Largest Energy Deal of the Year Creates Largest Natural Gas Pipeline in USA

Greetings from Kiev!  As reported on world news services, the gas company Morgan Kinder (run by ex Enron chief Richard Kinder) made a cash and stock offer worth 21 billion dollars to buy El Paso Corp., another gas transit company... and this would result in a combined company having 107,000 kilometers of gas lines and becoming the single largest American pipeline operator.

The shift in company focus from exploration and production into gas transit would accomodate biogas as well, and could help instigate a nationwide shift from traditional fossil fuels to cleaner energy solutions.  For more information please see http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-16/kinder-to-buy-el-paso-for-21-1-billion-making-biggest-u-s-pipe-company.html

Kind regards,
Jon

Ukraine Green Awards

Greetings from Kiev!  This year's Green Awards in Ukraine will take place in November, with a ceremony and presentation of the best green projects in Ukraine this year.  If you would like to submit a project, learn more about green news, or show your support for alternative energy in Ukraine please see their link at http://www.greenawards.info/en

Cheers
Jon

U.S. Department of Agriculture Awards Grants To Fund Biomass & Biofuel Production

Last week the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, announced that 160 wood pellet producers in 41 states would start receiving grant money to produce biomass and biofuel components.  According to Secretary Vilsack this measure will create tens of thousands of new American jobs and provide fresh sources of clean energy to millions of Americans.

The funding will be awarded by the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels, a program dedicated to promoting manufacturers of biofuels from non-corn derived sources. For the full story please see http://bioenergy.checkbiotech.org/news/usda_awards_grants_biomass_and_biofuel_production

It will be interesting to see whether this news indicates the start of a new trend for different government agencies taking more proactive positions towards enhancing and subsidizing cleaner alternative energy in the USA -- a country that by most accounts trails global peers significantly in this regard.  With the current high unemployment levels in America currently, coupled with the country's high reliance on outdated fossil fuel energy production methods, linking the renewable energy sector to new jobs as a joint initiative makes a lot of sense.  Of course it will take a lot more than some USDA grant money to accomplish anything significant.  But the recent news from Secretary Vilsack represents a step in the right direction and hopefully signifies a growing new trend within both USDA and its sister agencies in Washington.

Kind regards from Kiev,
Jon