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The U.S. Forest Service has rejected the latest proposed route of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline because of the 42-inch natural gas pipeline's potential damage to the habitat of sensitive animal species protected by two national forests in Virginia and West Virginia. In a letter to the Dominion-led pipeline company on Tuesday, the Forest Service said the proposed route is "inconsistent" with Forest Service plans and commitments to protect the habitats of the Cow Knob salamander, Cheat Mountain salamander and West Virginia northern flying squirrel, as well as the red spruce forest ecosystem in which they live. Consequently, the pipeline project...

Alpha Natural Resources has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. On Monday, a statement from the company said: "The Board of Directors of Alpha Natural Resources authorized the filing of the Chapter 11 cases to enhance the company's future as it weathers a historically challenged coal market." "The relief provided by Chapter 11 will allow the company to reorganize and emerge as a financially viable business that is better positioned to compete in dynamic energy markets." Bloomberg reported last Thursday the company had been planning to file today. The coal industry is in turmoil. Demand for natural gas is surging, and...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday unveiled the nation’s first major federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial technique for oil and gas drilling that has led to a dramatic increase in American energy production but has also raised concerns about health and safety risks. The Interior Department began drafting the rules in Mr. Obama’s first term after breakthroughs in the technology, also known as fracking, led to a surge in the production of oil and gas. The fracking boom has put the United States on track to soon become the world’s largest oil and gas producer. But environmentalists...

Senate Democrats are refusing to let supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline to use an energy efficiency bill as a vehicle to attempt winning congressional approval for the controversial project. Majority Leader Harry Reid used a parliamentary move Wednesday to block a Republican amendment on the pipeline as well as a measure to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing new greenhouse gas regulations on coal-burning power plants.

There’s one thing Barack Obama told the truth about in his 2008 run, one thing he’s never really wavered from: he’s going to smash the power industry and drive up our energy costs. In a time of falling poll numbers and swirling scandals, with his party facing a grim midterm election, he’s decided to be pugnacious about it, sending forth his minions to brag that no one can stop his War on Energy, and signaling that Democrat support for his efforts is mandatory. snip Republicans have branded the president’s climate plan as a “war on coal” and have sponsored legislation...

em>"Probably for the next decade, the most dominate technology around the world will be coal..." -Jeff Immelt The fastest growing source of energy in the world last year was coal, and it is going to stay that way for a very long time. With that in mind, one has to wonder why President Obama has insisted on the gut-wrenching destruction of the coal industry that has costs thousands of jobs, and has sent electricity costs to all-time highs. This, combined with last month's report from the International Energy Agency, state that reaching the goal of carbon emission reduction would cost...

From the emotional headlines, you would think America is in dire straights from a government “shutdown.” But as usual the truth is masked by the headlines and can be found in the print of the details. In reality only 18% of the government is “shutdown” and the rest of it is humming along as usual. ... if you look at just one government agency that has a profound effect on the cost of living for all Americans, you can see there is a silver lining. The Environmental Protection Agency has deemed that over 93% of its employees are “non essential”...

Yesterday the Obama administration announced a delaying tactic which will put off the possibility of new offshore oil drilling on the Atlantic coast for at least five years: The announcement by the Interior Department sets into motion what will be at least a five year environmental survey to determine whether and where oil production might occur.

Yesterday the Obama administration announced a delaying tactic which will put off the possibility of new offshore oil drilling on the Atlantic coast for at least five years: The announcement by the Interior Department sets into motion what will be at least a five year environmental survey to determine whether and where oil production might occur. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell notes that a planned lease sale, which the administration cancelled last year, will now be put off until at least 2018. As you might expect, Republicans were not impressed with the decision: "The president's actions have closed an entire new...

Resource depletion, climate change and rising oil prices have led to large investments in renewable energy and new fossil fuel extraction techniques. However despite the positive headlines on solar, wind, and shale, all of these sectors are beset with problems that add to our uncertain energy future. We appear to be decades away from finding a renewable source that will help us avoid the impending energy crisis. Yet amongst this bleak outlook a relatively unknown Italian inventor could be about to spark an energy revolution? Andrea Rossi appears to have produced the first working “cold” fusion device, or low energy...

(Reuters) - The Obama administration proposed on Tuesday the first ever standards to cut carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants, a move likely to be hotly contested by Republicans and industry in an election year. The Environmental Protection Agency proposed the long-delayed rules that limit emissions from all new U.S. power stations, which would effectively bar the building of any new coal plants. While the rules do not dictate which fuels a plant can burn, they would require any new coal plants essentially to halve carbon dioxide emissions to match those of efficient gas plants. "We're putting in place...

If you thought gas prices will never stop rising, just wait until you see what happens to electricity after the Barack Obama’s EPA gets its way.  The agency will deliver on Obama’s election promise to bankrupt any new coal-fired electrical production in its first-ever regulations on greenhouse-gas emissions, the Washington Post reports.  The new regulatory regime will all but guarantee that new coal-fired plants won’t be built to replace others shutting down: The Environmental Protection Agency will issue the first limits on greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants as early as Tuesday, according to several people briefed on the proposal. The move...

EPA Proposes Strict Limits on Coal Plants By RYAN TRACY And KEITH JOHNSON WASHINGTON—The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed strict limits on greenhouse-gas emissions from new power plants despite warnings from utilities and others that such a step to would lead to the demise of coal-fired electricity generation. The agency outlined a standard that analysts said would effectively ban new coal-fired stations unless they use carbon-capture technology, which hasn't yet been proven cost-effective. The EPA said the rule wouldn't apply to existing power plants, including when they make modifications to comply with other air-pollution rules, addressing a major concern...

CUSHING, Okla. -- The President is scheduled to speak in Payne County this Thursday morning. It may be rural Oklahoma, but when it comes to pipelines, it's the Capitol. The President is expected to talk about energy, though many in that industry are not impressed. They are even planning to protest his visit, calling it a political ploy more than a genuine interest. Mike Cantrell with the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance says, "For the last three years he's been anti-fossil fuels." Mickey Thompson, an energy industry expert and political analyst, says, "He calls our industry an industry of the past...

The powerful Republican head of the House Appropriations Committee got rough with President Obama’s environmental chief over the Environmental Protection Agency's coal mine permitting process on Wednesday. The wood-paneled committee hearing room suddenly seemed like a small-town courtroom as Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) turned prosecutorial on EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. At one point, after Jackson fumbled when trying to name any Appalachian mines she had permitted during her tenure, Rogers declared “I rest my case!” At issue is an October Federal Court ruling in the case of National Mining Association vs. Jackson. Rogers said that the ruling makes clear that...

GLEN LYN (WVVA) - American Electric Power announced Thursday that the plant in Glen Lyn, Va., is among several coal-fueled plants the company will by closing by the end of 2014, in order to comply with EPA regulations. WVVA's Rebecca Fath will have more on this story and its local impact this evening on WVVA. Below is the complete press release issued by AEP: