Superfund

Uravan: The Uranium Town That Was

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Superfund cleanups are a priority for Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. He wants to cut through red tape that has left more than a thousand sites still contaminated — with everything from radioactive waste to lead. He also wants to remove sites that have already been cleaned up from the so-called National Priority List which has more than 1300 sites. Inside Energy’s Dan Boyce has the story of one superfund site that wants to be off the list, soon.

uranium

Busted Uranium Market Gears Up For Potential Boom

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The U.S. used to be the world’s number one uranium producer, and most of it came from Wyoming. But since the 1980s, production has fallen off a cliff. Prices are at rock bottom. That may be about to change — uranium’s biggest customer is the nuclear energy industry. In coming years, hundreds of new nuclear reactors are planned for China and India.

Oil And Gas

When Oil And Gas Move In Next Door

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The fatal explosion in April in Firestone, Colorado has increased scrutiny on the oil and gas industry in the state. How close is too close when it comes to setbacks for wells near homes and occupied buildings? Some communities, like Broomfield, are trying to establish concrete rules for drilling nearby. Inside Energy’s Leigh Paterson explores the conflicts that arise when oil and gas production comes to your town.

Audio

West Virginia Wants Coal Hard Cash

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Both Donald Trump and West Virginia Governor Jim Justice campaigned on promises to bring coal mining jobs back to the region. Now Justice wants the president to prop up the flagging coal industry with federally-funded incentives for power companies to purchase coal from Appalachia. That’s not an idea that goes over well in Wyoming, where the majority of U.S. coal is mined.

Solar

In A Solar Trade War, Who Wins?

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Of the many promises Donald Trump made during the campaign, few resonated more than getting tough on trade and bringing manufacturing jobs back home. That promise gave one struggling solar company an idea: ask the President to tamp down on the glut of cheap solar panels coming from overseas. SolarWorld­ – one of the few U.S based manufacturers of solar panels – is using an obscure provision of trade law to try and impose a tariff on all panels made overseas. And the solar industry is freaking out. If approved, it could cost tens of thousands of jobs and bring installations to a halt.

Audio

Coal Under Trump: One Miner’s Perspective

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President Trump idealizes a traditional view of American life, an America based on industry and lifting up the image of the blue collar working man. And no working man has been more lauded under this administration than the American coal miner. The economics for coal aren’t looking good, between regulations and low prices for natural gas and renewables. Still, Trump has been trying to fulfill his campaign promise to bring back mining jobs. We recently spent a weekend with a Colorado coal miner, for a perspective on the ground.