New York Times -- CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — More than a year after a Tennessee coal ash spill created one of the worst environmental disasters of its kind in United States history, the problem is seeping into several other states.

It began on Dec. 22, 2008, when a retaining pond burst at a coal-burning Tennessee Valley Authority power plant, spilling 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash across 300 acres into the Emory River and an affluent shoreline community near Knoxville. It was enough ash to cover a square mile five feet deep.

While the T.V.A.’s cleanup has removed much of the ash from the river, the arsenic- and mercury-laced muck or its watery discharge has been moving by rail and truck through three states to at least six sites. Some of it may end up as far away as Louisiana.
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Los Angeles Times -- On a dirt plot near Bakersfield where a massive refinery once churned out gasoline and asphalt, one of the world's largest oil companies is looking for something more green.

On Monday, Chevron Corp. plans to reveal that it has transformed the 8-acre site into a sprawling test facility with 7,700 solar panels. The panels, in various sizes, represent seven cutting-edge photovoltaic technologies from seven companies that Chevron is checking out as possible candidates to power its operations worldwide.

Cost savings from past energy efficiency efforts have been significant, the company said. Since 1992, when Chevron began tracking its power use and using hydrogen fuel cells and solar panels at its facilities, the company cut its energy use by nearly a third and saved nearly $3 billion, King s  (read more)

Detroit News -- he 1963 Corvette Grand Sport roadster is the rarest and arguably most important Corvette model ever made. Only five were built, and they sell for millions at auction.
But an Ohio company is being sued by General Motors for churning out replica versions that sell for less than $90,000.
The lawsuit was filed this month in U.S. District Court against Mongoose Motorsports LLC of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, which specializes in building replica 1984-88 GTP models and the legendary Grand Sport.

GM is suing for trademark infringement, claiming the iconic brand has been irreparably harmed by the ersatz sports cars, which the automaker says copy the Corvette's design -- curve for curve.
GM wants a judge to bar the company from making and selling models using the Corvette design.  (read more)

New York Times -- Coastal states that agree to oil and gas drilling off their shores would be offered one-quarter of the revenue, under the latest draft of the new climate and energy bill, sources on and off the Hill say.
Another 10 percent would go to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, with the remaining 65 percent going to the Treasury for deficit reduction,
But it still requires a delicate balancing act. Some Republicans demand the concession to even consider voting for the bill. Some coastal Democrats want revenue sharing for their states. But Senate liberals do not like offshore drilling, and they do not want to see anything that encourages it, such as revenue sharing.
For instance, it is unclear what would happen with drilling off the west coast of Florida, the last area closed to drilling after  (read more)

Denver Post -- After a punishing year when natural-gas prices slid to their lowest level since 2002, there are signs of life in Colorado's oil and gas fields.
The state's largest publicly traded producers have, in the past few weeks, issued capital forecasts for 2010 showing rigs and money flowing into Colorado.
Still, the state is facing competition as some companies move money and equipment to Texas, Pennsylvania and Louisiana, and smaller operators continue to hold off on drilling.
"It is a selective recovery," said Peter Stark, vice president for industrial relations at IHS Corp., a Denver-based consulting firm. "It is focused on the larger, low-cost producers and plays with oil and liquids."  (read more)

Globe & Mail -- Canada has more energy in its "proven, recoverable" reserves of coal than it has in all of its oil, natural gas and oil sands combined: 10 billion tonnes. The world has 100 times more: one trillion tonnes. These reserves hold the energy equivalent of more than four trillion barrels of oil. They are scattered in 70 countries, mostly in relatively easy-to-mine locations and mostly in democratic countries.

The United States alone has 30 per cent of the world's reserves, and scientists in Texas say they have found a way to convert coal into gasoline at a cost of less than $30 (U.S.) a barrel - with zero release of pollutants.  (read more)

Dallas News -- WASHINGTON – U.S. companies are getting squeezed out of the big Chinese wind-power market even as Dallas investors are bringing Chinese firms here via a big wind farm in Texas, according to a new industry report.

"They've used every measure you could possibly think of to enhance production of renewable energy equipment in China," said report author Alan Wolff of the trade law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk won a pledge from the Chinese last fall to drop rules giving preference to Chinese makers of wind-power equipment. But Kirk's office hasn't seen any evidence that the pledge has been carried out, said spokeswoman Carol Guthrie.

Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturers are entering the U.S. wind market under a joint venture led by Dallas investor Cappy McGarr.

 (read more)

Detroit Free Press -- Get ready for a broad array of fast, fun and fuel-efficient Fords.

The automaker's new Global Performance Vehicles department brings together Ford's finest go-fast thinking from Europe and the U.S.

It may lead to a line of sporty vehicles stretching from today's F-150 pickup and Mustang to the upcoming Focus compact and Fiesta subcompact.

The move could help Ford reach a new group of buyers: Young enthusiasts drawn to Asian models like the Honda Civic Si, Subaru WRX, Mitsubishi Eclipse and Hyundai Tiburon.  (read more)

Chicago Tribune -- With the cost of gasoline expected to surpass $3 a gallon this summer, more motorists will be looking to save a few cents at the pump, but that's getting more difficult with an onslaught of new municipal gas taxes.
Cash-strapped municipalities — from Oak Lawn to Des Plaines to Glenview — have turned to taxing fuel to make up for plummeting revenue. Elmhurst is considering a 1.5-cent-per-gallon tax and Naperville is weighing whether to add 2 or 3 cents to its 2-cent-per-gallon tax.

To make the tax more palatable, some communities are designating the money for road and infrastructure improvements. And while officials defend the need for revenue, gas station owners say the tax puts them and maybe the towns at a competitive disadvantage.  (read more)

bloomberg.com -- Australia needs to invest at least A$100 billion ($92 billion) in electricity infrastructure in the next decade to meet growing demand by consumers, the Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, said.

“We need more investment in electricity supply infrastructure,” Ferguson told business leaders in Brisbane, according to a statement released today. “For too many years, uncertainty about carbon pricing, state government privatization plans, retail price regulation, network regulation, and more recently, the global financial crisis, have hampered investment.”

The nation, the world’s largest shipper of iron ore, alumina, lead, zinc and coal, needs increased power generation to encourage new resource projects and avoid household blackouts during periods of high demand. Short
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Reuters -- The U.S. pay czar will slash the number of top General Motors Co executives who will receive base salaries of more than $500,000 this year.

Pay czar Kenneth Feinberg said he plans to release the 2010 compensation decisions next week on the five large U.S. companies that are under pay restrictions as part of their government bailouts.

The rules restrict the top 25 executives from receiving more than $500,000 in base cash salary unless a company can prove a good reason for the higher pay.

GM is more than 60 percent-owned by the U.S. Treasury after a government-funded bankruptcy and reorganization in 2009. The U.S. government also holds a small stake in Chrysler, which is under management control of Italy's Fiat SpA.  (read more)

Forbes.com -- The energy pits were a gauntlet Friday, as a stronger dollar put a dent in crude prices and oil stocks followed black gold lower.

Crude settled at $80.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 1.9% after a run-up earlier this week when prices approached $84 a barrel. Traders have been hoping that growth in emerging markets like China and India could help the commodity continue its surge off its February 2009 lows, but tighter monetary policy in those nations threatens to cool their economic growth.  (read more)

REUTERS -- States want EPA to reopen endangerment hearings

WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - At least 15 U.S. states have sued the Environmental Protection Agency seeking to stop it from issuing rules controlling greenhouse gas emissions until it reexamines whether the pollution harms human health.

Florida, Indiana, South Carolina and at least nine other states filed the petitions in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, states said.

They joined petitions filed last month by Virginia, Texas and Alabama.

The Obama administration has long said it would attack greenhouse gas emissions with EPA regulation if Congress failed to pass a climate bill.

The EPA is set to issue regulations later this month that would require autos and light trucks to increase energy efficiency.  (read more)

Bloomberg.com -- Gasoline futures slid 2 percent as a surging dollar reduced the investment appeal of commodities and as demand for the motor fuel declined.

Gasoline, which reached a 17-month high March 17, tumbled as the dollar gained 0.6 percent against the currencies of six major U.S. trading partners as of 3:25 p.m. in New York. Motor fuel demand slipped 1.6 percent last week, according to the Energy Department.

“A breakout to the upside of the dollar index gives potential for considerable downside for commodities,” said Tom Knight, vice president of trading and supply at Truman Arnold Cos. in Texarkana, Texas.

Gasoline for April delivery lost 4.53 cents, or 2 percent, to settle at $2.2556 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices were little changed for the week.
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CNET NEWS -- Wind-generated electricity is growing rapidly in the United States but the pace still lags far behind that in China, the organizer of an industry conference in North Carolina said.

"With the right policies in place, we can see explosive growth...It's a global footrace," said Jeff Anthony, business development director of the American Wind Energy Association.

Although the United States has the largest amount of installed wind power capacity in the world, the wind power industry is "fighting to get on a level playing field" with other government-subsidized power providers, Anthony told a conference of parts manufacturers, suppliers, wind project developers, and economic development officers from around the southeastern United States.

"What the wind industry looks like in the U.S.  (read more)

USA Today -- One of the more impressive aspects of General Motors' Project Driveway, which put 120 Chevrolet Equinox fuel-cell vehicles on the streets, is that it was pretty clear from the start that some might get in accidents. With that many vehicles it was bound to happen. But how would a hydrogen vehicle hold up?

This fuel cell vehicle took a good smack in front. CAPTIONBy GMSo far, so good. Five GM fuel-cell vehicles have been involved in accidents over the years, and none has resulted in any sort of catastrophic hydrogen explosion, says Charlie Freese, who is charge of GM's fuel-cell program...  (read more)

The Atlanta Business Chronicle -- Corn-based ethanol is making a comeback in Georgia, while efforts to launch the nation’s first cellulosic ethanol plant in the Peach State are moving more slowly than expected.

First United Ethanol LLC, which was facing bankruptcy last summer, recently reported a fourth-quarter profit of nearly $7 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. After early fits and starts, the company’s plant near Camilla, Ga., is running at its full capacity of 100 million gallons of corn-based ethanol per year.  (read more)

GasBuddy Blog -- March Madness is upon us. Not only are there more basketball games than I can take in for an entire year in the next few weeks, but there have been and will continue to be rising gas prices. March Madness basketball is a tradition to many across America, but are rising gasoline prices each spring as well known? They could be- rising gas prices aren't new, and have increased every year during this time. Some years we see huge "upsets" in gas prices that no one was able to predict, but if we're scoring brackets (or should I say gas price predictions), I'm still feeling comfortable half way through the first twenty minutes.

Spring time gas price increases are predicted by many analysts and prices are likely influenced by a majority of...  (read more)

Wall Street Journal - Business -- WASHINGTON--The Obama administration on Thursday indicated that it is moving on two fronts to gain information about a key oil and natural-gas production technique that is viewed as essential for boosting gas supplies but that critics fear could contaminate drinking water.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched a study to determine whether "hydraulic fracturing" is contaminating water supplies. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a House panel that he is considering requiring oil and gas companies that drill on federal lands to disclose the chemicals used in the practice, which involves pumping water, sand and chemicals under pressure into deep underground wells. The technique breaks open underground rock, releasing the gas within.

"It is an issue that we are looking at,"  (read more)

Detroit News -- Washington -- General Motors Co. supports legislation to require so-called "black boxes" in vehicles, to collect crash data, and it is willing to support additional "reasonable" auto safety legislation.

In a roundtable interview with reporters today, GM's new vice president for government relations, Robert E. Ferguson, said the company backs legislation in the works from Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, to mandate event data recorders.

 (read more)

USA Today -- Looking for an excuse to carry your St. Patrick's Day binging into tomorrow? Well, consider celebrating National Biodiesel Day, noting the birthday of engine inventor Rudolf Diesel.

So says Ford, which is using the anniversary as a reason to promote the 2011 Ford Super Duty pickup as a "green" vehicle, a bold move given that it's about the biggest thing on the road. Ford says it's one biodiesel-lovin' truck. What is there to love?

Biodiesel is diesel fuel made from renewable stuff like vegetable oil and animal fat. The monster 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 turbocharged diesel engine in the Super Duty is B20 compatible, meaning it can handle of blend of 20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel.  (read more)

Detroit Free Press -- "Ford and General Motors achieved impressive marks in the latest vehicle dependability study released today by J.D. Power and Associates.

Lincoln finished second to only Porsche in the study, which measures the number of problems experienced by the owners' 2007 model year cars. Mercury and Ford also scored in the top 10.

“It’s pretty impressive to get all three of them in the top 10,” David Sargent, J.D. Power’s vice president of global vehicle research, told the Free Press.

Meanwhile, GM’s Buick brand finished in third place and the Cadillac DTS was the top-rated vehicle in the entire study, beating the Lexus LS which has finished first for the past several years."  (read more)

Canada.com -- Having honed the modern engine to the point where it is going to take an enormous change (camless valve activation, for example) to further the economy cause, the next logical step is the hybridization of the powertrain.

There are two main types of hybrid systems. The mild hybrid uses the electric side to supplement the gasoline engine.

As such, it cannot drive the vehicle on its own. These systems -- such as that in the Mercedes-Benz S400 -- do have a place in the near term.  (read more)

Business Week -- March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street’s contribution to the debate on how to curb global warming: Buy coal, sell solar.

Peabody Energy Corp., the biggest coal producer, is rated a “buy” by 79 percent of analysts, while 44 percent recommend First Solar Inc., the largest maker of thin-film solar panels. The Stowe Global Coal index of 38 coal producers has gained 6.5 percent in 2010, and the Bloomberg Global Leaders Solar index of 38 solar module and component makers has dropped 17 percent.

While investors including T. Boone Pickens and Warren Buffett are pushing cash into green technologies, the tilt toward Peabody and away from First Solar is the widest in two years. It reflects a sense that government support for reducing air pollution may be waning, said Kevin Landis,  (read more)

GasBuddy Blog -- Here are some highlights from yesterday's Department of Energy Report on U.S. supply and demand:

>Crude inventories increased 1.0 million barrels from the previous week.
Comment: This is a pretty small increase compared to past reports, but brings the amount of oil in storage to 344.0 million barrels, which is 4.1% below last year, when we had 358.8 million barrels in storage.

>Gasoline inventories decreased 1.7 million barrels from the previous week.
Comment: While this number may seem to be a decent number, conventional gasoline inventories actually increased while blending components decreased over 2 million barrels. The loss in blending component inventories may be a result of refiners drawing down on...  (read more)