Pennsylvania's top health official has assured doctors that a new gas-drilling law will allow them to talk to their patients about proprietary chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process — and share the information with public health agencies and regulatory bodies as they see fit.
More than two months after the Pennsylvania Medical Society first expressed its concerns, Health Secretary Dr. Eli Avila clarified a provision of the new law that requires doctors to sign a nondisclosure agreement in return for access to confidential information on fracking chemicals.
A Chamber of Commerce study reported more than 100 new EPA rules have been forced by "sue and settle" tactics from environmental groups, The Hill reports.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Charlotte-area residents that a crack at a reactor at Duke Energy's Shearon Harris Plant did not pose a threat to safety, WSOC-TV reports.
An international group of solar trade groups issued a statement calling on the European Union and the U.S. to avoid a trade war over solar panels with China, The Washington Post reports.
The European Union has sent information requests to several commodity-trading firms as part of its investigation into potential energy-price manipulation, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Royal Dutch Shell CEO Peter Voser said a European Union investigation into possible price fixing has not found anything that could damage the company, The Wall Street Journal reports.
ExxonMobil Corp. said it would refocus its research on algae-derived biofuels after it invested $100 million over the last four years with few solid results, Bloomberg reports.
The U.S. Geological Survey said water levels in aquifers declined from 2000 to 2008 at a rate nearly three times greater than any point in the last century, Reuters reports.
