Green Options

If you think your electricity bill is bad, you should see the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s. Having to import 95% of your energy makes for a fairly expensive monthly bill. In response to this ongoing electricity and energy challenge, Jordan has signed a 10 year agreement with Russia for the provision of four new nuclear power plants, desalination stations and related research facilities.

Shell Oil’s plan to acquire a junior water right for eight percent of Colorado’s Yampa River average April-to-June flow for oil shale development has been opposed by some twenty-five parties, all submitting letters of opposition to the Colorado Water Court in Steamboat Springs.

Did you know that the Rocky Mountains contain more oil than Saudi Arabia? Most people don’t. The problem is that, unlike the easily accessed and processed oceans of liquid oil under Middle Eastern sands, the Rocky Mountains’ petroleum is found in rocks called oil shale. Oil shale, which must be mined, is a type of sedimentary rock that releases oil when heated in specific types of chemical processes. The problem, according to environmental groups, is that producing energy from oil [...]

A vocal opponent of the Bush administration’s push for oil shale development, Salazar, a former water lawyer spoke of the tremendous water and energy requirements to develop oil shale using current best practices.

An earth-shattering deal currently being finalized between Shell and Jordan’s Natural Resources Authority will potentially allow Shell to survey and develop nearly one quarter of Jordan in order to access about 40 billion tonnes of oil shale.

“Negotiations with Shell to sign a deal to process oil shale in Jordan are nearing an end,” said Maher Hjazin, head of the state-run Natural Resources Authority.

If our plans succeed, it would be one of the country’s largest projects to help the Jordan become energy self-sufficient, with a possibility to export oil in the future.

The latest in a flurry of environmentally-devastating, last-minute rule changes from the Bush administration will give the go ahead for coal mining companies to fill valleys with the mining debris left over from lobbing-off mountaintops

While some companies are backing off the development of shale oil due to the economic crisis, there are still those who are cautiously continuing with the development of this domestic energy source.

After a hefty long debate over offshore drilling and new energy policies, the House passed the ever unpopular Comprehensive American Energy Security & Consumer Protection Act. The bill which will open up new areas of the country to oil drilling, but it also comes with increased support for renewables. The bill - weighing in at 290 pages (PDF) -  was not formally introduced until 9:45pm on Monday night, but Pelosi had released an outline of it early last week.

“The energy bill puts us onto that path of independence by having a comprehensive legislation which is the result of a bipartisan compromise in favor of sweeping innovation solutions for America’s energy future,” said Pelosi in a press conference today. “It is imperative that we are energy independent, so we can enhance the prospect for a great future of renewables and creating good paying jobs.”

The bill passed in the House by a vote of 236-189, with ten Republican’s supporting the bill and thirteen Democrats opposing it. It includes measures to “extend the tax credits for renewables, curb energy speculation, establish a national renewable electricity standard, release 10 percent of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, repeal subsidies to oil companies, and force oil companies to explore on the land already under lease (”use it or lose it”).” It also comes with provisions on efficiency and public transit. And there are even incentives for “clean coal.”

The act allows drilling 100 miles off the Atlantic coast and Florida’s Gulf coast, but that buffer zone could be reduced if a state’s government allows. It will also let state’s decide on whether or not to permit oil-shale development on federal lands within their borders. Here are some videos from the floor debate:

In his weekly radio address on Saturday, President Bush said Congress was ignoring the American public’s wishes by not expanding offshore drilling on the outer continental shelf.

From Senator McCain blaming Barack Obama for high gas prices, to the House GOP’s recent (and ongoing) faux-libuster demanding an up-or-down vote on increasing domestic oil drilling, there’s no doubt that the Republican Party is pulling out all the stops to make oil the wedge issue in the upcoming election. But the Obama camp has begun a coordinated push-back and revealed the “New Energy Plan For America,” which Obama said would create 5 million new jobs and eliminate our need [...]

A story in this week’s Department of Energy office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) weekly electronic newsletter, the EERE Network News, that touted the benefits of oil shale. This begs the question: is the extraction of oil from solid either efficient or renewable?