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A handwritten note from President Trump to West Virginia Senator Shelly Moore Capito is generating a lot of buzz, especially on social media. Capito wrote asking for support on the Miner's Protection Act, stalled in Congress. The President wrote back, saying: "Shelley: Great I am all for the miners." The coal industry appreciates the response.

Ed Morrissey already looked at President Trump’s aggressive move to get Keystone XL, Dakota Access and other pipelines back on track earlier this week. The timing for this probably couldn’t be better because despite all the protests from environmentalists and the Keep It In The Ground movement, we are heading toward some hard deadlines for energy generation, after which some very bad things are going to start happening. That’s the conclusion reached in a new study from the Consumer Energy Alliance which examines the long term effects of continuing to reject new pipeline construction projects. The number are not...

The combination of the Obama administration’s intransigence in approving the Keystone XL pipeline and the exponential explosion in the production of crude oil, especially from the Bakken formation in North Dakota, has put increasing pressure on alternative modes of transportation to get that crude to refineries and customers. But with the increasing use of alternative modes such as barges, railcars, and over-the-road tanker trucks has come a growing concern about safety.A series of rail accidents over the last several years has caught the attention of the Department of Transportation, and CNBC has tried its best to question the viability of...

WASHINGTON — President Trump moved assertively on Tuesday to further dismantle his predecessor’s policies as he revived the Keystone XL pipeline that stirred years of debate over the balance between the nation’s energy needs and efforts to stem climate change.

If the GOP-controlled Legislature goes along with Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf's renewed call for a severance tax, it would be a surefire way to debilitate Pennsylvania's shale-gas industry. Always a bad idea, a severance tax is an even worse idea this time around — because 2016 saw the industry “shed a third of its jobs” and gas prices are still rebounding “from record lows,” according to the Commonwealth Foundation. The state's own Independent Fiscal Office estimates that Pennsylvania's existing impact fee is the equivalent of a 6.9-percent severance tax — higher than severance taxes in Louisiana, Wyoming and West Virginia.

US President Donald Trump has pledged to unlock a $US50 trillion ($66 trillion) shale oil and gas revolution and boost development of low emissions coal technology for electricity. The Energy First plan was outlined as the top priority in President Trump’s first action statement after being sworn into office. The statement committed Trump to scrapping the Obama government’s Climate Action Plan but did not mention renewable energy or whether the US would remain in the Paris agreement. It was a full endorsement of the future use of fossil fuels. The Trump plan mirrors debate in Australia over energy security. The...

As he tries to convince the Senate to put him in charge of the Energy Department, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry will tell lawmakers Thursday that he was wrong to recommend eliminating that same department. During his 2012 presidential campaign, Mr. Perry, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for energy secretary, advocated getting rid of the Energy Department, along with several other federal agencies. At one GOP primary debate he was unable to remember all of the departments he sought to scrap, leading to his infamous “Oops” moment. More than four years later, Mr. Perry now is a full-throated supporter of the...

A leading Wall Street investment expert claims that Donald Trump could make the US a world leading “energy powerhouse” during his presidency. Joseph Grinkorn, chief executive officer of Morris Group, believes the presidential elect could force global oil prices as low as $25 dollars a barrel by tapping into America’s reserves. Mr Grinkhorn, a New York-base entrepreneur that specialises in finance, claims that the Republican’s first 100 days in office could be a “game changer” for the global energy industry. Both OPEC and non-OPEC member countries have already agreed to cut production for the first six months of this year...

A section of an intra-provincial oilfield pipeline under construction in Canada's oil heartland of Alberta needs replacement after being damaged by an act of "mischief," authorities said on Monday. The incident happened in Hythe, about 500 km (310 miles) northwest of the provincial capital of Edmonton, late on Saturday and was reported to police on Sunday. It involved a pipeline belonging to Paramount Resources Ltd, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator(AER). No product was leaked as the pipeline is not yet operational. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it appeared the culprit or culprits tried to used construction equipment on...

Whole title: International players likely sellers as Canadian oil crash survivors hunt for bargains and big mergers After a slow couple of years, merger and acquisition activity in the energy sector is expected to rebound in 2017 as oil prices stabilize, strong companies hunt for bargains, and international and struggling Canadian players keep unloading non-core assets. Adam Waterous, who is leaving his job as global head of investment banking at Scotiabank to start his own private equity company and bet on the next Alberta drilling boom, predicted a very busy year as “legacy” companies continue to restructure and cut costs....

Ontario’s hell-bent determination to phase out coal-fired generation raised electricity rates without significantly improving air pollution levels, a new Fraser Institute report says. Ontario’s hell-bent determination to phase out coal-fired generation raised electricity rates without significantly improving air pollution levels, a new Fraser Institute report says. Report co-author Ross McKitrick, an economics professor at the University of Guelph, said the findings should act as a cautionary tale for Alberta and Ottawa currently going down the same road. Even though there was reliable information available at the time that showed Ontario coal was not a big player in common air pollution...

The latest U.S. Energy and Employment Report has forecast that the sector of energy efficiency will see a 9-percent increase in employment this year – the highest growth rate across energy sectors, according to the Department of Energy. The survey was conducted among 30,000+ employers from the energy industry, who shared their hiring plans for the next 12 months. Within the energy efficiency sector, the Department also said, the highest growth in employment will be in construction, at 11 percent, followed by the segment of wholesale trade, distribution, and transport, with an expected employment growth rate of 8.3 percent. The...

Solar cells made from an inexpensive and increasingly popular material called perovskite can more efficiently turn sunlight into electricity using a new technique to sandwich two types of perovskite into a single photovoltaic cell. Perovskite solar cells are made of a mix of organic molecules and inorganic elements that together capture light and convert it into electricity, just like today’s more common silicon-based solar cells. Perovskite photovoltaic devices, however, can be made more easily and cheaply than silicon and on a flexible rather than rigid substrate. The first perovskite solar cells could go on the market next year, and some...

Yesterday ConocoPhillips' (NYSE:COP) Alaskan unit announced a big discovery in Alaska. The Willow discovery lies in the COP's Greater Mooses Tooth ("GMT") unit and consists of two wells which encountered 72 feet and 42 feet of net pay. 3-D seismic appraisal work will start this month, however initial estimates indicate the discovery could contain a recoverable oil potential of 300 million barrels of oil. As a result, Willow could produce up to 100,000 bpd of oil and first oil could come by 2023. ConocoPhillips has a 78% working interest in the play while Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC) holds a 22% interest....

Protests of rising gas prices in Tijuana led to the temporary closure of southbound vehicle lanes at the U.S.-Mexico border crossing in San Ysidro on Saturday afternoon. The protests and the closure were repeated on Sunday.

Speaking at the National Press Club Wednesday, outgoing Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced a new “scientific integrity” policy for an agency recently wracked by concerns about how an administration led by President-elect Donald Trump will treat employees who worked on climate change and other sensitive energy-related issues. “It’s part of establishing the environment that allows scientist to do their work, to stay with us, and to recruit new people,” Moniz said in announcing the new policy. Moniz, a physicist, gave an example of his own role in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal. “Seven of our laboratories were providing near real-time...

ExxonMobil has lost a key battle in an investigation into whether the oil giant misled the public about the dangers of climate change. A Massachusetts judge ordered Exxon (XOM) on Wednesday to hand over more than four decades of the company's climate change research. The court rejected Exxon's emergency motion to kill the demand from Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who is investigating allegations the company ignored internal scientific research going back to the 1970s. The ruling came on the same day that longtime Exxon boss Rex Tillerson was being grilled by Congress about the company's climate change tactics at...

The plan allows scientists to publicly state their opinions on science and policy, as long as they make clear that they are not speaking for the government. It requires researchers to notify their supervisors if they speak to the media or publish their findings, but does not require them to seek approval for such activities. “It makes it absolutely clear that notification is the only thing required,” says Wendy Wagner, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. “The tenor of the entire policy seems to be full bore about giving scientists and technical people the complete freedom...

Costa Rica produced 98% of its electricity last year without fossil fuels but the sustainable success story unravels with the rising demand for gasoline and cars Unless you’ve avoided social media for the last week, you probably know that last year, Costa Rica was able to produce 98% of its electricity without oil – a feat that most larger and wealthier countries have never accomplished. Over the past few days, reports of Costa Rica’s 271 days of fossil-fuel free electricity have made their way to almost every corner of the internet. The news has bolstered the Central American country’s already...

The story going around was that Las Vegas is now completely powered by renewable energy. The story contains a kernel of truth, but then that kernel got distorted into something that went viral, but was clearly untrue. Why does it matter? Because when people start to believe energy myths, they start to have unrealistic expectations. That leads to bad energy policies. After all, if the glittering lights of Las Vegas can run entirely on renewable energy, there is no reason we can’t run the entire country on renewable energy. While it’s fine to have that as a target, if we...