Energy articles from March 2001

Energy archives from March 2001

Yes. It is a Crisis!(United States energy policy)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Over the past half-year, a confusing spectacle has played out before the American public. On the one hand, we have a new Administration proclaiming that we have, as White House economic advisor Lawrence Lindsey put it, "a major energy crisis."...

The Future of ANWR.(Arctic National Wildlife Refuge)
March 22, 2001... The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: The Next Chapter. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) consists of 19 million acres in northeast Alaska. Its 1.5 million acre coastal plain is currently one of the most promising U.S. onshore oil...

Why the Bush Oil (Energy) Policy Will Fail.(George W. Bush)
March 22, 2001... Five myths that may derail the administration's programs. Following his four predecessors, President Bush has identified dependence on imported oil as an urgent energy, economic, and national security concern. The gap between consumption...

The Price of [CO.sub.2].
March 22, 2001... Zeroing in on the Costs of the Kyoto Protocol In 1997, more than 80 countries signed the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. In it, the developed countries including Russia and the European economies in transition agreed to cut their...

Will PUHCA "Reform" Increase Prices?(Public Utility Holding Company Act)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Will PUHCA "Reform" Increase Prices? By a 19-1 margin, the Senate Banking Committee has voted to repeal most of the 1935 Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA). Could PUHCA "reform" lead to an even worse energy price situation for...

$2 B Savings Claimed for Power Trading.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... $2 B Savings Claimed for Power Trading. A new electricity-trading marketplace that electronically executes highly complex energy transactions and is designed to help bring stability to competitive energy markets will soon begin "beta" testing....

Don't Use Electricity--and Get Paid by Utility!(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Don't Use Electricity--and Get Paid by Utility! Avista Utilities, a unit of Avista Corp. (1411 E. Mission Ave., Spokane, WA 99202-2600; Tel: 509/489-0500, Fax: 509/ 495-8851; Website: www.avistacorp.com), has filed a request with the Washington...

Largest TOD Program Approved.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Largest TOD Program Approved. Time-of-day plans (TOD) can help dramatically reduce energy costs. EPRI (3412 Hillview Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304) estimates that just a 2.5% demand reduction at peak periods this past summer would have reduced...

Climatic Extremes.
March 22, 2001... An increase in hot and cold spells relates directly to changes in energy consumption. Over the past century, surface air temperature (SAT) records show a long-term average increase of about 1.1 [degrees] F (0.6 [degrees] C). While 0.6...

Wither Gas Price Spikes.
March 22, 2001... Update on long-term trends in U.S. gas supply. U.S. and Canadian gas production grew to record levels during the 1990s. Due to the recent new millennium price spike, real gas prices again approximated the levels seen in the 1980s. Given the...

Powering Up.
March 22, 2001... The wholesale electric industry responds to changing market concerns. The wholesale electric transmission industry has changed dramatically in the past year and is poised to continue to evolve well into the future. In response to FERC...

Warnings on East Asia.
March 22, 2001... Dependence on oil from the Mideast raises security issues. Although Asia is resource poor and U.S. energy security policy has focused on ensuring a stable energy supply, in recent years some analysts have called for more careful scrutiny of...

NARUC Focuses on Standards.(National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners )(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... NARUC Focuses on Standards. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC, Apryl Jump, Government Affairs, 101 Vermont Ave., NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005; Tel: 202/898-9382, Fax: 202/898-2213; Email:...

Chicago Homeowners Test Fuel Cells.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Chicago Homeowners Test Fuel Cells. Several Chicago-area families will soon produce their own electric power in a pilot project to assess the technical, economic, and environmental benefits of using small residential fuel cell generating...

Expansion of Tax Credits Possible.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Expansion of Tax Credits Possible. According to the Center for a Sustainable Economy (1731 Connecticut Ave., NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20009; Tel: 202/234-9665, Fax: 202/588-1297; Email: Center@SustainableEconomy. org, Website:...

Finding Costs Fall, Reserves Soar.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... The Herold 34th Annual Reserve Replacement Cost Analysis: Top 50 U.S. Companies describes an extraordinary achievement by U.S. E&P companies in 2000: in replacing U.S. reserves, they spent lavishly yet wisely. John S. Herold Inc. found that...

No Benefit from Subsidies.(energy policy)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... President George W. Bush and Interior Secretary Gale Norton are pushing to open public lands--notably the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge--to oil drilling, angering critics who think the government already showers the oil industry with large...

Texaco Looks at Gulf of Mexico.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... As ENERGY went to press Texaco was announcing that that it will soon complete a study for the development of a new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Receiving and Regasification Terminal in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The study examines and evaluates...

Shanghai Gas Decision Reflects Problems.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... China's reported decision to prevent a state-run oil company from supplying natural gas to Shanghai over the next two years reflects the government's continued problems in developing a costly pipeline from Western China, said an East-West...

LSU Researcher Finds New Petroleum Method, Receives Patent.(Louisiana State University)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... A Louisiana State University researcher has found an alternative method of producing petroleum that eliminates environmental impacts from mining and using fossil petroleum reserves. James Catallo, environmental chemist and associate professor...

Laser Drilling Gets New Focus.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... To find out if laser drilling is feasible, the Gas Technology Institute, the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory, and several project partners have joined in a new research effort that builds on a more basic study...

Pension Fund X's ExxonMobil.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... According to the California Public Employee Retirement System (Calpers), the nation's largest public pension fund with assets totaling more than $170 billion, they are supporting shareholder proposals challenging ExxonMobil's stance on global...

Oil Investors at Risk Overseas.
March 22, 2001... According to Marc Brammer, Senior Analyst, Innovest (4 Times Square, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10036; Tel: 212/ 421-2000; Fax: 212/421-9663; E-Mail: mbrammer@innovestgroup.com), in late March, the judge presiding over the case, Wiwa vs. Royal...

Crisis Looms in Nordic Countries.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Wholesale Power Market Outlook 2001/2002, just published by ICF Consulting, examines 17 wholesale electricity markets in Europe and concludes that several Nordic countries will face a severe capacity shortage next winter if hydro levels return...

Wind Turbines of the Future.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Wind Partnerships for Advanced Component Technology (WindPACT) is a major new initiative at DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. WindPACT's objective is to develop highly advanced component concepts appropriate for application to...

Probe Makes Mine Waste Safer.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... A network of small oxygen probes could avert acid damage to the environment and save mining companies millions of dollars. The CSIRO developed probe is poised to revolutionize the way mining companies monitor the rehabilitation of Australia's...

Regulations Drive Mercury Mitigation.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... As previously reported, in response to growing health and environmental concerns, the U.S. EPA decided last December to regulate mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. Now, Canada is considering similar measures. In order to get a jump...

Disposable Fibers Improve Drilling.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... A technique using an inexpensive disposable fiber optics telemetry system to relay real-time information about the drilling process is capturing the attention of the oil and gas industry. "We have come up with a unique system using throwaway...

Turning Point In Wholesale Power.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... ICF Consulting's recent update of its Bulk Power Outlook concludes that the outlook for the wholesale power markets is at a turning point. After years of generation capacity shortages, the number of new plants under construction promises an end...

Chemical Alternative to Plutonium Storage.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Storage of the nation's excess actinide metals, including plutonium and uranium, present a myriad of problems from pollution concerns to proliferation risk. Recently, solid-state chemists at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National...

Can Regulations Boost Profits?(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Increasing environmental regulations can decrease production costs and increase corporate profits, according to just reported findings of University of Arkansas economist Amy Farmer, which were published in the journal, Ecological Economics....

Drilling in Deep Water.(Statistical Data Included)
March 22, 2001... A roadmap for getting more oil and gas from the ultra-deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has recently emerged as an integral part of the Nation's oil and gas supply. Indeed, the deepwater reservoirs of the Gulf of...

Modernizing Mining.(Industry Overview)(Statistical Data Included)
March 22, 2001... A study evaluates industry technology trends and needs. The U.S. has the largest mining industry in the world, with a raw material production value of over $52 billion in 1997 (see Table 1). However, the mining industry's ability to finance...

BPA Blown Away by Wind Proposals.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... BPA Blown Away by Wind Proposals. "The response blew us away," said George Darr, Bonneville Power Administration's (905 NE 11th Ave., Portland, OR 97232: Tel: 503/230-3000, Fax: 503/230-3816, Toll Free: 800/622-4520; Website: www.bpa.gov)...

EIA Looks at Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel.(Energy Information Administration report)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... EIA Looks at Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel. The Energy Information Administration has just released "The Transition to Ultra-Low-Sulfur Diesel Fuel: Effects on Prices and Supply," which discusses the implications of the new regulations for vehicle...

Ethanol's Promise.
March 22, 2001... Can alcohol mitigate the macro-economic effects of rising energy costs? Ethanol is widely marketed across the U.S. as a high qual-ity octane enhancer and oxygenate. In spark ignition engines, ethanol emits significantly mitigates air...

Junk Forecasts.
March 22, 2001... Of Gulf War's and other `Interesting' Predictions. Of Junk Forecasts there is no end. For a good collection of such "forecasts" pertaining to energy and made about twenty years ago, see Mark P. Mills' article in the spring 1999 issue of...