Topic: Hydrofracking
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Five energy challenges for Venezuela
With the passing of Hugo Chávez, the issue of what Venezuela chooses to do with its oil moves to center stage for the energy industry – and for environmentalists. Here are five energy challenges that Venezuela will have to face.
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Fracking. Tight oil. Do you know your energy vocabulary?
Test your energy literacy with the Monitor's energy vocabulary quiz.
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Focus
The Monitor's top 11 US stories of 2012
From storms to politics, the year was a wild ride. What are the most meaningful US stories of 2012? Here's the Monitor's list, in roughly chronological order.
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Top 10 metros for job growth
Some metropolitan areas have a booming jobs market, thanks to energy, manufacturing, or sometimes just the right mix of highly diversified industries. Here's a look at the 10 metros that have seen the largest percentage increase in jobs over the past 12 months:
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Briefing
Obama vs. Romney 101: 7 ways they differ on energy issues
Both President Obama and Mitt Romney claim to want to expand America’s access to conventional fuels and green energy. But their energy plans have very different flavors.
All Content
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Energy Voices When oil forecasts get it wrong
Oil forecasts fail so often that it's puzzling that the media, governments, corporations, and the public put so much faith in them, Cobb writes. Those whose plans were based on the IEA's 2000 oil forecast were completely blindsided by developments just a few years later.
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Energy Voices Does the US need federal fracking regulations?
Federal regulations on fracking barely apply because the states involved already have a say in the way drilling proceeds, Graeber writes. Perhaps, he adds, it's the energy industry that has a right to question why the government 'is moving forward with these requirements in the first place.'
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Energy Voices Water may reshape energy industry
Demand for fresh water could exceed supply by an estimated 40 percent by 2030, pushing up prices for the water-intensive energy industry. Soaring water prices would help wind, solar, and natural gas, but hurt coal and nuclear plants.
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Energy Voices New fracking regulations upset just about everybody
Environmentalists and industry representatives are criticizing new draft regulations on hydraulic fracturing, a controversial drilling method that has helped spark an oil and gas boom. The shared discontent reflects the complexity of the debate surrounding hydraulic fracturing and natural gas use.
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Energy Voices Ernest Moniz confirmed unanimously as Energy secretary
Ernest Moniz earned bipartisan approval Thursday as the Senate voted 97-0 to confirm the nuclear physicist as the next secretary of the Department of Energy. The support for Ernest Moniz is in contrast to divided opinions over Gina McCarthy, President Obama's pick to head the EPA.
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Global News Blog Good Reads: Oil's future, wealth in Africa, 'Occupy' failure, progress in Mexico, and the Tsarnaevs
This week’s round-up of Good Reads includes the question "What if we never run out of oil?", a profile of African wealth divides, the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement's failure to leave a lasting imprint, and a profile of the Tsarnaev family.
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Energy Voices Oil companies near multi-year highs. Still undervalued.
Oil companies should no longer be valued by their reserves. New drilling technologies like fracking and horizontal drilling mean oil companies operate more like advanced manufacturers, which have much higher price-earnings ratios.
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Energy Voices What determines energy abundance? Flow.
Energy abundance depends entirely on the rate of the flow of oil, gas and other resources, Cobb writes. It is not, as many suggest, dependent on supposed, but often unverified, fossil fuel reserves in the ground.
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Energy Voices US oil and gas workers see pay fall. Sign of trouble for energy?
Average compensation for oil and gas professionals in the US fell 4 percent last year, according to a new study. The decline in pay coincides with a slowdown in the energy's industry's growth, but the industry may simply be catching its breath.
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Pressure mounting on US to export natural gas
As US gas supplies grow, companies are eager to export natural gas. Should US let the market operate or continue preserving natural gas for domestic use only?
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Mobile, Alabama: Fuel explosions rattle windows, open doors
Four explosions struck fuel barges carrying natural gas in the Mobile River in Alabama on Wednesday. Officials planned to let the barges burn because of the instability of the situation.
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Decoder Wire Earth Day 2013: What's in danger is Earth Day, not just Earth
Earth Day 2013 poll finds Americans far less eco-conscious than they were in 1971, a year after Earth Day was founded. Only 39 percent now say it's 'very important' to restore the environment.
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Energy Voices A global fracking revolution? Curb your enthusiasm.
While China, Saudi Arabia, and other nations are pushing to replicate America's shale boom, they face huge logistical obstacles. Some nations may find the investment is just too big.
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Energy Voices France's geothermal 'fracking' conundrum
France has banned fracking but is now planning to tap into geothermal energy which requires a process similar to fracking, Alic writes. The oil industry likely sees an opportunity to reverse the fracking ban.
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Energy Voices Ernest Moniz: Where would he take Energy Department?
If confirmed as energy secretary, Ernest Moniz would take over the department during a time of fiscal austerity and controversy over failed investments in clean-energy companies. Mr. Moniz's confirmation hearing Tuesday hinted at a renewed focus on the agency's research and development roots.
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Energy Voices How high oil prices lead to financial collapse
Financial collapse is related to high oil prices, Tverberg writes, and also to higher costs for other resources as we approach their limits.
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Energy Voices Where do you stand on fracking?
Few topics in the energy sector generate more debate than the relative merits and demerits of fracking, Stuebi writes.
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Energy Voices In Great Plains, if you drill it they will come
The Great Plains are experiencing a stunning resurgence in population after being long considered a population drain. One big reason: the energy boom.
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Energy Voices In Paul Ryan budget, echoes of energy campaign rhetoric
Paul Ryan's budget includes energy policies that formed the basis of the Romney-Ryan ticket's energy plan. Voters ultimately went with another pair of candidates, but that doesn't necessarily mean they rejected the Republicans' energy policies.
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Do towns ever get over shootings?
A look at Binghamton, N.Y., four years after 14 died in a mass shooting at an immigrant center.
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Energy Voices Moniz confirmation for Energy secretary: four things to watch for
Energy secretary nominee Moniz is expected to have a fairly easy confirmation in Congress, but he'll still have to answer tough questions about the sequester, nuclear energy, and direct financing of 'green' energy companies.
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Five energy challenges for Venezuela
With the passing of Hugo Chávez, the issue of what Venezuela chooses to do with its oil moves to center stage for the energy industry – and for environmentalists. Here are five energy challenges that Venezuela will have to face.
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Energy Voices Invest in oil? Or invest in gas?
There are investment opportunities in both, but finding your edge in oil is a lot easier than in natural gas, right now.
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Do Obama cabinet picks match his greener second-term talk?
President Obama nominated new leaders for the Department of Energy and the EPA Monday. Environmentalists like one of them, energy-industry advocates like the other.
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Energy Voices Wholesale power: bankruptcies and lessons
The possible bankruptcy of Energy Future Holdings shows how tough it is to make profits in wholesale power – or finance new coal plants. The fracking revolution is reshaping the energy landscape.
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