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Heavyweight Response to Local Fracking Bans

This northern Colorado city vaulted onto the front lines of the battle over oil and gas drilling two years ago, when residents voted to ban hydraulic fracturing from their grassy open spaces and a snow-fed reservoir where anglers catch smallmouth bass. But these days, Longmont has become a cautionary tale of what can happen when cities decide to confront the oil and gas industry. In an aggressive response to a wave of citizen-led drilling bans, state officials, energy companies and industry groups are taking Longmont and other municipalities to court, forcing local governments into what critics say are expensive, long-shot efforts to defend the measures.

Natural Gas Glut Isn’t Deterring Southwestern Energy

Across the giant Fayetteville shale gas field here, country roads that were clogged by truck traffic just a few years ago are empty again. Once aglow at night from the bright lights twinkling on drilling rigs, the roads are now dark under the starry Arkansas sky. Virtually all of the few remaining rig and frack crews belong to one survivor:Southwestern Energy, a stubborn believer in the future profitability of natural gas. “I’d rather have the gas to myself with no one following,” Steven Mueller, Southwestern’s chief executive, said last month as he watched his rig hands pull pipe and mud from a new natural gas well here in northern Arkansas.

Build greener to tackle climate change, Arab cities urged

Cities in the Arab region should introduce stronger standards for green building and promote sustainable communities if they are to have a chance of tackling climate change, experts say. The United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT) estimates that 56 percent of the Arab world’s population already lives in cities and urban centers, a proportion that more than quadrupled between 1990 and 2010. It is expected to shoot up to 75 percent by 2050.

U.S. Oil Prices Rise Off Multiyear Lows

Oil prices rallied Wednesday as traders closed out positions following a dramatic plunge in prices in recent months. Light, sweet crude for January delivery recently rose $2.12, or 3.8%, to $58.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after trading as low as $54.21 a barrel in early trading. Brent, the global benchmark, recently rose $2.43, or 4.1%, to $62.44 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

World without water: six solutions to a shortage

The World Bank is planning to devote up to $5bn a year to try to fix it. Goldman Sachs says it poses a risk to economic growth. And Matt Damon, the actor, has tipped a bucket of toilet water over his head to bring attention to it. The problem is water — a vital resource that has long been poorly managed or taken for granted in much of the world and that has rising populations driving competition for supplies. The search for solutions to uneven and inadequate water supply has already led to improvements in irrigation, desalination and wastewater recycling, and is spurring development of innovative technologies such as waterless fracking in the energy industry and more water-saving devices at home.

Labour seeks to tighten UK shale gas rules

Labour will seek to tighten the regulations governing the extraction of shale gas on Monday as the UK opposition party hardens its stance over the contentious technology. The extraction of shale gas through hydraulic fracturing of rock, or “fracking”, will be discussed by MPs as part of legislation to reform trespass laws, which can stand in the way of exploration. A number of Liberal Democrat MPs and a handful of Tories are also expected to voice concerns about the industry, amid hardening environmental opposition.