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EPA to Study Shale Gas Drilling
March 19, 2010 | Reuters

A large number of people are concerned about the hydraulic fracturing methods now being used to produce natural gas from shale. The Environmental Protection Agency announced that it is going to study the potential impact on human health.

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North Dakota Needs an Oil Refinery
March 18, 2010 | MSN

Drillers in North Dakota have been extremely successful in producing oil from newly discovered fields. However, they have not been as successful in finding ways to get the crude to market – because there is not enough pipeline capacity for all of the oil. However, if they had more refining capacity the state could become a distribution point.

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Natural Gas as a Vehicle Fuel and for Power Generation
March 18, 2010 | The Dallas Morning News

Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil, says refueling stations are the big problem for the widespread use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel. But, he also says that natural gas is becoming a much more important fuel for electricity generation.

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Exxon Mobil Gets Regulatory Approval to Buy XTO
March 17, 2010 | Market Watch

Exxon Mobil now has approval from both US and Dutch regulatory agencies for its purchase of XTO Energy. The significance of this deal is the entry of Exxon Mobil into the US onshore natural gas sector.

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CONSOL Buying Natural Gas Assets of Dominion Resources
March 17, 2010 | Fox Business Network on YouTube

In this video CONSOL Energy CEO, Brett Harvey, talks about the company’s purchase of natural gas assets from Dominion Resources. He seems to think highly of the potential for natural gas. A quote: “Natural Gas will be the chosen fuel.” (Consol already owns a lot of coal mines between the surface and the Marcellus Shale which create conflicting land use problems when drilling for natural gas.)

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Earth Science Week Newsletter for March
March 16, 2010 | Earth Science Week

“Earth Science Week 2010 (October 10-16) won’t take place for some months – so now is the perfect time to start planning your activities! Don’t wait until the hectic first weeks of the next school year.” You can start your planning by visiting the Earth Science Week website or by checking out their March newsletter. The theme for 2010 is “Exploring Energy.”

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Backyard Nukes
March 15, 2010 | CNN Money

An article at CNN Money includes a report on an idea to build large numbers of small nuclear power plants with the capacity to power a small city.

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Are the Natural Gas Shale Plays Sustainable?
March 15, 2010 | CleanSkies News

Will the new shale plays still be producing natural gas ten to twenty or more years into the future? This topic was discussed at IHS CERA conference last week in Houston.

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Earthquakes
Injection Well in the Barnett Gas Play Linked to Earthquakes
March 12, 2010 | Southern Methodist University

“A study of seismic activity near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport by researchers from SMU and UT-Austin reveals that the operation of a saltwater injection disposal well in the area was a “plausible cause” for the series of small earthquakes that occurred in the area between October 30, 2008, and May 16, 2009.” Quoted from the Southern Methodist University press release.

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How Confident Are We that Renewable Energy Will Deliver?
March 12, 2010 | New York Times

An article in the New York times points to the enormous enthusiasm for renewable energy projects. However, many in the energy industry believe that the ability of renewable energy to make a substantial contribution to total energy demand is overrated.

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Gas Shale
International Oils Target European Gas Shales
March 11, 2010 | Financial Times

Although international oil companies such as ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP were not pioneers in the development of United States gas shales they are now working to acquire positions in Europe.

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Pipeline Company Discovers Shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea
March 11, 2010 | AOL News

A company building a natural gas pipeline on the floor of the Baltic Sea discovered a dozen sunken ships that are thought to be between 300 and 400 years old.

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DOE Supports Clean Coal Sequestration Project
March 10, 2010 | USA Today

The Department of Energy is awarding a $154 million grant to NRG Energy, a company that will create a carbon capture and storage project at a 60-megawatt coal-burning power plant in Texas.

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Directional Heat Transmission in Polyethylene
March 10, 2010 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Polyethylene is used to make items such as plastic bags and other packaging materials. Researchers at MIT have figured out how to transmit heat – in one direction only – through the plastic.

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Fossil Fuels Dominate Future Energy Use
March 10, 2010 | Star-Telegram

Khalid Al-Falih, CEO of Saudi Aramco: “I don’t think any of us will see, at any time in our lives, fossil fuels meeting less than 70 percent of total energy demand.”

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Video: Backlog of Nuclear Waste
March 8, 2010 | CNN Video

This video features a visit to a nuclear power plant to see the volume of nuclear waste that is being store there until the United States has a viable long-term storage facility.

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Alaska Coal, Coal Mines and Power Plants
March 8, 2010 | Ground Truth Trekking Blog

The Ground Truth Trekking Blog has a collection of articles on the theme of “Coal in Alaska”. The state has enormous coal resources from lignite through anthracite – but it can be hard to transport the coal to distant markets at a competitive price.

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Thermopower with Carbon Nanowires
March 7, 2010 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Newly-discovered “thermopower” could change the face of tomorrow’s tiny gadgets. Heat waves can be used to push electrons down a microscopic carbon nanowire, generating a high-speed current of electricity.

Related stories.
TransCanada Might Take MT and ND Crude
March 5, 2010 | Google / AP

The purpose of the TransCanada pipeline is to transport crude from Canadian oil sands to refineries on the United States Gulf Coast. Now producers of crude in Montana and North Dakota want to use the pipeline.

Related stories.
Wind Power in Denmark
March 5, 2010 | CNN

CNN has a photo gallery of wind power generation in Denmark. The country produces about 20% of its electricity from wind.

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Most Major Oils Getting into European Gas Shale Plays
March 1, 2010 | Reuters

An article on the Vancouver Sun website explains how most of the major oil companies are jumping into the shale gas plays of Europe. A big problem is that there are currently very few rigs there.

Related stories.
Wind Farms off of the Virginia Coast
February 27, 2010 | Business Week

Two companies have submitted applications to the Minerals Management Service to construct wind farms about 12 miles offshore of Virginia Beach.

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Utica Shale Gas Play in Quebec, Canada
February 27, 2010 | The Globe and Mail

Early results in the Utica Shale Gas Play in Quebec, Canada has wells producing over 10 million cubic feet of gas per day. Some believe that the play could contain over 20 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Related stories.
The Natural Gas Act
February 26, 2010 | Houston Chronicle

The “Natural Gas Act” is legislation that would expand the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel by providing tax incentives for natural gas vehicles and refueling stations. Versions of the bill are in the House and Senate.

Related stories.
Gas Shale
Duvernay Shale Gas Play
February 26, 2010 | The Vancouver Sun

A shale gas play known as the “Duvernay” is bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in auction revenues to the Province of Alberta, Canada.

Related stories.
Welcome! Every day you can find links to several earth science news topics right here. Bookmark this page and visit often. You can also receive them for free by RSS feed or in a daily email message.

Hobart King

Geological Society of America


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