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The Dakota Access Pipeline is the major means used to transport oil produced in the Bakken region of North Dakota to an existing pipeline in Illinois which can take the oil to Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. Earlier this month a judge ordered the Dakota Access Pipeline to cease operating so that a new environmental review, which could take a year or more, could be conducted. Fortunately, the U.S. Court of Appears for the District of Columbia has issued a stay of that ruling, at least while the appeals court reviews it.

Talks have been bubbling in recent months about making major route changes to Interstate 14, but the primary organization behind the push says it’s facing resistance from a West Texas representative and the state’s senior senator. Regional transportation lobby group Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance (MOTRAN) has pushed to change the congressionally approved western route of I-14, also known as the Forts to Ports Highway and the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway System. Forts to Ports aims to connect Fort Bliss in El Paso with Fort Hood in Central Texas and Fort Polk in Louisiana. The plan also connects to military deployment ports...

Supercharged by winds of up to 70 km/h, the Fort McMurray wildfire ballooned to 85,000 hectares overnight and is now raging across a wide front south of the city. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and wildfire officials say the fire is expected to continue to burn out of control today as more than 100 firefighters, 10 helicopters and 16 air tankers work to protect homes and critical infrastructure. One major task on Thursday will be to move up to 25,000 people now sheltering in oilsands work camps north of the city. The province hopes to transport many of those people, who...

A huge wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta., destroyed an entire neighbourhood and burned homes and businesses in several others Tuesday, and continues to rage out of control. By late afternoon, the entire city of 60,000 had been ordered evacuated. Residents by the thousands fled the fire and for hours caused gridlock on Highway 63, even overwhelming oilsands work camps, where beds and meals were offered. Police were patrolling the highway with cans of gas, after fuel supplies ran out in Fort McMurray, Wandering River and Grasslands.

Funded by the National Science Foundation and Duke University, a team of scientists at Ohio State and other universities conducted extensive research into the purported link between groundwater pollution and fracking. (The full title of the report, available online, is “Noble Gases Identify the Mechanisms of Fugitive Gas Contamination in Drinking-Water Wells Overlying the Marcellus and Barnett Shales.”) In an examination of 130 wells, the researchers found that, when properly conducted, no groundwater or aquifer pollution resulted from the practice of fracking itself.

I wonder how long this has been in the works. Was the plan always to roll it out tonight before the debate or did Perry and Jindal speed things up to match T-Paw’s Romney endorsement? Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is backing Rick Perry for president, a major endorsement for the Texas governor as the campaign for the Republican nomination enters the crucial fall stretch of the primary calendar, a source tells CNN.Jindal is on his way to Florida and will be Perry’s guest at Monday night’s “Tea Party Republican Debate” broadcast on CNN from Tampa, the source said. Jindal is...

The technician said that shortly after the cap was successfully placed, Dr. Chu wondered aloud why oil was still spewing from around the bottom. Engineers had to tell him that the leaks were expected, at least initially.

Falling raw material and equipment costs in a slowing world economy offer an opportunity for oil and gas companies to solve the problems of rising costs and delays at major projects, but the industry again finds itself confronting a longstanding enemy - a shortage of people with the skills and experience to lead these developments. If efforts to plug the skills gap don't succeed, senior industry executives say oil companies' ability to tap new and challenging hydrocarbon resources fast enough to meet demand may have already have reached its limit. "The really big strategic issue for all oil and gas...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- At least 49 offshore oil platforms, all with production of less than 1,000 barrels a day, were destroyed by Hurricane Ike as it raced across the Gulf of Mexico, and some may not be rebuilt, the Interior Department said Thursday. It said in the latest hurricane damage assessment that the platforms altogether accounted for 13,000 barrels of oil and 84 million cubic feet of natural gas a day. There are more than 3,800 production platforms in the Gulf producing 1.3 million barrels of oil and 7 billion cubic feet of gas each day. Most remain shut down.

Canadian oil: Target of terror Al-Qaeda group calls for attacks as way to disrupt U.S. supply Ian MacLeod, The Ottawa Citizen; with files from the Calgary Herald Published: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 Al-Qaeda has called for terrorist strikes against Canada's oil and natural gas facilities to "choke the U.S. economy." An online message, posted by The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula, declares "we should strike petroleum interests in all areas which supply the United States ... like Canada," the No. 1 supplier of both fuels to the U.S. "The biggest party hurt will be the industrial nations, and...