mining

The death toll from China’s worst coal mining accident in nearly three years has risen to 43, with three men still trapped underground.

For a century, coal was king in the town of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. At one time, it had the largest underground coal mining operation in the world, but the last working mine was closed in 2001. In October, when the Newaberdeen Gardens Townhouse complex opens, two former mines will be put to good use -- their water will be used as a source of geothermal energy to power in-floor heating.

According to the Washington Examiner yesterday, President Obama's campaign team is going "on the offensive to promote [the President's] support for clean coal."

In Part 1 of this series, we explored the overall environmental issues that are facing the U.S., mostly as a part of coordinated attacks by politicians in Washington. In the next few articles, we’ll take a look at what each candidate has said or done in regards to both environmental and energy issues.

Fluor Corporation, the nation's largest publicly traded engineering and construction company, said this week that it has been selected by a subsidiary of electricity generator LS Power Group to build a 125-megawatt solar plant in Arizona. Fluor was also awarded a separate contract for ongoing operations and maintenance.

This year's State of the Union address will be given by President Barack Obama this evening  The speech represents the only time the President speaks to Congress in a joint session.  As a result, it has become an influential annual benchmark for Americans.

Japan-based Mitsui & Co., Ltd (MITSY.PK), one of the largest global “sogo shoshas (general trading companies)” in the world, has bought a $12-million stake in Tres Amigas, a continental grid interconnection which eventually aims to tie together the nation’s three major electricity networks, the Western Interconnection, the Eastern Interconnection, and the Texas Interconnection. It will do this while simultaneously integrating a wide array of renewable energy sources like solar and wind. 

In October of 2010, Ameren Energy Resources, a division of Ameren Corporation, (NYSE: AEE), got a formal promise from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to commit $1 billion to the development of FutureGen 2.0.

American Vanadium Corp. (TSX: AVC), formerly Rocky Mountain Resources Corp., a small Vancouver-based mining company primarily engaged in the exploration and acquisition of the metal-alloying element vanadium, is primed to enter the clean energy race.

Cameco (NYSE: CCJ), one of the world's largest uranium producers, announced its earnings dropped 36% in the first quarter of 2011.