Uranium mining in the United States may be about to surge, a spike in claims being filed indicates.
In five Western states where uranium is mined, 43,153 claims were filed last year, up from 4,333 in 2004, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. The area of interest includes near the Grand Canyon, where U.S. Interior Department [...]

Environmental groups across Appalachia spoke out at public hearings in four states on a Bush administration-backed proposal to relax restrictions preventing mining activity near waterways.
The groups oppose exempting valley fills , in which rubble from mountaintop removal mining is dumped in nearby valleys , from the 20-year-old rule restricting mining activity near streams.
“Enough is enough!” [...]

A state judge denied a request by two environmental groups to temporarily stop test drilling for uranium in Fall River County.
Circuit Judge Jack Delaney said at a hearing Tuesday that the groups had not shown how continuing the exploration would harm the environment.
Defenders of the Black Hills and ACTion for the Environment are challenging a [...]

An oil refinery would jeopardize Costa Rica’s environment as planned by a Chinese company known as a polluter, environmental groups said Saturday.
Oilwatch Mesoamerica and other groups warned that recent agreements between China and Costa Rica included a refinery built by China Petroleum Corporation.
“We are studying the history of this company, which has little concern [...]

State regulators on Tuesday signed off on plans to build one of the nation’s first plants that would turn dirty coal into cleaner fuel, generating electricity while dramatically reducing smog and mercury pollution.
If built amid cornfields outside Taylorville, about 200 miles southwest of Chicago, the 630-megawatt plant would provide a lucrative boost to the state’s [...]

THE world’s largest untapped oil reserves - in the Canadian Arctic - have become the new front line in the battle between environmentalists and the energy industry.
Shell, a self-styled “green” energy company, is to invest billions of dollars in exploiting the Athabasca tar sands.
Environmentalists say the tar sands are the world’s dirtiest oil deposits and [...]

Duke Energy Corp. plans to move ahead with a controversial coal-fired power project in the Blue Ridge foothills, Chief Executive Jim Rogers said Thursday after the annual shareholders meeting.
After nearly two years of debate, the N.C. Utilities Commission in February approved only one of the proposed two units for Duke’s Cliffside facility, about an hour’s [...]

The federal government gave its approval Monday for the reopening of an oil-shale mine in Utah, one of the experimental works intended to boost domestic oil production on Western lands.
A top-ranking Interior Department official signed off on the project, and officials said an Alabama-based partnership, Oil Shale Exploration Co., would be offered a lease to [...]

The Interior Department yesterday unveiled its proposal for expanding offshore oil and gas drilling, including a 2.9 million acre triangular area 50 miles or more off the coast of Virginia that could be leased by late 2011.
Members of Congress and environmental groups criticized the proposal, calling for increased energy efficiency and other measures to meet [...]

Environmental groups are blaming loss of wildlife habitat and fewer hunting spots in the West on Bush administration energy policies that spurred a boom in oil and gas drilling.
Drilling on federal lands in five Western states doubled over the past decade to more than 2,000 wells per year, according to a report released Wednesday by [...]