Oil pumps are seen at sunset in the desert oil fields of Sakhir, Bahrain, where water stands from a recent rainstorm. Oil prices edged higher to near $101 a barrel Thursday in Asia amid a surge in global stock markets after major central banks pledged to lower borrowing costs. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali) Europe is on track to spend a record of more than half a trillion dollars on oil imports this year, far more than Greece’s debt total and a difficult prospect considering regional economic challenges, according the International Energy Agency’s top official. Despite recent declines in world oil prices, they remain at “worryingly high levels” and will drive European spending on fossil fuels to its highest level on record, IEA executive director Maria Van ... Continue reading →

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut River watershed is to be recognized as the first in the United States to be dedicated for conservation and recreation. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will lead a ceremony Thursday in Hartford. He will name the Connecticut River watershed as the nation's first National Blueway. It's part of an initiative by President Barack Obama known as America's Great Outdoors Rivers, which is intended to establish a community conservation and recreation agenda. The designation in Hartford is intended to recognize the work of more than 40 organizations, the Connecticut River Watershed Council, states and others. Conservation and environmental advocates say the goal of creating a Blueways is to build on already popular trails and can help connect communities, landscapes, residents ... Continue reading →

The Devonian fish Eusthenopteron crawls along a mudbank in a diorama at the National Museum of Natural History. Photo by the author. I love outdated museum displays. They marvelously represent the “history” part of natural history exhibits – dusty dioramas of old ideas that are a baseline for how much our understanding has changed. One of my favorite displays is tucked away in a dim corner of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. If you just amble through the main gallery – beneath the osteological frames of the ever-popular dinosaurs – you’re bound to miss it. The humble little scene, displayed in a glass case along a wall running behind the Mesozoic celebrities, envisions one of the most important moments in evolutionary history. On ... Continue reading →

[This essay was originally posted on November 21, 2011.] If the German paleontologist Eberhard Fraas is remembered for anything, his efforts to discover and describe the impressive dinosaurs of Tanzania’s Tendaguru beds must be at the top of the list. Thanks to a tip about the site from local mining engineer Bernhard Wilhelm Sattler, in 1907 Fraas began to remove impressive Jurassic dinosaurs simultaneously strange and familiar. The site was Africa’s own Late Jurassic graveyard — one full of spectacular creatures that seemed quite similar to Brachiosaurus, Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, and other dinosaurian celebrities found in North America’s ever-productive Morrison Formation. Fraas was delighted to find such a wonderful place –- the dinosaur bones “spoke in an eloquent language of the extinct primeval world”, he later ... Continue reading →

This Week In Petroleum ChartsScroll over labels below to see different charts. Retail Prices (Dollars per Gallon) Retail Prices Change From Last 05/21/12 Week Year Gasoline 3.714 -0.040 -0.135 Diesel Fuel 3.956 -0.048 -0.041 Futures Prices (Dollars per Gallon*) Futures Prices Change From Last 05/18/12 Week Year Crude Oil 91.48 -4.65 -8.01 Gasoline 2.890 -0.111 -0.046 Heating Oil 2.830 -0.134 -0.088 *Note: Crude Oil Price in Dollars per Barrel. Stocks (Million Barrels) Stocks Change From Last 05/18/12 Week Year Crude Oil 382.5 0.9 11.6 Gasoline 201.0 -3.3 -8.7 Distillate 119.5 -0.3 -21.6 Propane 53.998 1.273 22.393 This Week In Petroleum TextReleased: May 23, 2012 Next Release: May 31, 2012 West Coast Gasoline Markets: Price Relief Should be Coming Soon While the price for gasoline this ... Continue reading →

Lawsuit challenges Keystone pipeline review law OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Opponents of a Canadian crude oil pipeline have made good on their threat to challenge Nebraska's new pipeline.Nam Y. Huh, APDemonstrators protest against the Keystone Pipeline and the Alberta Tar Sands outside of the Canadian Consulate in downtown Chicago, on May 17, 2012.Nam Y. Huh, APDemonstrators protest against the Keystone Pipeline and the Alberta Tar Sands outside of the Canadian Consulate in downtown Chicago, on May 17, 2012.Sponsored LinksThe lawsuit filed Wednesday by several Nebraska landowners along TransCanada's proposed pipeline route argues that the law outlining the review process is unconstitutional.The pipeline opponents say the law doesn't allow for judicial review and doesn't spell out what criteria should be considered when a proposed pipeline is ... Continue reading →