Energy: News from the Front

From today and yesterday, there are stories of interest about energy. They come with quite different perspectives. The stories are from the CArlsbad Current Argus, the Denver Post,

Carlsbad Current Argus )www.currentargus.com)
Center among competitors in race for turning algae into biofuel
By Stella Davis, Current-Argus Staff Writer
Article Launched: 06/28/2008 09:05:59 PM MDT

CARLSBAD — The race is on, and Carlsbad's Center for Excellence for Hazardous Materials Management plans to be the first at the finish line in producing a biofuel from algae oil.
In 2006, when CEHMM began working to extract oil from micro algae and turn it into a biofuel, it was the only group in that field. Today, several research universities and private industries in the U.S. and abroad are competing, said Ned Elkins, who heads the Los Alamos National Laboratory's Carlsbad office. LANL and New Mexico State University Agriculture Science Center are partnering with CEHMM in the research and development project.
CEHMM has... the three components in its backyard needed for algae to thrive and generate a new industry in Carlsbad. "It's all about location, and Carlsbad is the right place," Elkins said. "We have the hot, dry climate, the availability of land that will not take agriculture land out of production, and lots of salt brine. There are few places in the world that have all three components like Carlsbad does."

Denver Post (www.denverpost.com)
Western Slope finds an economic oasis
By Andy Vuong , The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 06/29/2008 12:11:45 AM MDT

Navigating the Downturn is an occasional series examining how people and businesses are dealing with the economic climate.
GRAND JUNCTION — A "Now Hiring" sign blankets the front of Halliburton's main western Colorado campus, visible to drivers on the busy street running past it.
The oil-field-services company has 100 open positions with an average annual salary of $50,000 and is relocating the hub for its fast-growing drilling service from Wyoming, adding another 50 workers.
"We've increased our employment by about 30 percent a year (since 2003)," said district manager Larry Kent. "We don't anticipate a slowdown."

Gallup Independent, June 28, 2008 (www.gallupindependent.com)
First load of coal ships out of Grants, More coal trains to roll through Gallup

By Helen Davis Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Peabody Energy, based in St. Louis, announced this week the that the El Segundo Mine near Grants began shipping out its first loads of coal last Saturday (June 21). The coal mine is adjacent to the better-known Lee Ranch Coal Mine, also a Peabody enterprise. El Segundo, which means "The Second," in Spanish, will serve two power plants in Arizona and haul its product by Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific rail transport.
El Segundo has agreements to supply coal to the Arizona Public Service Company. The mine will provide 65 million tons of over 19 years to the Cholla Generating Station near Joseph City, Ariz.

The New Mexico Independent
The New Mexico Independent (www.newmexicoindependent.com) is a new "progressive," i.e., left leaning, Web site / newspaper. The Independent was aghast at $4 million of federal mine rehab money being directed toward coal. In June 27 story, editor Trip Jennings said this was "a doozy."
There seemed just a bit glee, to me anyway, in the Independent's story about New Mexico dropping nine places, to 33rd, in a new ranking of state receptiveness to oil and gas development. The report, Global Petroleum Survey 2008, was released Thursday by he Fraser Institute (www.fraserinstitute.org) of Canada, which calls itself an "independent research organization." To the Independent, the Fraser Institute is "conservative."
Heavier tax and regulatory burden explains most rankings declines, the report said, according to the Independent, which then went to comments from Eric Jantz, a staff attorney at the New Mexico Environmental Law Center in Santa Fe, another liberal outfit. Jantz talked at some length about "community push back."