Energy, Mining & Utilities

A burst pipeline in Alaska's North Slope has caused the Arctic region's worst oil spill, spreading more than 250,000 gallons of crude oil over an area used by caribou herds and prompting environmentalists again to question the Bush administration's drive for more oil exploration there. Read More

The oil executives were sworn in. This formality created the very kind of picture - six of the most powerful American executives lined up with their right hands up in the air - that they had sought to avoid. Otherwise, much of the theatrics were the same, and so were the arguments from the oil executives. Read More

Now, with Exxon reaping even more -- $36 billion last year, a world record for a single company -- and another spill anniversary looming without a payment, the 32,000 fishermen, food processors and Alaska natives who remain plaintiffs in the case are seething. Read More

A defense lawyer in the trial of former Enron CEOs Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling spent Thursday morning trying to undermine the testimony of the government's star witness and questioning the authenticity of a "smoking gun" document. Read More

Andrew Fastow considered himself "a hero for Enron'' for hiding losses and bolstering earnings for the company through partnership deals he created. Read More

The mining industry has a worldwide image problem. In developing and developed countries alike, the public tends to regard mines as dirty, dangerous and disruptive - and those who stand to profit from them as greedy despoilers. Read More

A pipeline crossing the Peruvian Amazon has spilled natural gas liquids four times since it opened 15 months ago because it was shoddily built by unqualified welders using corroded pipes left from other jobs, according to a new technical report by the nonprofit environmental consultancy E-Tech International based in San Diego. Read More

Tens of thousands of Mexican miners and metal workers joined a nationwide strike on Wednesday in two separate disputes that crippled output at the country's biggest mines, metals refineries and steel mills. Read More

The main public investor in a controversial gas pipeline in Peru's Amazon rainforest that has ruptured four times already appears adamant not to bow to pressure from green groups demanding a full investigation after a study asserted that the pipeline is shoddily built and likely to break again. Read More

Crude oil leaking from a major North Slope pipeline might have oozed over 3 to 5 acres of frozen, snow-clad tundra, prompting a major cleanup effort Thursday, an oil company spokesman said. Read More