Inside Energy

Fuel: It's What's For Dinner by Inside Energy

North Dakota Officials Accept A Low Carbon Future, But Not on EPA’s Terms by Inside Energy

Congress is looking to Pennsylvania for innovative ways to clean up the environmental damage from coal mining. Washington is calling in the wake of a mine blow out last summer that caused three million gallons of polluted water to spill and turned the Colorado's Animas River bright yellow. For Inside Energy, Reid Frazier of the Allegheny Front has the story.

When oil and gas drilling bumps up next to homes and communities, there are tensions. That has long been evident in Colorado, where a handful of cities have fought to ban the practice within their borders. Now, state regulators are considering some new rules which would would give local governments more input over oil and gas development.

In energy rich regions across the country, over one million acres of land is currently dug up and built on for coal mining operations. Reclaiming those mines...filling the pits with dirt and then recreating the ecosystem that once was is expensive. And as the dramatic collapse of the coal industry rapidly advances, coal companies may no longer have the cash on hand to pay for billions of dollars in clean-up costs. Our Inside Energy reporter Leigh Paterson looks at the massive task of reclaiming the land from our energy appetites.

Colorado sits right in the middle of the political battle for the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan, with two of the state's top elected officials falling on opposite sides of the debate.

In south-central Montana, plans are underway to get more coal out of the ground and onto ships headed to Asia. The Crow Tribe of Montana and Cloud Peak Energy of Wyoming are partnering to develop a new coal mine on the reservation and to open a new export terminal in Washington’s Puget Sound. Although coal prices are in decline and a protest movement is growing, the Crow are undeterred. For them, coal equals survival. Amy Martin visited the Crow reservation and has this report.

Starry Skies Dimmed by Oil and Gas by Inside Energy

Overburden Weighs On Wyoming Coal Producers by Inside Energy

Climate change can be a controversial subject in Wyoming, as in other coal-dependent states. But the economic effects of climate change, especially in coal-producing regions, are undeniable. Demand for coal-fired electricity is shrinking as the US moves towards cleaner sources of energy. And so, globally, there’s a race on to figure out what to do with coal other than burn it. Our Inside Energy reporter Leigh Paterson has the story.