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HavenWorks.com/energy/archive/2005 |
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ARCHIVES NEWS Energy News History Archives Energy Archives 2003 Energy Archives 2002 Energy Archives 2001 Energy Archives |
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Ukraine
- 
Russia
- 
EU
- "Ukraine
rejects Moscow gas loan offer." ... "President Viktor
Yushchenko of Ukraine last night rejected an offer of a $3.6bn (£2bn)
loan from Russia to pay for a big increase in gas prices by Gazprom, the
Russian energy company." ... "The move has provoked the biggest rift between
the two neighbours since last year's "Orange Revolution" in Kiev. Mr Yushchenko
has turned Ukraine towards the European Union and Nato and wrenched it
out of Russia's orbit." ... "The dispute could cause shortages in western
Europe if Russia carries out a threat to reduce the gas it pumps into the
huge export pipeline that crosses Ukraine from January 1. By doing so,
however, Russia would risk damaging its claim to be a reliable energy supplier,
just as it takes over the presidency of the Group of Eight industrialised
nations with energy security as a main theme." -By
Neil Buckley -FT.com
Ukraine
- "Turkmenistan
agrees to export 40 bln cu m gas to Ukraine in 2006."
-AFXNews via -Forbes
Russia
- 
Political
- 
Business
- "Russia
threatens to cut off Ukraine's gas." ... "Ukraine's
natural gas company declared Thursday that it has enough gas in storage
to see the country through the winter if Russia halts shipments in a standoff
over prices." ... "Russia's state-run natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, which
provides about a third of the gas used in Ukraine, says it will stop selling
gas to the country on Jan. 1 unless it agrees to a fourfold price increase."
... "Ukraine currently pays $50 (U.S.) per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. Gazprom
is demanding that the price in 2006 rise to $220 to $230, saying that is
more in line with world markets." -By Henry Meyer
-AP via -GlobeAndMail
Russia
- Business
- "Russia
to significantly up gas imports." ... "Russia on
Thursday agreed to significantly increase its imports of natural gas from
Turkmenistan in 2006, buying 30 billion cubic meters at US$65 (euro52)
per 1,000 cubic meters, the state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom said
in a statement." -AP
via -BusinessWeek
Texas
- 
Enron
- 
Accounting
- 
Energy
- Business
- "Enron's
Causey pleads guilty: Judge grants two-week delay
to Lay, Skilling trial." ... "Rather than face trial next month, Enron's
former chief accounting officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges
stemming from the scandal that brought down the energy company in late
2001." ... "Richard Causey's plea bargain, made in U.S. District Court
in Houston [Texas] before Judge Sim Lake, can't be welcome news for Kenneth
Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, the two top ex-Enron executives federal investigators
claim were kingpins in one of the biggest scandals ever to rock corporate
America." ... "At the same time, the deal requires Causey to cooperate
with federal prosecutors honing their case against his onetime bosses and
raises the possibility of his taking the witness stand against them." -By
Jim Jelter -MarketWatch
Government
- 
Law
- 
Military
- 
Terrorism
- 
Alaska
- Oil
- 
Environment
- 
Health
- 
Education
- 
Jobs
- Money
- "Senate
Extends Patriot Act, Kills Alaska Drilling (Update1)."
... "The U.S. Senate broke a legislative logjam and cleared the way for
its holiday departure last night with a series of short-term compromises
that extended the Patriot Act and blocked drilling for oil in Alaska's
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." ... "Democrats prevailed in getting Senate
Republican leaders to abandon the oil-drilling plan, which was attached
to the defense budget." ... "[House] Lawmakers passed a $142.5 billion
budget for health, education and jobs programs that cuts funding from last
year's spending plan, sending the measure to Bush for his signature. The
House approved the measure 215-213 on Dec. 14." ... "The health budget
reduces funding for the No Child Left Behind education initiative, special
education and job training. It freezes funding for the National Institutes
of Health and low- income heating assistance." -By
Catherine Dodge -Bloomberg
Alaska
- Gas
- Business
- Consumer
- "Alaska
sues BP, Exxon Mobil over natural gas: State claims
oil giants conspired to keep prices high." ... "An antitrust lawsuit filed
against Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP PLC claims the two oil giants are restricting
the nation's supply of natural gas and keeping prices at record highs."
... "The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Fairbanks, says
the two companies acted together to eliminate competition for the exploration,
development and marketing of natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to U.S.
markets." ... ""The only reason for them to collusively not to sell is
to try to continue the scarcity that has driven natural gas prices to historic
highs," said David Boies, the attorney for the Alaska Gasline Port Authority,
which filed the lawsuit." (1, 2)
-AP via -MSNBC
US- 
World- Oil
- "Oil
imports help push trade gap to record high." ...
"The U.S. international trade deficit jumped to a record $68.9 billion
in October, the government said Wednesday, prompting economists to warn
that growth could be slower than forecast in the fourth quarter of 2005."
... "Still, stock markets rallied on a separate Labor Department report
showing prices for imported goods fell 1.7% in November, as oil prices
dropped from post-hurricane highs. Tamer inflation could relieve pressure
on the Federal Reserve to keep raising interest rates. Also Wednesday,
a group of top CEOs predicted strong growth ahead." -By
Barbara Hagenbaugh -USATODAY
UK
- Oil
- Disaster
- 
Water
- Environment
- "UK
oil depot fire 'largest of kind'." ... "Firefighters
are battling blazes at three tanks still burning after Sunday's massive
explosions at a fuel depot north of London while investigators search for
clues as to what caused powerful explosions that started the blaze." ...
"Using fire suppressant foam and water, the firefighters successfully put
down fires in 10 other tanks at Buncefield Oil Depot near Hemel Hempstead
and kept the flames away from seven more after the blasts, which injured
43 people and were felt 40 kilometers (25 miles) away in London." ... "The
fire department said they were "making good progress" against the fire."
... "Fire and environmental officials spent much of the night discussing
how to tackle the blaze without polluting local water supplies."-AP
-CNN
Alaska
- Oil- Business
- Environment
- Law
- "White
House pushes Congress on Alaska drilling." ... "Bush
administration officials on Monday urged Congress to include opening Alaska's
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling in a broad budget-cutting
bill that could see a vote this week." ... "The Senate included ANWR in
its package of spending cuts. But the House-passed budget bill dropped
the ANWR drilling provision after a group of moderate Republicans threatened
to vote against the measure if the drilling language was included." ...
"The Bush administration stepped up its lobbying efforts to give oil companies
access to the refuge." (1, 2)
-By Chris Baltimore with contributions by Richard
Cowan -Reuters
Kazakhstan
- Russia
- 
China
- United
States - Oil
- "Foes
call Kazakh poll invalid: Observers also see flaws
in figures." ... "Opposition leaders yesterday called for President Nursultan
Nazarbayev's election victory to be declared invalid, while Western-led
observers said the vote that gave him 91 percent support was flawed." ...
"An array of exit polls had indicated Nazarbayev would win with 70 to 80
percent of the vote." ... "Kazakhstan, which is four times the size of
Texas and borders both Russia and China, has vast oil and gas reserves
that are a potential alternative to Middle East petroleum, and its stability
matters greatly to the United States and Western Europe." -By
Jim Heintz -AP
via -BostonGlobe
Iraq
- Oil
- Business
- 
UN
- Legal
- 
History
- "Scope
of oil-for-food fraud 'overwhelming'." ... "It began
with the best of intentions and achieved its major goals: feeding the Iraqi
people while keeping dangerous weapons out of Saddam Hussein's hands."
... "Along the way, the United Nations' oil-for-food program metastasized
into the worst corruption scandal in U.N. history." ... "Three weeks after
a scathing report detailed the scope of the fraud — implicating governments,
former diplomats, businessmen and corporations — a relatively small number
of criminal investigations and other probes have begun." -By
Barbara Slavin -USATODAY
Dick
Cheney - Secret
- Business
- Law
- Politics
- Nevada
- Alaska
- "Did
oil execs lie to Congress? Report contradicts big
oil execs testimony denying a White House meeting. Democrats seek probe."
... "Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said the executives
should return to Washington and set the record straight." ... "They should
"be brought back to the Congress, sworn in, and forced to testify again
about their involvement with Vice President Cheney's secretive energy task
force and all of the issues covered in the hearing," Reid said." ... "Republican
Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, who chaired last week's hearing, refused Democrats'
demands that the executives be sworn in under oath before they testified."
-Reuters via -CNN
/Money
Business
- Politics
- 
Iowa
- "'Backdoor
windfall tax' stirs the pot: Provision in Senate
tax bill riles the oil industry and its supporters on the Hill." ... "There's
been a heated debate going on around the Beltway about whether to impose
a "windfall profit tax" on the oil industry, which has profited handsomely
from soaring oil prices earlier this year." ... "But in a surprising and
contested move, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) included in a Senate Finance
Committee tax bill a provision that some have characterized as a 'backdoor
windfall tax' on large oil companies. The committee, which Grassley chairs,
passed the bill Tuesday evening. And it is being debated on the Senate
floor Thursday." ... "The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the provision
would raise an additional $5 billion in tax revenue in 2006 and 2007. That
would help compensate for the revenue lost by the nearly $60 billion in
tax breaks also included in the bill." -CNN
/Money
Dick
Cheney - Secret
- Energy
- Law- Politics
- Business
- Environment
- Alaska
- "Document
Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force." ...
"A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met
with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long
suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry
officials testifying before Congress." ... "The document, obtained this
week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp.,
Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America
Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing
a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which
are still being debated." ... "The executives were not under oath when
they testified, so they are not vulnerable to charges of perjury; committee
Democrats had protested the decision by Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)
not to swear in the executives. But a person can be fined or imprisoned
for up to five years for making "any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent
statement or representation" to Congress." -By Dana
Milbank and Justin Blum with contributions by Lucy Shackelford-WashingtonPost
Alaska
- Missouri
- Legal
- Environmental
- Politics
- "Alaska
oil-drilling measure may return." ... "Legislation
to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, apparently
scuttled in the House last week, may resurface quickly, Republican leaders
signaled Tuesday." ... "Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, the acting majority leader,
told reporters there would be no attempt to reinsert the controversial
provision in deficit-cutting legislation pending in the House." ... "But
when asked about plans for a final House-Senate compromise measure, he
sidestepped. "It's too early to worry about" the final bill, he said of
a measure that is expected to be drafted in December."
-AP via -CNN
US
- 
Canada
- Alaska
- Oil
- Animals
- Politics
- "U.S.
House drops plans to drill in Arctic refuge." ...
"In a move certain to please Canadian politicians as well as environmentalists
on both sides of the border, U.S. House leaders abandoned plans late yesterday
to push for oil drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge." ... "They dropped
from a budget bill a provision that would open the refuge to drilling as
a salve to moderate Republicans because they feared it would jeopardize
approval of a sweeping legislation today." ... "Canadian politicians and
activists have lobbied against the plan because it would affect a migrating
caribou herd." ... "Prime Minister Paul Martin said last month that the
environmental damage from opening a coastal strip of the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to oil development would far outweigh any modest addition
to U.S. crude supplies." -By Oliver Moore
-GlobeAndMail
Alaska
- New_Hampshire
- Oil
- Politics
- "Bass
led effort to drop Alaskan wildlife refuge oil drilling plan."
... "[New Hampshire] Rep. Charles Bass led the way in persuading House
leaders to drop a hotly contested plan to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge
to oil drilling." ... "Led by Bass, R-N.H., 25 Republicans signed a letter
asking GOP leaders strip the language from the bill." ... "The letter said,
"Rather then reversing decades of protection for this publicly held land,
focusing greater attention on renewable energy sources, alternate fuels,
and more efficient systems and appliances would yield more net energy savings
than could come from ANWR and would have a higher benefit on the nation's
long-term economic leadership and security.""
-AP via -BostonGlobe
Hawaii
- Business
- "Hawaiian
Electric 3Q Income Slips." ... "Hawaiian Electric
Industries Inc. on Wednesday said third-quarter profit fell as customers
faced with more expensive electricity bills and higher fuel costs curbed
their electricity use." ... "Hawaiian Electric supplies power to more than
400,000 customers, or 93 percent of Hawaii's market through its three electric
utilities." -AP
via -Forbes
Political
- Business
- Hurricane
Katrina - Hurricane
Rita - Hawaii
- "Oil
Company Execs Defend Huge Profits." ... "The chiefs
of five major oil companies defended the industry's huge profits Wednesday
at a Senate hearing where they were exhorted to explain prices and assure
customers they're not being gouged." ... "Together the companies earned
more than $25 billion in profits in the July-September quarter as the price
of crude oil hit $70 a barrel and gasoline surged to record levels after
the disruptions of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita." ... "Democrats had wanted
the executives to testify under oath, but Republicans rejected the idea.
``If I were a witness I would demand to be put under oath,'' said Sen.
Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii. The soaring prices have sent shivers through a
Congress worried about political fallout." -By H.
Josef Hebert -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
Azerbaijan
- Russia
- 
Georgia
- 
Turkey
- 
Iran
- Energy
- "Azerbaijan
Braces for Election: Riots Threatened If Fraud Is
Seen." ... "Flame licks the hills outside of this city on the Caspian Sea,
spontaneous little eruptions jumping from the earth and testifying to the
energy riches that this Muslim country with a large impoverished population
is about to transform into billions of dollars in cold cash." ... "Between
now and 2024, a new oil pipeline to Turkey will generate an estimated $124
billion, a bonanza for this nation of 8 million with a state budget this
year of $1.4 billion." ... "Azerbaijan, a small former Soviet republic
squeezed between Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Iran, is on the verge
of an oil boom. On Sunday it will go to the polls in parliamentary elections,
and the outcome, amid charges of strong-arm tactics and fears of vote-rigging,
might prove just as pivotal to the country's future." -By
Peter Finn-WashingtonPost
Gordon
Smith - Oil
- Money
- Politics
- 
Wildlife
- Alaska
- 
Washington
- 
Oregon
- "Senate
endorses oil drilling in Alaska wildlife refuge."
... "Senate opponents to drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge failed Thursday
to strip the measure from a massive budget package as supporters of exploration
argued that the oil is needed to help break America of its import habit."
... "Environmentalists, who believe strongly the refuge should continue
to be off limits to oil companies to protect the area's wildlife, had acknowledged
that it was a long shot to get the provision killed and now are concentrating
on defeating the overall budget bill." ... "The Democratic Party of Oregon
issued a statement criticizing [Oregon Republican Senator Gordon] Smith's
decision to vote for a budget package that includes the drilling." ...
""Gordon Smith has again shown the dishonesty of his slick campaign ads
and so-called independence in the U.S. Senate," said Kelly Steele, the
party's communications director. "When the chips were down, Gordon Smith
bowed to the will of the Bush White House, and broke another promise to
Oregonians."" ... "[Washington state Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell:]
"Using backdoor tactics to destroy America's last great wild frontier will
not solve our nation's energy problems and will do nothing to lower skyrocketing
gas prices," Cantwell argued. She dismissed industry arguments that the
refuge can be drilled with little if any adverse impact on the environment
or wildlife." ... "The Prudhoe Bay oil fields, just to the west of ANWR
[Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge] and the Alaska oil pipeline
have resulted in 504 spills a year since 1996 and there's no reason to
assume greater protection in the refuge, maintained Cantwell. " -By
H. Josef Hebert with contributions by Matthew Day
-AP via -kgw.com
Alaska
- Washington
- Oil
- Business
- Politics
- "Access
to Alaska oil, revenue closer: Senate votes to keep
drilling language in budget bill." ... "With rising oil prices and record
oil company profits serving as a backdrop, the Senate moved one step closer
on Thursday to allow companies to drill for oil and gas in Alaska's Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge." ... "The Senate beat back an amendment offered
by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. [Washington], to strike language from a
pending budget reconciliation bill that would open the region to producers."
... "The amendment failed in a vote of 48-51." ... "Cantwell said the budget
bill provided a "sweetheart deal" for the oil industry, which has long
sought access to the oil and natural gas supplies thought to lie beneath
the refuge." -By Stephanie I. Cohen
-MarketWatch
Florida
- Hurricane
Wilma - 
Halloween
- "Halloween
Is Hurricane Wilma's New Victim: Hurricane Wilma
Claims Another Victim - Halloween Trick-Or-Treating." ... "Little ghosts
and goblins in cities across South Florida were stuck inside Monday night
as officials urged parents to call off trick-or-treating because of the
damage from Hurricane Wilma." ... "Florida Power & Light, the state's
largest electric utility, said Monday afternoon that it had restored power
to about 75 percent of the customers blacked out by the Oct. 24 storm,
but that left 800,000 homes and businesses still without electricity."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
Weather
- Hurricane
Katrina - Hurricane
Rita - Business
- "Exxon,
Shell Profits Soar as Oil and Gas Prices Rally (Update6)."
... "Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc posted record net income
of almost $19 billion combined after energy prices surged to unprecedented
highs amid disruptions caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita." ... "Third-quarter
profit at Exxon Mobil, the world's biggest publicly traded oil producer,
jumped 75 percent to an industry record of $9.92 billion, the company said
today in a statement. The Hague-based Shell set the previous record about
six hours earlier, when it said net income rose 68 percent to $9 billion."
... "The world's five biggest investor- owned oil companies are heading
for combined 2005 profit of almost $107 billion, according to analyst estimates,
partly on the widening gap between crude [oil] costs and refined fuel prices."
-By Joe Carroll and Jim Kennett -Bloomberg
Florida
- 
Airline
- Hurricane
Wilma - "Most
of South Florida without power." ... "Power failures
caused by Hurricane Wilma left 6 million people across Florida without
electricity Tuesday and disrupted airline traffic at the third-busiest
U.S. airport for international traffic. Officials said some areas could
be in the dark for several weeks." ... "Florida Power & Light, which
provides electricity for almost all of South Florida, said Wilma had affected
more of its customers than any other natural disaster in FPL's history.
It said one in three Florida residents were without power." -By
Tony Bertuca and Wendy Koch with contributions by Donna Leinwand
-USATODAY
Weather
- Business
- "Oil,
Gasoline Fall to Lowest Since July as Wilma Threat Ebbs."
... "Crude oil dipped below $60 a barrel and gasoline plunged to the lowest
since July 1 as Hurricane Wilma became less of a threat to oil fields in
the Gulf of Mexico." ... "Prices surged to records after Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita shut U.S. offshore platforms in the region that's responsible
for 30 percent of the nation's oil production. U.S. oil and gasoline stockpiles
rose last week, according to an Energy Department report yesterday." ...
"Crude oil for November delivery fell $1.66, or 2.7 percent, to $60.75
a barrel at 1:05 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures touched
$59.85, the lowest since July 29. Oil has declined 14 percent since reaching
a record $70.85 a barrel on Aug. 30, the day after Katrina made landfall.
Prices are up 11 percent from a year ago." -By Mark
Shenk -Bloomberg
Home
- Energy
- "As
winter approaches, home heating prices start to rise."
... "Those who have natural gas heating their homes could see a roughly
15 percent rise in costs, while those with electric heat might see a three
percent increase. But oil customers are facing the worst potential hit,
with costs expected to rise up to 40 percent." ... "Nationwide, about 30
million households qualify for the federal heat assistance program, but
there's only enough money for about 5 million households."
-AP via -OregonLive.com
Nigeria
- United
States - Environmental
- MIL
- "Burdens
of oil weigh on Nigerians: Ecological harm, corruption
hit hard." ... "Under the vast swamps of Nigeria's coastal delta sit some
of the world's most productive oil reserves, a treasure coveted by the
energy-hungry United States and other nations." ... "Nigeria produces 10
percent of the oil consumed in the United States, and the Bush administration
hopes for a greater bounty soon: US energy officials forecast that oil
from Nigeria and the rest of the Gulf of Guinea region will provide one-quarter
of America's oil in the next decade, equal to that of the Gulf of Mexico
today. Already, 30 percent of the world's newly discovered oil reserves
in the past five years have come from this stretch of Africa's west coast."
... "But here in the serpentine creeks and boggy coastal land lie daunting
obstacles to those hopes --pirates, corruption, violent youth militias,
and environmental catastrophes." -By John Donnelly
with contributions by Nicolas V. Gortzounian
-Boston/Globe
Iran
- 
India
- UN
- Energy
- Business
- "Iran
warns India on nuclear vote."Iran has singled India
out for criticism over Delhi's support for Iran to be referred to the UN
Security Council over its nuclear plans." ... ""India's vote came as a
great surprise to us," an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday."
... ""We will reconsider our economic cooperation with those countries
that voted against us."" ... "India and Iran are in negotiations over a
$7bn gas pipeline deal that would help India's energy supply problems."-BBC
/News
Hurricane
Rita - Texas
- Louisiana
- Auto
- Transportation
- Oil
- "Spinning
Rita, weakening, threatens oil refineries." ... "More
than 3 million people along the Texas and Louisiana coasts were urged to
get out of the way of Rita, setting off an unprecedented exodus that brought
traffic to a standstill across the Houston metropolitan area. Cars overheated
and ran out of gas in 10- and 12-hour traffic jams. Some drivers gave up
and turned around and went home." ... "By Friday morning, the freeways
within Houston had cleared out, but traffic was still bumper-to-bumper
from the outskirts of the city toward Austin and Dallas. The state escorted
tanker trucks full of gas to empty stations in small towns along the way.
And National Guard trucks delivered gasoline to drivers who ran out." ...
"Dozens of chemical plants are situated along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf
Coast in the nation's biggest concentration of oil refineries, and damage
and disruptions caused by Rita could cause already-rising oil and gasoline
prices to go even higher." -USATODAY
- Hurricane
Rita - Texas
- "Oil
workers flee as Rita advances: Oil companies in the
US have begun closing Texas refineries threatened by the onslaught of Hurricane
Rita." ... "The production cuts in Texas, which processes a quarter of
US oil, come as the industry is struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina's
devastation." ... "At least 16 of the state's 26 refineries are potentially
in the hurricane's path, stretching along the Gulf of Mexico coastline.
Several have already been closed down, while non-essential staff have been
sent home at others." ... "The US Minerals Management Service said that
more than 70% of oil production in the Gulf had been shut down because
of Rita." -BBC
/News
Hurricane
Rita - Texas
- Louisiana
- 
Wind
-Oil
- "Hurricane
Rita May Hit Land in the Gulf Coast Within Two Days."
... "Hurricane Rita, the third-most- intense storm ever recorded in the
Atlantic basin, may hit the Gulf Coast as soon as tomorrow night. The Category
5 storm is more powerful than Hurricane Katrina when it slammed Louisiana
last month to become the most expensive U.S. natural disaster." ... "Rita,
with winds of 175 mph (280 kmh) is expected to reach land sometime ``Friday
night through Saturday morning,'' said Chris Landsea, a meteorologist with
the National Hurricane Center. Hurricane conditions are possible in the
next 36 hours along the coast between Port Mansfield, Texas, to Cameron,
Louisiana, the center said on its Web site." ... "About 52 percent of 134
[oil] rigs and 57 percent of 819 manned [oil] platforms in the Gulf of
Mexico were evacuated, the Minerals Management Service said on its Web
site." ... "The Texas Gulf Coast has seven of the 13 largest U.S. [oil]
refineries." -By Vivek Shankar -Bloomberg
-
- 
- 
-
-
-
-
- "North
Korea does quick reversal on nuclear-arms pact."
... "After four rounds of discussions spanning several years, the United
States, North and South Korea, Japan, Russia and China said yesterday that
they had agreed on a vaguely worded plan under which North Korea promised
to dismantle its nuclear weapons in return for energy assistance, eventual
U.S. and Japanese diplomatic recognition and a pledge by Washington that
it would not attack the country." ... "The agreement also said the United
States and other nations would discuss giving North Korea a light-water
reactor for generating electricity, though it skirted the question of when."
... "But the North Koreans made it clear today that they are in no mood
to defer their reward." ... "In a blunt statement, North Korea's official
KCNA news service warned that "the U.S. should not even dream of the issue
of [North Korea's] dismantlement of its nuclear deterrent before providing"
a light-water reactor, which it called "a physical guarantee for confidence-building.""
-By Barbara Demick, Mark Magnier and Sonni Efron with
contributions by Alissa J. Rubin and Bruce Wallace -LAtimes
with -AP and -SeattleTimes.NWsource
Iran
- Japan
- Oil
- Politics
-
- "Iran
warns it could quit nuclear treaty, issues oil threat."
... "Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani warned that Tehran could
quit the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if it is subjected to the 'language
of force' in a stand-off over its nuclear programme." ... "Responding to
European efforts to haul Iran before the UN Security Council over 'breaches'
of international atomic safeguards, Larijani also said Tehran would link
its oil business and other economic trade with individual countries based
on whose side they took in the dispute." ... "He was later asked if this
meant countries like Japan -- which recently signed a major contract to
develop Iran's Azadegan oil field -- could lose contracts in Iran." ...
"'It is not only Japan but other countries that are concerned. We will
examine their attitude,' Larijani said, adding that the future of the Azadegan
contract 'depends on their (Japan's) conduct'."
-AFXNews via -Forbes
-
-
-
-
-
- "North
Korea Pledges to Drop Nuclear Weapons Program." ...
"North Korea pledged today to end its nuclear weapons program and rejoin
global treaties aimed at stemming the spread of atomic arms in return for
energy aid and diplomatic recognition." ... "According to a joint statement
by the six nations involved in negotiations for more than two years, Pyongyang
"committed to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs
and to return at an early date to the nonproliferation treaty of nuclear
weapons." It also said North Korea would accept International Atomic Energy
Agency safeguards." (1, 2)
-By Mark Magnier and Barbara Demick with contributions
by Yin Lijin -LAtimes
North
Carolina -
-
- "Ophelia
lashes North Carolina coast: 15 inches of rain expected
in some places; storm surges could reach 11 feet." ... "Hurricane Ophelia
lashed the North Carolina coast with high winds and heavy rains Wednesday,
beginning an anticipated two-day assault that threatened serious flooding
and an 11-foot storm surge." ... ""If you have not heeded the warning before,
let me be clear right now: Ophelia is a dangerous storm," Gov. Mike Easley
said from Raleigh, appealing especially to those in flood-prone areas to
evacuate." ... "More than 120,000 homes and business were without power
in eastern North Carolina, electric utilities said."
-AP via -MSNBC
-
- Hurricane
Katrina - "Delta,
Northwest Airlines File for Bankruptcy." ... "The
nation's airline crisis took a stunning turn for the worse today when Delta
Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. both filed for bankruptcy in
the face of massive losses, meaning that four of the seven largest U.S.
carriers are now flying in Chapter 11 bankruptcy." ... "Delta and Northwest,
the third- and fourth-largest airlines respectively by passenger traffic,
joined United Airlines and its parent UAL Corp., along with US Airways
Group Inc., in seeking protection from its creditors in Bankruptcy Court."
... "The price of fuel — an airline's second-biggest expense after labor
— surged above $2.30 a gallon after Hurricane Katrina disrupted the Gulf
Coast's refining operations, and it helped push Delta and Northwest into
bankruptcy. Before the storm, fuel cost less than $1.90 a gallon." -By
James F. Peltz
-LAtimes
CA
- Los
Angeles - "Los
Angeles Power Restored After Line Overload Causes Blackout."
... "A power failure in Los Angeles, the second-largest U.S. city, darkened
downtown and several nearby cities, trapping people in elevators, disrupting
refineries and snarling traffic." ... "The blackout started around 12:35
p.m. local time, and almost all who lost power had it restored by 2 p.m.,
said Kim Hughes, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Water
and Power, the nation's largest municipal utility." ... "Power was lost
in an area with about 2 million people after a worker with the utility
accidentally overloaded a transmission line, tripping circuit protectors,
Hughes said. Overloading the line caused an automatic shutdown of other
lines to prevent damage to equipment." -By Greg Chang
with contributions by Sonja Franklin, Ian McKinnon, Bruce Blythe, Christopher
Martin, Alex Armitage, Greg Baumann, Daniel Taub, Richard Schwartz and
Jim Polson -Bloomberg
CA
- Los
Angeles - 
- "UPDATE
2-Major power outage hits Los Angeles." ... "A major
power outage hit Los Angeles area on Monday, knocking out electricity to
thousands of customers as officials scrambled to determine the cause and
police declared a state of emergency." ... ""The city is on a tactical
alert and obviously traffic is going to be impacted," Los Angeles Police
spokesman Kevin Maiberger said." ... "Maiberger described a tactical alert
as "what happens when the city goes into a state of emergency. Police officers
will only be responding to calls where there is a threat to life.""
-Reuters
Lesotho
- "Lesotho
c.bank sees oil price slashing GDP growth." ... "High
oil prices will cut Lesotho's economic growth this year to just 0.9 percent
from an earlier forecast of 3.5 percent, a fresh blow for the tiny country
hit by food shortages and AIDS, the Central Bank said." ... "The bank said
the oil price surge could push inflation above the current 3.4 percent,
further hitting living standards in a country where most people are below
the international poverty standard of $1 per day and where more than 30
percent of the adult population is infected with HIV/AIDS." -By
Ntsau Lekhetho -Reuters
Hurricane
Katrina -
-
- "Update
9: Katrina Drives Energy Prices to New Highs." ...
"The potential damage to oil platforms, refineries and pipelines that remain
closed along the Gulf Coast drove energy prices to new highs Tuesday, with
crude futures briefly topping $70 a barrel and wholesale gasoline costs
surging to levels that could lead to $3 a gallon at the pump in some markets."
... "Companies scrambled planes and helicopters to get an aerial view of
their assets and they began escorting some previously evacuated workers
back to offshore facilities to conduct detailed inspections of rigs and
underwater pipes. Some producers found that a rig or platform had disappeared,
drifted or listed, while others reported that damage appeared minimal."
... "Onshore, flooding from Hurricane Katrina is likely to have caused
enough damage to some refineries that it could take weeks, and possibly
a month or more, before operations return to normal, analysts said." -Contributions
by Steve Quinn, Allen Breed and George Jahn -AP
via -Forbes
-
-
-
- "Oil
leaps past $70 as storm hits." ... "Oil prices surged
to a record above $70 a barrel before paring gains on Monday as one of
the biggest hurricanes in U.S. history disrupted oil and gas production
in the Gulf of Mexico, home to a quarter of total domestic oil and gas
production." ... "U.S. crude oil futures jumped nearly $5 in electronic
trade to touch a peak of $70.80 per barrel, the highest front-month price
since the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) began trading the contracts
in 1983." ... "The Gulf of Mexico normally pumps about 1.5 million barrels
per day (bpd) of U.S. crude, a quarter of domestic output and equivalent
to nearly 2 percent of global oil production." (1, 2)-Reuters
Louisiana
- Mississippi
-
-
- "Katrina
Prompts Oil Price Spike." ... "Crude oil futures
briefly surged above $70 a barrel for the first time as Hurricane Katrina
barreled Monday toward the heart of U.S. oil and refinery operations in
the Gulf of Mexico, shutting down an estimated 1 million barrels of refining
capacity." ... "The Category 4 storm advanced on an area crucial to the
U.S. energy infrastructure — offshore oil and gas production, import terminals,
pipeline networks and numerous refining operations in the southern states
of Louisiana and Mississippi." (1. 2)
-AP
via -CBSNews
- 
- Pat
Robertson
-
-
- 
-
- "Robertson
Is Pilloried for Assassination Call." ... "The conservative
Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has made news over the years for making
explosive comments on his daily television program lambasting everything
from feminists and "activist" judges to the United Nations and Disneyland."
... "Now Mr. Robertson has set off an international firestorm by saying
that the United States should assassinate President Hugo Chávez
of Venezuela. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don't
think any oil shipments will stop," Mr. Robertson said on his program on
Monday." ... "Today, the vice president of Venezuela denounced Mr. Robertson
for making "terrorist statements," and in Washington a spokesman for the
State Department called the comments "inappropriate."" -By
Laurie Goodstein -NYTimes
-
- Pat
Robertson - Virginia
-
-
-
- "Venezuela
Says Robertson Call to Kill Chavez Criminal (Update1)."
..."Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said that calls by U.S.
television evangelist Pat Robertson to kill Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
were ``criminal.''" ... "``I don't know about this doctrine of assassination,
but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really
ought to go ahead and do it,'' Robertson said of Chavez. ``This is a dangerous
enemy to our south controlling a huge pool of oil.''" ... "Robertson, 75,
made the comments on Chavez yesterday on his program, an audiotape of which
was posted on the Web site of the Christian Broadcasting Network, founded
by the cleric in 1960 and based in Virginia." -Peter
Wilson and Alex Morales -Bloomberg
-
- Pat
Robertson -
-
-
-
- "TV
host urges US to kill Chavez: US religious broadcaster
Pat Robertson has called for the US to assassinate Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez." ... "Mr Robertson caused controversy with the comments on
his TV show, describing Mr Chavez as "a terrific danger"." ... "Venezuela's
vice president accused Robertson of making "terrorist" remarks and said
the US response would put its anti-terror policy to the test." ... "Venezuela
is the fifth-largest oil exporter and a major supplier of oil to the United
States." -BBC
/News
-
-
-
- "Australia
to Begin Talks on Uranium Exports to China (Update1)."
... "The agreement will set up safeguards to ensure Australian uranium
supplied to China is only used for peaceful purposes, Downer said today
in an e-mailed statement." -By Angela Macdonald-Smith
-Bloomberg
-
-
- Autos
- 
-
-
- Homes
- "Bush
Signs Massive Energy Bill Into Law." ... "In the
near term, the new legislation will extend daylight-saving time, give tax
breaks to drivers who buy cars with fuel-efficient technologies and try
to jump-start the construction of new nuclear power plants." ... "Environmental
groups and other opponents say the bill amounts to a gift to energy companies
that does nothing new to promote renewable energy." ... "The measure funnels
billions of dollars to energy companies, including tax breaks and loan
guarantees for new nuclear power plants, clean coal technology and wind
energy." ... "For consumers, the bill would provide tax credits for buying
hybrid gasoline-electric cars and making energy-conservation improvements
with better windows and appliances in new and existing homes." -By
Nedra Pickler -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "Bush
Signs Sweeping Energy Bill." ... "President Bush
today signed a sweeping energy bill that provides billions of dollars in
tax subsidies to energy companies, but that even he acknowledged will do
little to alleviate the high prices of gasoline at the pump for most Americans."
... "The bill will provide tax breaks and loan guarantees for new nuclear
power plants, clean coal technology and wind energy. It will also require
utilities, for the first time, to comply with federal reliability standards
for the electricity grid, instead of relying on self-regulation, an effort
to avoid power blackouts, like the one that struck the Midwest and Northeast
in the summer of 2003." -By Maria Newman
-NYTimes
-
-
-
- "Australia
to start nuclear fuel talks with China." ... "Australia,
which has an estimated 40 pct of the world's low-cost uranium resources,
already has 19 nuclear agreements covering 36 countries and earns some
300 mln usd annually from uranium exports."
-AFXNews via -Forbes
- 
-
- New
York
- "Oil
Rises to a Record, Approaches $64, on Saudi Supply Concern."
... "Crude oil in New York jumped to a record, a cent short of $64 a barrel,
as a threat to the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia heightened concern that
supplies from the country, the world's largest exporter, could be jeopardized."
... "Oil for September delivery surged $1.44, or 2.3 percent, to $63.75
a barrel at 12:29 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The futures
earlier touched $63.99 a barrel, the highest intraday price since the contract
debuted in 1983, and surpassing the previous record of $62.50 on Aug. 3."
... "Adjusted for inflation, oil was still more expensive during the 1970s."
... "Prices rose in 1974 after an oil embargo that followed the Arab-Israeli
war and from 1979 through 1981 after Iran cut oil exports. The average
cost of oil used by U.S. refiners was $35.24 a barrel in 1981, according
to the Energy Department, or $75.44 in today's dollars." -By
Heesun Wee -Bloomberg
- -
-
- "N.
Korea talks broke over light-reactors, US envoy says:
Negotiations resume Aug. 29." ... "North Korea's unexpected insistence
that it still has the right to build light-water reactors to generate electricity
became the main deal-breaker during 13 days of sometimes acrimonious discussions
on eliminating nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula, the chief US negotiator
said yesterday." -By Edward Cody-WashingtonPost
via -Boston/Globe
Mauritania
- 
- 
-
-
-
- "Army
officers declare coup in Mauritania: Members of presidential
guard take over TV, radio, block streets in capital." ... "A group of Mauritanian
army officers announced the overthrow of the nation's president on Wednesday,
hours after troops took control of the national media and seized the army
chief of staff headquarters in the capital of this oil-rich Islamic nation."
... "The group, which identified itself as the Military Council for Justice
and Democracy, announced the coup against President Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Taya,
who was abroad, through the state-run news agency."
-AP and -Reuters
contributions via -MSNBC
Mauritania
-
-
- "Firing
heard after Mauritanian army troops launch coup UPDATE."
... "An AFP correspondent heard heavy weapons fire in the almost deserted
city, but its immediate cause was not known, while a military source said
a number of senior officers had been arrested." ... "Ould Taya, who seized
power himself in a bloodless coup in 1984, is a strong ally of the US.
The northwest African country sits on an estimated one bln barrels of oil
and 30 bln cubic meters of natural gas." -AFXNews
via -Forbes
- 
-
-
-
-
- 
-
- "Iran:
crisis looming over nuclear plans." ... "Threats
by Iran to re-start the process of enriching uranium could indicate that
it has taken a strategic decision to develop a nuclear fuel production
cycle." ... "If so, it could face UN sanctions in due course and one day
even a military attack on its facilities by Israel or the United States."
... "But nuclear experts and a new assessment by US intelligence say that
Iran is perhaps ten years from being able to make enough fuel for a nuclear
bomb." ... "Neither a diplomatic nor a military crisis has been precipitated
yet." -By Paul Reynolds-BBC
/News
-
-
- Religion
- "New
Saudi king unlikely to change foreign policy." ...
"Saudi Arabia's new king, Abdullah, is unlikely to steer the world's largest
oil exporter away from its longtime alliances, despite his Arab nationalist
views." ... "Aged over 80, Abdullah has sometimes appeared pricklier and
less pro-Western than the late King Fahd, who died on Monday, but officials
say the two men varied more in style than policy." ... "The Sunni Muslim
royals fear that the rising power of Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq since the
overthrow of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-based regime will shift the regional
balance of power." -Reuters
via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
-
-
- "Bid
by Chevron in Big Oil Deal Thwarts China." ... "Chevron
sweetened its offer for Unocal late yesterday in an 11th-hour move to thwart
a rival offer from Cnooc, a government backed Chinese oil company, executives
close to the negotiations said." ... "Unocal's board voted to accept Chevron's
increased offer worth $17 billion, or $63 a share in cash and stock, and
rejected a still higher all-cash offer from Cnooc worth $67 a share as
too politically risky, the executives said." ... "Still, it is possible
that Cnooc could return to the negotiating table with a higher bid." -By
Andrew Ross Sorkin and Jad Mouawad -NYTimes
-
-
-
-
-
- "Bush
seals nuclear agreement with India." ... "In a detailed
joint statement issued after talks on[e] day in Washington with Manmohan
Singh, India's prime minister, Mr Bush said he would seek agreement from
Congress to end more than four decades of sanctions that have barred full
US co-operation with India on civilian nuclear energy programmes." ...
"In return for the US pledges, India agreed that it was “ready to assume
the same responsibilities and practices and acquire the same benefits and
advantages as other leading countries with advanced nuclear technology.”"
... "This would include voluntarily placing its civilian nuclear facilities
under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, agreeing to additional
measures under the IAEA protocol, and co-operating fully in international
schemes to prevent the spread of nuclear enrichment and re-processing technologies."
-By Caroline Daniel and Edward Alden
-FT.com
- Wyoming
- Colorado
-
- "Denver-Based
Co. Sells Stake in Gas Field." ... "A group of California
utilities has purchased part of a key Wyoming natural gas field from the
Anschutz Pinedale Corp. for $300 million." ... "Anschutz Pinedale will
continue to produce natural gas from its remaining undeveloped 8,000 acres
in the Pinedale Anticline of southwestern Wyoming, Anschutz spokesman Jim
Monaghan said Tuesday. The company is part of the holdings of Denver [Colorado]
billionaire Philip Anschutz." -Newsday.com
-
- "Crude
Oil Climbs to Record as Hurricane Threatens U.S. Output."
... "Crude oil rose to a record, nearing $62 a barrel in New York, as Hurricane
Dennis strengthened and crossed the Caribbean, threatening to become the
second storm this week to disrupt U.S. production in the Gulf of Mexico."
... "Hurricanes ``have the potential to disrupt both oil production and
refining,'' said Julian Lee, an analyst at the Centre for Global Energy
Studies in London. ``It's oil that's very close to the U.S. market so it
has an immediate impact on prices. With relatively little spare capacity,
the effects are perhaps disproportionately big.'' -By
Alejandro Barbajosa
-Bloomberg
Gordon
Smith - Corporate
- Politics
- 
Sports
- 
Vacations
- Jets
- Accounting
- 
Telecommunications
- Energy
- Lawmakers
- Ore
- 
Nev
- 
Ind
- Fla
- 
Mich
- 
Ky
- 
Va
-
- 
- 
- 
- "Amid
much scrutiny, mixing pleasure and politics goes on."
... "Even if lawmakers are more sensitive these days about teeing up [golfing]
with lobbyists at posh resorts, one would never know it by witnessing a
scene at Dulles International Airport on Sunday night when lobbyists returned
from the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, a high-end course in southwestern Oregon.
One lobbyist from Accenture, an accounting firm, even disembarked sporting
a long-sleeve Bandon Dunes polo shirt." ... "[Oregon Republican Senator]
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.[Republican-Oregon]) held the fundraiser, an annual
event for his political action committee Impact America. A score of telecommunications,
financial-services and energy lobbyists paid $3,000 to $5,000 apiece to
join him for the promise of unfettered access for a weekend with the second-term
Oregonian and member of the Finance and Commerce, Science and Transportation
committees." ... "Smith paid Bandon Dunes $14,472 last year to reserve
the resort for his guests, according to disclosure reports filed with the
Federal Election Commission (FEC). Bandon Dunes charges $175 per person
for a round of golf and at least $300 for rooms during the peak season,
from May to October." ... "Smith, the heir of a frozen-foods fortune, seems
to have no qualms about his close ties to the business community. He readily
admitted that he flew to the event on FedEx’s corporate jet and returned
via Union Pacific’s plane." ... "[Nevada] Republican [Senator] Sen. John
Ensign (R-Nev.[Republican-Nevada]) also flew out for the event, as did
[Indiana Republican Representative] Reps. Chris Chocola (Ind.[Indiana]),
[Florida Republican Representative] Ander Crenshaw (Fla.[Florida]) and
[Indiana Republican Representative] Steve Buyer (Ind.[Indiana])." ... "[Michigan
Republican Representative] Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.[Republican-Michigan])
is hosting a golf tournament in July at the Oakland Hills Country Club
[in Michigan], the home of the 2004 Ryder Cup matches and the 2008 PGA
Championship. [Kentucky Republican Representative] Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.[Republican-Kentucky]),
a cardinal on the Appropriations Committee, will hold an event in August
at Pebble Beach, the world-famous coastal golf course in California." ...
"In the winter, several lawmakers including [Virginia Republican Representative]
Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.[Republican-Virginia]), hosted trips
to exclusive skiing resorts in Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming." ... "“You
wonder how long Republicans can bifurcate their message to mainstream America
with this gross display of wealth,” the lobbyist said." -By
Jonathan E. Kaplan -TheHill.com
-
- 
-
- "Former
Bush Aide Who Edited Reports Is Hired by Exxon."
... "Philip A. Cooney, the former White House staff member who repeatedly
revised government scientific reports on global warming, will go to work
for Exxon Mobil this fall, the oil company said yesterday." ... "Mr. Cooney
resigned as chief of staff for President Bush's environmental policy council
on Friday, two days after documents obtained by The New York Times revealed
that he had edited the reports in ways that cast doubt on the link between
the emission of greenhouse gases and rising temperatures." ... "A former
lawyer and lobbyist with the American Petroleum Institute, the main lobbying
group for the oil industry, Mr. Cooney has no scientific training." -By
Andrew C. Revkin -NYTimes
-
-
- 
- 
- "Laser
Could Rival Energy From Sun's Center." ... "In a
building the size of a football stadium, engineers have assembled the framework
for a network of 192 laser beams, each traveling 1,000 feet to converge
simultaneously on a target the size of a pencil eraser." ... "The goal
is to create unimaginable heat 180 million degrees Farenheit and intense
pressure from all directions on a BB-size hydrogen fuel pellet, compressing
it to one-thirtieth of its size." ... "The result, the scientists hope,
will be a fusing of atoms so that more energy is released than is generated
by the laser beams, something scientists call fusion ignition. It is what
happens when a hydrogen bomb explodes." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By H. Josef Hebert -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- "Russia
Named in Iraqi Oil Scandal: Iraq's ex-vice president
said Hussein's regime gave Moscow [Russia] millions in fuel vouchers in
hopes of ending U.N. sanctions, a Senate panel reports." ... "Former Iraqi
Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told [US Senate] investigators that
the allocations were "compensation for support," according to a report
being released today by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
investigations subcommittee." -AP
via-LAtimes
-
-
- 
- "Russians
cited in oil-for-food probe: Senate panel accuses
politicians ahead of public hearing." ... "A Senate report released Monday
accuses top Russian politicians, including advisers to President Vladimir
Putin, of engaging in illicit transactions with Iraq during the U.N. oil-for-food
program." ... "The report found that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime
allocated 76 million barrels of crude oil to Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russia's
deputy parliament speaker, and his political party between 1997 and 2002."
... "Not a drop of Iraqi oil entered Russia, which is a net exporter of
oil, investigators found. Instead, the crude was shipped to the North American
and European markets." -By Phil Hirschkorn with contributions
by Liz Neisloss -CNN
-
- 
-
-
-
- "Report:
Saddam's Aides Used Oil As Reward." ... "Russian
leaders received millions of dollars in Iraqi oil allocations from top
representatives in Saddam Hussein's former government in hopes of ending
U.N. penalties against Iraq, Senate investigators were told." ... "The
Senate investigators said their interviews and documents from the former
Iraqi government add to evidence in previous probes linking Russian officials
to abuses in the $64 billion U.N. program. It was designed to permit Saddam
to sell some oil and use the proceeds to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian
items." ... "Documents released by the panel last week claimed former French
Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and British politician George Galloway
also accepted allocations, charges both men deny." (1, 2)
-By Ken Guggenheim -AP
via-WashingtonPost
-
- Autos
- Transportation
- "Traffic
jams delay drivers millions of hours." ... "The annual
amount of time the average urban commuter spent in traffic delays increased
from 16 hours in 1982 to 47 in 2003." ... "The annual Urban Mobility Report
from the Texas Transportation Institute, a part of Texas A&M University,
found that, despite the slow economy of two years ago, congestion caused
3.7 billion hours of travel delay and 2.3 billion gallons of wasted fuel
— an increase of 79 million hours and 69 million gallons over 2002. The
total cost of congestion in the 85 urban areas studied: $63.1 billion."
... "The Urban Mobility Report notes that major transportation projects
that reduce congestion can take 10-15 years to complete." -By
Larry Copeland -USATODAY
-
-
- "Iraqi
premier names defence and oil ministers." ... "Ibrahim
al-Jaafari, Iraq's prime minister, yesterday named two important ministers
and three other cabinet members in a significant step towards ending three
months' wrangling between the country's main ethnic blocs over the formation
of Iraq's first postwar elected government." ... "Speaking before parliament,
Mr Jaafari named Saadoun al-Dulaimi, a Sunni Arab researcher, as his defence
minister, and Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, a Shia petroleum engineer, as oil minister.
Both were approved by 112 of 155 of the deputies present." ... "At least
250 people have been killed in attacks since the beginning of the month,
including two Americans working for a private security company killed in
a suicide car bomb attack at the weekend." -By Steve
Negus and Dhiya Rasan -FT.com
Japan
- Weather
- 
Fashion-
"Japan's
leader suggests workers loosen up a little." ...
"Koizumi wants Japanese businessmen to dress down this summer, to leave
their monochromatic ties and dark jackets at home, to swap their stubborn
attachment to the standard suit for something more casual. It's a part
of the prime minister's plan to save energy by using less air conditioning
in offices and government buildings, and for that, he needs businessmen
and bureaucrats to do a bit more cooling down on their own --by loosening
their collars." ... "The obstacle is the fashion fear factor. Suggest "casual"
to most Japanese middle managers, and they start to, well, sweat." ...
""Yes, it's uncomfortable, but that style of wearing a suit is almost like
a uniform for us," said Akira Chono, chief executive of the Japan Productivity
Center for Socio-Economic Development. "If we have to switch to a free
style, we will feel nervous, and it could cost a lot to buy a new wardrobe."
-Bruce Wallace
-LAtimes via -SFGate.com
Alaska
-
- "Congress
Budget Plan Moves ANWR Drilling Ahead." ... "A $2.6
trillion federal budget blueprint approved by Congress late Thursday may
clear the way for a Republican plan to open the [Alaskan] Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, according to congressional aides." ...
"The budget plan does not specifically mention ANWR drilling by name."
-Reuters
-
- Tom
DeLay -
"House
deal paves way for DeLay probe: GOP agrees to reinstate
old ethics rules." ... "House Republicans, acceding to heavy political
pressure, agreed yesterday to a change in the rules that clears the way
for an investigation of embattled House majority leader Tom DeLay." ...
"The House action last night reinstated earlier rules that permit an investigation
of a House member even if the bipartisan Committee on Standards and Official
Conduct, commonly known as the Ethics Committee, is deadlocked on a conduct
question before them -- a likely scenario because the 10-member panel is
evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats." ... "The full Ethics
Committee is now free, if a member files a complaint, to launch an official
investigation of DeLay, whom the panel chastised three times last year.
DeLay was admonished for calling a federal agency to interfere with a Texas
redistricting fight, golfing with energy executives while energy legislation
was under consideration, and offering to support the congressional candidacy
of House Republican Nick Smith's son if Smith supported the 2003 Medicare
bill. Smith voted no anyway, but the Medicare bill passed." (1, 2)
-By Susan Milligan
-Boston/Globe
-
- "Soft
vs. hard energy path: the political lines harden:
House was set to pass a bill Thursday that supporters say will boost supplies,
but critics worry about smog and ANWR." ... "There's nothing like paying
$2.50 per gallon at the gas pump to shift your attention to energy issues."
... "In Washington this week, President Bush and lawmakers of both parties
are pushing their energy agendas. Mr. Bush, who began developing his still-languishing
energy strategy shortly after he took office in 2001, prodded Congress
to "get a bill to my desk before the summer recess."" ... "The measure
debated before the full House of Representatives Wednesday and Thursday
- with passage expected Thursday afternoon - contains much of what Bush
wants. But critics say it's also filled with unnecessary subsidies, over-reliance
on nonrenewable resources like oil and coal, and an overall philosophy
that even Energy Department economic analysts say won't significantly reduce
dependence on foreign oil or affect the price at the pump." -By
Brad Knickerbocker -CSMonitor
- 
-
- Hacking
- Secrets
-
- Telecom
- "U.S.
Military's Elite Hacker Crew." ... "The U.S. military
has assembled the world's most formidable hacker posse: a super-secret,
multimillion-dollar weapons program that may be ready to launch bloodless
cyberwar against enemy networks -- from electric grids to telephone nets."
... "The group's existence was revealed during a U.S. Senate Armed Services
Committee hearing last month. Military leaders from U.S. Strategic Command,
or Stratcom, disclosed the existence
of a unit called the Joint Functional Component Command for Network Warfare,
or JFCCNW." ... "In simple terms and sans any military jargon, the unit
could best be described as the world's most formidable hacker posse. Ever."
(1, 2)
-By John Lasker -Wired
-
- Autos
- "Economy
wobbles under cost of oil: Energy prices clip consumer
buying and corporate earnings, sending stock market down, but recoveries
often hit soft spots." ... "Higher energy prices are starting to slow the
US economy." ... "While economists have predicted such an effect for months,
it's finally here - evident in lower retail sales, growing inventories
of cars, and fewer new jobs." ... "Since March 4, the Standard & Poor's
500 index is down almost 6 percent. Last Friday, the stock market was particularly
battered, with the S&P index off 19.43 or 1.67 percent and the Dow
Jones Industrial Average down 191.24. For the week, Wall Street suffered
its worst loss in two years." -By Ron Scherer
-CSMonitor
-
-
-
-
- Food
- "Texas
businessman indicted in U.N. oil-for-food probe."
... "Federal authorities on Thursday announced an indictment against Texas
businessman David Chalmers and the refinery company he heads, Bayoil, as
part of a U.S. probe of the United Nations' Iraq oil-for-food program."
... "According to the indictment, Chalmers faces three felony charges for
allegedly paying illegal surcharges to the former Iraqi regime of Saddam
Hussein on top of prices for Iraqi crude oil purchased under the U.N.-monitored
program." ... ""The defendants at Bayoil, led by Chalmers, paid inflated
commission" for oil to third parties, [U.S. Attorney David] Kelley said,
"knowing that a portion were earmarked for kickbacks to the Hussein regime.""
-By Phil Hirschkorn
-CNN
-
-
- "U.S.
trade gap swells to yet another record: Exports stagnate
as oil cost lifts imports." ... "The U.S. trade deficit expanded in February
for the third month in a row, reaching a record $61 billion, as rising
oil prices coupled with America's hunger for foreign goods pushed imports
to unprecedented new heights, data released Tuesday showed.The Commerce
Department reported that even as imports ballooned to $161.5 billion, $2.5
billion more than in January, exports remained virtually flat at $100.5
billion." -By Eduardo Porter
-NYTimes via -IHT.com
-
-
-
- "Japan
to allow drilling in disputed sea field." ... "The
growing tension between Japan and China intensified on Wednesday after
Japan's trade ministry announced it would allow Japanese companies to start
drilling for oil and gas in a disputed area of the East China Sea." ...
"The Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Industry said the companies will
be permitted to analyse energy deposits in the Xihu Trench, an area east
of Shanghai that spans a maritime economic zone partially claimed by both
China and Japan." -By David Ibison-FT.com
- "Unloved
utilities generate electrifying returns." ... "Once
dismissed as stocks for widows and orphans, utility shares are achieving
newfound respectability on Wall Street. Their high-voltage performance
over the past year has drawn attention to funds that specialize in companies
that produce electricity, distribute natural gas, and develop oil and gas
properties." ... "Most utility stocks are riskier now, due to deregulation,
analysts say." -By Martin Skala
-CSMonitor
-
-
- "Germany,
Russia sign major business deals." ... "German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday expanded
their growing economic links with new natural gas and rail equipment deals."
... "The two leaders looked on as executives from German oil and chemical
company BASF AG and Russia's Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer,
signed a memorandum of understanding at the Hanover Trade Fair to expand
cooperation in the production, transportation and sale of gas." -By
David Rising -AP
via -BusinessWeek
Tom
DeLay -
-
-
-
-
-
- "DeLay
under fire: What's at stake." ... "DeLay has been
admonished more by the House Ethics Committee than any sitting member of
Congress." ... "Last year, the bipartisan panel — the only House committee
with equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats — unanimously criticized
DeLay for three things. It said a golf fundraiser with executives of an
energy company created the appearance that he was giving donors special
access. It said he improperly tried to have the Federal Aviation Administration
find Texas legislators who were hiding in Oklahoma to thwart action on
his plan to redraw the state's congressional districts. And it said he
promised a retiring House Republican he would endorse the man's son to
succeed him if he voted for Bush's Medicare drug plan." ... "In 1999, the
committee warned DeLay after he threatened the Electronic Industries Alliance,
a trade group, for hiring a former Democratic congressman as its president.
And it cautioned him in 1997 about creating the impression that campaign
contributions would bring "official action or access."" ... "In addition,
two investigations — one in Texas, the other in Washington— are targeting
close DeLay allies." -By Kathy Kiely and Jim Drinkard
with contributions by Jill Lawrence -USATODAY
-
-
- "Follow
the Money: Watchdogs are warning that corruption
in Iraq is out of control. But will the United States join efforts to clamp
down on it?" ... "More than U.S. money is at stake. The administration
has harshly criticized the United Nations over hundreds of millions stolen
from the Oil-for-Food Program under Saddam. But the successor to Oil-for-Food
created under the occupation, called the Development Fund for Iraq, could
involve billions of potentially misused dollars. On Jan. 30, the
former CPA's own inspector general, Stuart Bowen, concluded that occupation
authorities accounted poorly for $8.8 billion in these Iraqi funds. "The
CPA did not implement adequate financial controls," Bowen said. U.S. officials
argue that it was impossible, in a war environment, to have such controls.
Yet now the Bush administration is either ignoring or stalling inquiries
into the use of these Iraqi oil funds, according to reports by Democratic
Rep. Henry Waxman, and others." (1, 2)
-By Michael Hirsh -MSNBC/Newsweek
-
- Autos
- "Oil
Is Steady After Reaching Record on U.S. Motor-Fuel Supply."
... "U.S. motorists used 2.2 percent more gasoline in the first quarter
compared with a year ago, according to Energy Department figures. Increased
OPEC production has failed to halt the [oil] rally as global consumption
grows." ... "Oil surged to $58.28 a barrel, the highest since trading began
in 1983. Prices are 66 percent higher than a year ago." -By
Mark Shenk and ed. by Robert Dieterich -Bloomberg
Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment
- 
-
-
- 
-
-
-
- Food
- Animals
- Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment
- "U.N.
Study: Earth's Health Deteriorating: U.N. Study Warns
Growing Populations, Economic Activity Have Strained the Earth's Ecosystems."
... "Unless nations adopt more eco-friendly policies, increased human demands
for food, clean water and fuels could speed the disappearance of forests,
fish and fresh water reserves and lead to more frequent disease outbreaks
over the next 50 years, it warned." (1, 2)
-By Catherine McAloon with contributions by Kenji
Hall -AP via
-ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Food
- Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment
- "Study
highlights global decline." ... "The most comprehensive
survey ever into the state of the planet concludes that human activities
threaten the Earth's ability to sustain future generations." ... "The report
says the way society obtains its resources has caused irreversible changes
that are degrading the natural processes that support life on Earth." ...
"This will compromise efforts to address hunger, poverty and improve healthcare."
... "The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was drawn up by 1,300 researchers
from 95 nations over a period of four years." ... "It reports that humans
have changed most ecosystems beyond recognition in a dramatically short
space of time." ... "The way society has sourced its food, fresh water,
timber, fibre and fuel over the past 50 years has seriously degraded the
environment, the assessment (MA) concludes." -By Jonathan
Amos -BBC
/News
-
- Food
- "Oil-food
inquiry clears U.N. chief: But Volcker report rips
Annan's son." ... "The commission investigating the oil-for-food program
in Iraq reported Tuesday that Secretary-General Kofi Annan did not influence
the awarding of a contract to the company that employed his son. But it
faulted him for not looking more aggressively into the company's relationship
with the United Nations once questions were raised." ... "Annan told a
news conference that he viewed the conclusions about him as an exoneration,
which he said he welcomed with "great relief" after "so many distressing
and untrue allegations." Asked if he thought the report's criticisms of
him for management failures meant that he should step down for the good
of the organization, he replied bluntly, "Hell, no."" -By
Warren Hoge -NYTimes
via -SFGate.com
-
-
- Autos
- "GM
in fuel cell deal with government: Auto manufacturer
says it has inked $88M pact to build fleet of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
by 2009." ... "General Motors Corp. Wednesday said it signed an $88 million
deal with the Department of Energy to build a fleet of 40 hydrogen fuel
cell vehicles and further develop the technology."
-Reuters via -CNN
-
-
-
- "Business
Sees Gain In GOP Takeover: Political Allies Push
Corporate Agenda." ... "Fortune 500 companies that invested millions of
dollars in electing Republicans are emerging as the earliest beneficiaries
of a government controlled by President Bush and the largest GOP House
and Senate majority in a half century." ... "MBNA Corp., the credit card
behemoth and fifth-largest contributor to Bush's two presidential campaigns,
is among those on the verge of prevailing in an eight-year fight to curtail
personal bankruptcies. Exxon Mobil Corp. and others are close to winning
the right to drill for oil in Alaska's wildlife refuge, which they have
tried to pass for better than a decade. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., another big
contributor to Bush and the GOP, and other big companies recently won long-sought
protections from class-action lawsuits." -By Jim VandeHei
with contributions by Madonna A. Lebling -WashingtonPost
-
- "Texas
Refinery Blast Leaves 14 Dead, 100 Hurt." ... "Fourteen
people died and about 100 were injured, some seriously, on Wednesday by
a powerful explosion at a BP oil refinery in [Texas City] Texas." ... "BP
said it could not immediately pinpoint the cause of the blast at the giant
470,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Texas City facility, the third largest in
the United States." ... "But it has ruled out terrorism." ... "BP said
the fire at the sprawling 1,200-acre facility was isolated to an isomerization
unit, used to upgrade gasoline quality." (1, 2)-Reuters
-
-
-
- -
- Secrets
- "New
EPA Mercury Rule Omits Conflicting Data: Study Called
Stricter Limits Cost-Effective." ... "When the Environmental Protection
Agency unveiled a rule last week to limit mercury emissions from U.S. power
plants, officials emphasized that the controls could not be more aggressive
because the cost to industry already far exceeded the public health payoff."
... "What they did not reveal is that a Harvard University study paid for
by the EPA, co-authored by an EPA scientist and peer-reviewed two other
EPA scientists had reached the opposite conclusion." ... "That analysis
estimated health benefits 100 times as great as the EPA did, but top agency
officials ordered the finding stripped from public documents, said a staff
member who helped develop the rule. Acknowledging the Harvard study would
have forced the agency to consider more stringent controls, said environmentalists
and the study's author." (1, 2)
-By Shankar Vedantam -WashingtonPost
-
-
-
- "DeLay
at center of political storm." ... "In September,
three political fund-raisers tied to DeLay were indicted by a Texas grand
jury in a case involving a political committee that DeLay helped create.
The committee is accused of illegally using corporate donations for political
purposes. Documents in a related civil trial suggest DeLay played a substantial
role in the group's corporate fund raising." ... "Then the House ethics
committee admonished DeLay for pressuring a congressman to vote for a Medicare
bill by promising to support his son's run for Congress." ... "A week later,
the panel again rebuked him for enlisting the Federal Aviation Administration
in a search for Texas Democratic lawmakers during a battle over a redistricting
plan he engineered. He was also admonished for creating the appearance
of favoritism when he discussed pending energy legislation with lobbyists
at his fund-raising golf outing." -AP
via -CNN
-
-
-
- Air
- "Plans
to harness the wind divide the moors: Some Scots
see turbines as costly blight." ... "Sarah Burchall had always liked the
idea of wind energy. "I thought: It's renewable and it's clean, part of
the lifestyle I'd chosen to live," said Burchall, an earthy woman who farms
here in the blustery hills of southern Scotland." ... "But that idyllic
view changed drastically last April, when Scottish Power announced plans
to open an industrial-strength wind farm, with more than 100 thrumming
400-foot-high, or 120-foot, wind turbines, in the Ae Forest across from
her home." ... ""I could accept this if this was really about clean energy,
but it's not," said Burchall, who has organized a local group called Trees
Not Turbines. "This is all about business. It's an enormous imposition
on the community, and we feel helpless because of the amount of money that's
at stake."" ... "Advocates say that the turbines can be absorbed by Scotland's
vast landscapes." ... "Behind aesthetics run serious scientific divisions
about the ability of wind technology to produce power and reduce greenhouse
gases." -By Elisabeth Rosenthal
-IHT.com
-
- "Insurgents
Wage Surgical Attacks on Baghdad Fuel." ... "Insurgent
attacks to disrupt Baghdad's supplies of crude oil, gasoline, heating oil,
water and electricity have reached a degree of coordination and sophistication
not seen before, Iraqi and American officials say." ... "The new pattern,
they say, shows that the insurgents have a deep understanding of the complex
network of pipelines, power cables and reservoirs feeding Baghdad, the
Iraqi capital." ... "The shadowy insurgency is a fractured movement made
up of distinct groups of Sunnis, Shiites and foreign fighters, some of
them aligned and some not. But the shift in the attack patterns strongly
suggests that some branch of the insurgency is carrying out a systematic
plan to cripple Baghdad's ability to provide basic services for its six
million citizens and to prevent the fledgling government from operating."
-By James Glanz -NYTimes
- -
-
-
-
- "No
Mullah Left Behind." ... "By adamantly refusing to
do anything to improve energy conservation in America, or to phase in a
$1-a-gallon gasoline tax on American drivers, or to demand increased mileage
from Detroit's automakers, or to develop a crash program for renewable
sources of energy, the Bush team is - as others have noted - financing
both sides of the war on terrorism. We are financing the U.S. armed forces
with our tax dollars, and, through our profligate use of energy, we are
generating huge windfall profits for Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan, where
the cash is used to insulate the regimes from any pressure to open up their
economies, liberate their women or modernize their schools, and where it
ends up instead financing madrassas, mosques and militants fundamentally
opposed to the progressive, pluralistic agenda America is trying to promote.
Now how smart is that?" -By Thomas L. Friedman
-NYTimes
-
- - "South
Sudan's unlikely capital." ... "With no multi-storey
buildings or paved roads and a population of under 100,000 - the ramshackle
town of Rumbek has been chosen by Sudan's former southern rebels as the
unlikely administrative capital of the south." ... "Under the terms of
the peace deal, the government of southern Sudan will share oil revenue
equally with the mainly Arab government in the north." -By
Jonah Fisher -BBC
/News
