As the West scrambles for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Crimea, they know that as they try and negotiate with Russian President, Vladimir Putin, he holds one of the aces in the pack: Russian gas supplies to the west.
Yesterday, several hundred students from over 80 colleges across the United States were arrested outside the White House as they took part in “XL Dissent” - a major demonstration against the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
US regulators reacted to the string of recent crude by rail accidents yesterday by ordering that companies shipping crude out of North Dakota's Bakken fracking fields must undertake extensive testing for signs of dangerous volatility.
In the increasingly bitter political wrangling over Scottish independence, yesterday was the turn of the future of North Sea oil to take centre stage in the debate.
For years there has been growing evidence that toxic chemicals from Alberta's vast tar sands tailings ponds were leaching into groundwater and the nearby Athabasca River. The tailing ponds now cover a huge area – some 176 square kilometres – and given their size it is hardly surprising that some seepage may be occurring.
The fallout from the BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill continues. The oil giant is attempting to force the US government to release evidence which BP says proves that the oil spill did much less damage than at first feared.
