her well house, flicked a spark and caused a New Year's morning blast that tossed aside a concrete slab weighing several thousand pounds.

Haynesville shale map.

Information on the Haynesville Shale Formation, a huge reserve of natural gas located in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas. Haynesville Shale Maps and information.

* CO2 credits could help consumers -Congress budget arm * Senate Democrat in oil state worries about refinery jobs By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. cap-and-trade market on greenhouse gases should be designed carefully to avoid unfair economic pain in fossil fuel industries and other parts of the economy, experts told lawmakers on Wednesday. The aim of a cap-and-trade market on greenhouse gases at the center of the climate bill introduced by Senate leaders this month would transform the economy from being based on fossil fuels to more nuclear and renewable power. "The shifts will be significant," Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, told a U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing.

* CO2 credits could help consumers -Congress budget arm * Senate Democrat in oil state worries about refinery jobs By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. cap-and-trade market on greenhouse gases should be designed carefully to avoid unfair economic pain in fossil fuel industries and other parts of the economy, experts told lawmakers on Wednesday. The aim of a cap-and-trade market on greenhouse gases at the center of the climate bill introduced by Senate leaders this month would transform the economy from being based on fossil fuels to more nuclear and renewable power. "The shifts will be significant," Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, told a U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing.

New energy and renewable energy took nine percent in China's energy structure in 2008, while coal took 69 percent and oil and natural gas 22 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China. China's new energy and renewable energy have boomed in recent years including hydropower, nuclear power, wind power and solar power. The country's installed capacity of hydropower topped 170 million kw in 2008, the biggest in the world. Hydropower percentage in overall energy structure soared from one percent in 1949 to 7.4 percent in 2008.

New energy and renewable energy took nine percent in China's energy structure in 2008, while coal took 69 percent and oil and natural gas 22 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China. China's new energy and renewable energy have boomed in recent years including hydropower, nuclear power, wind power and solar power. The country's installed capacity of hydropower topped 170 million kw in 2008, the biggest in the world. Hydropower percentage in overall energy structure soared from one percent in 1949 to 7.4 percent in 2008.

The federal government said late Monday it had received a report it commissioned on the best way to break up and sell Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. - but refused to release the report's recommendations, citing "commercial confidentiality considerations." Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt announced last spring that the government was prepared to break up AECL, a Crown corporation, into two parts. One part would include the business responsible for selling and building CANDU reactors, the large powerful machines that provide electricity at plants in New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. The government signalled its intention to a seek a private sector partner to buy all or part of the CANDU business.

The federal government said late Monday it had received a report it commissioned on the best way to break up and sell Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. - but refused to release the report's recommendations, citing "commercial confidentiality considerations." Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt announced last spring that the government was prepared to break up AECL, a Crown corporation, into two parts. One part would include the business responsible for selling and building CANDU reactors, the large powerful machines that provide electricity at plants in New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. The government signalled its intention to a seek a private sector partner to buy all or part of the CANDU business.

"In a fight that showed the flaws in California's ballot initiative process and the sheer nerve of PG&E, the state's largest utility, clean energy and local control has won. Proposition 16, which would have change California's constitution to force cities and counties to get the approval of two-thirds of their voters before using public money to invest in local energy projects or utilities. PG&E spent over $46 million on the effort, which would have ensured its monopoly. Prop 16 stems from a 2002 state law, that allowed "community choice aggregation," which allows counties or cities to purchase electricity while utilities continue to offer the infrastructure for power delivery--the power lines, distribution equipment, supply natural, and even billing. "

Driving home from a visit to a community gardening project this controversial statement was made by the local permaculture guru. A bit over-simplified I thought to myself. Well, I've been keeping an eye open... Since July 2007 I have been posting to Ecowar, a blog at Blogspot, whenever I encountered news and information supporting (or countering) the statement linking human conflict to spoils of the Earth. And I have actively sought out this type of information. Still am too.

According to a new report, the cumulative impact of developing Canadian tar sands over the next 30-50 years could be as high as 166 million birds lost, including future generations. Written by scientists from the Natural Resources Defense Council, Boreal Songbird Initiative, and Pembina Institute, the peer-reviewed paper suggests that avian mortality from continued development of Canada's tar sands would provide a serious blow to migratory bird populations in North America. 10 votesBuzz up! "This report is yet another wake up call to the government in Alberta, as it confirms that the cumulative impact of oil sands development is on an unsustainable trajectory," said Pembina Institute's Simon Dyer, a contributing author to the report.

Vote to pass a bill that expands offshore drilling leases and extends renewable energy tax credits. Official Title of Legislation: HR 6899: To advance the national security interests of the United States by reducing its dependency on oil through renewable and clean, alternative fuel technologies while building a bridge to the future through expanded access to Federal oil and natural gas resources, revising the relationship between the oil and gas industry and the consumers who own those resources and deserve a fair return from the development of publicly owned oil and gas, ending tax subsidies for large oil and gas companies, and facilitating energy efficiencies in the building, housing, and transportation sectors, and for other purposes. Highlights:

A century ago French philosopher and writer Paul Valery observed, "The central problem with our times is that the future is not what it used to be." He could have been commenting on current events. In August, Alternet invited me to write a series of articles on energy policy leading up to the election. At the time the invitation was extended, the price of oil was about $135 a barrel. Gasoline prices had eclipsed $4 a gallon. Natural gas prices hovered around $11 per million BTUs. SUVs sales were down, but car companies were having some trouble keeping up with the demand for smaller cars. Renewable energy was expanding rapidly. The most important energy issue was whether the renewable electricity credits, bottled up by Senate Republicans for the previous 12 months, would be extended before they expired at the end of 2008. The renewable fuel everyone loves to hate, ethanol, was blamed not only for the rapid rise in food prices but also for food riots around the world.

The New York Times has a review of a book on the history of horse power (Horses at Work: Harnessing Power in Industrial America), including a segment describing an energy crisis caused by an outbreak of horse flu in the 1870's - A World of a Different Color. Once upon a time, America derived most of its power from a natural, renewable resource that was roughly as efficient as an automobile engine but did not pollute the air with nitrogen dioxide or suspended particulate matter or carcinogenic hydrocarbons. This power source was versatile. Hooked up to the right devices, it could thresh wheat or saw wood. It was also highly portable - in fact, it propelled itself - and could move either along railroad tracks or independently of them. Each unit came with a useful, nonthreatening amount of programmable memory preinstalled, including software that prompted forgetful users once it had learned a routine, and each possessed a character so distinctive that most users gave theirs a name. As a bonus feature, the power source neighed.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the nation's most powerful environmental groups, has managed to persuade Bank of America, one of the nation's leading financial institutions, to take a measured stand against certain surface mining practices. At the N.R.D.C.'s Switchboard blog, Rob Perks, director of the organization's Center for Advocacy Campaigns in Washington, said the group managed to persuade Bank of America executives to visit several mountaintop mine sites in Appalachia - including Kayford Mountain, which has been laid low by mountaintop mining methods.

The UK will be forced to rely on imported natural gas to meet its emerging shortfall in power generation, with a lack of capacity in the nuclear construction industry meaning there is not enough time to roll out a new generation of nuclear stations, EDF said Friday. The UK is set to lose around 22.5 GW of power generation by 2020 due to closures of ageing nuclear stations and coal-fired plant that do not conform to European emissions regulations.

NRG Energy, based in Princeton, NJ, is a wholesale power generation company with ownership in 47 coal, oil, and natural gas plants worldwide. The company's portfolio of projects totals approximately 22,735MW in the United States, about half of which is generated in Texas. NRG also has plants in Australia, Europe, and Latin America with a total of about 1,216MW of generation

Alliant Energy produces electricity and sells electricity and natural gas to customers in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin - as well as providing transportation and environmental engineering and consulting.

DTE Energy Co. is a Detroit, Michigan-based utility, incorporated in 1995, involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. DTE Energy's largest operating subsidiaries are Detroit Edison, an investor-owned electric utility serving 2.1 million customers in Southeastern Michigan, and Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. (MichCon), a natural gas utility serving 1.2 million customers in Michigan.

Robert Redford has come under fire from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In what seems like a bizarre veering off-mandate for a movie star and the civil rights group who once coordinated the Washington march led by Martin Luther King Jr, they've come to verbal blows over oil and gas drilling. Roy Innis, national chairman of CORE said, "If Robert Redford succeeds in blocking natural gas production in Utah, it's going to hurt a lot of people on the other end of the pipeline-especially low-income families who are struggling to pay their heating bills." And apparently, the organisation is planning to protest against Redford at his own Sundance Festival. Has CORE sold out to gas and oil? Some critics say that CORE has moved away from its key activity because it is funded by the oil and gas industry: Exxon has provided over $250,000 to the group, but CORE says this is part of their role - or as their website says, "Under the banner of TRUTH! LOGIC! & COURAGE!, CORE continues to promote harmony and healing in all aspects of society; calling the shots straight-even when it hurts-and confronting the haters, race-baiters and racial racketeers bent on keeping us apart"

On election day, the Bureau of Land Management in Utah quietly announced its last round of oil and gas lease sales for the year. On Dec. 19, close to 400,000 acres of America's redrock wilderness -- much of it adjacent to Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Dinosaur National Monument -- were to be sold for drilling to the highest bidders. Public outcry was fierce. The National Park Service had not been consulted, as it usually was, and much of the land listed for auction had long been proposed for wilderness protection. The BLM succumbed to the pressure and met with the National Park Service, which asked that 93 oil and gas leases be removed from the list. The BLM backed off 22 parcels, and then later deferred other leases in sensitive areas. From a cynical perspective, the lease sale announcement could be seen as a fire the BLM set intentionally around the edges of Utah's most precious natural treasures, knowing it could extinguish the flames, emerge as a reasonable land steward and still get what its current boss, the Bush administration, wants -- more and more public land in the American West to exploit.

In 1970 James Gustave Speth co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has become one of America's most well-endowed and high-profile environmental organizations. He worked in the White House under President Carter, chairing the Council on Environmental Quality; when Bill Clinton and Al Gore were elected in 1992, Speth was a senior adviser to their transition team. He spent the 1990s as the administrator of the United Nations Development Program, where he integrated environmental sustainability into the agency's poverty-fighting mission. Thus, what follows--his call for a radical departure from the movement's current strategy--comes from the ultimate environmental insider. --The Editors I grew up in a small town on the Edisto River in South Carolina in the 1940s and '50s. As a boy, I often swam the Edisto, though at first I could not buck the river's current. But as I grew older and stronger, I was able to make good headway against it. In my environmental work for close to four decades, I've always assumed America's environmental community would do the same--get stronger and prevail against the current. But in the past few years I have come to the conclusion that this assumption is incorrect. The environmental community has grown in strength and sophistication, but the environment has continued to deteriorate. The current has strengthened faster than we have and become more treacherous. It is time to consider what to do besides swimming against it.

Just what does it take before a revolutionary discovery is accepted by the world's scientific community? That's the question raised by renewed claims by a US-based company to have found a radically new source of energy. According to BlackLight Power (BLP) of New Jersey, prototypes of its latest power generators have just been successfully tested by a team of independent experts. As the generators are environmentally-friendly and produce energy at less than a quarter the cost of conventional sources, one might expect scientists to be hailing this breakthrough. But there's one small problem: the supposed source of the power defies conventional theories about the nature of atoms.