Ask the Fuel Expert

The U.S. State Department has extended its review of the Alberta, Canada-to-Texas crude oil pipeline in order to give the U.S. federal government agencies more time to make comments and produce a final environmental impact report.

Construction on $7-billion TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL pipeline may be delayed by up to six weeks. The Keystone XL is an extension to an existing TransCanada pipeline that stretches from Alberta to the U.S. Midwest and Cushing, Oklahoma.

The word irony – like our oceans – is often abused. A great example of the correct application of the word, however, is “World Oceans Day”. Now already three years old, the first time World Oceans Day received any attention was right after the ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. How’s that for irony?

Alternative energy sources are becoming more important every day but fossil fuel will continue to play a vital role in our immediate future. More power is being produced with sunlight, wind and geothermal, but the workhorses of electrical power generation in the U.S. are the coal and natural gas plants.

For all the talk about green energy — solar, wind, geothermal — our way of life is primarily powered by burning the stuff we get out of the ground with more than two-thirds of for electrical and transportation needs is coming from coal, fossil fuels and natural gas.

Refiners will receive a six-year reprieve from regulations being imposed on them by putting restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions under the climate bill introduced in the U.S. Senate this week.

The legislation is being co-sponsored by Senators John Kerry (D-MA), and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT). The electric power industry and the gasoline and diesel wholesalers will face caps on emissions starting in 2013 and will have to purchase emission credits at a maximum price of $25 per ton.

Everyone wants to save as much money at the pump as possible especially with the rising cost of fuel prices. You may not be able to control the price of fuel but you can change certain habits and follow some basic guidelines to help you save as much money as possible.

Rising fuel prices each year mean that the average driver, who travels approximately 15000 miles each year in a vehicle that obtains about 20 miles per gallon, will end up paying more at the end of the year.