They rise up high above the sun-scorched countryside, looking out over hilltop villages, palm trees, neatly-tended vineyards and olive groves.

My visit to the Gulf Coast of Louisiana this week turned out to be even more interesting than I had expected. We went on this trip to investigate the progress of the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill cleanup and the ongoing claims process for those affected by the disaster. However, shortly after the Army Black Hawk helicopter touched down in Grand Isle, Louisiana, right on the Gulf of Mexico, we were greeted by news of an oil platform explosion some 135 miles or so to the southwest of us out in the Gulf. Thirteen men went over the side of the platform into the water following the explosion. Fortunately, all of them survived, apparently without serious injury. They were luckier than the eleven men who perished during the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig more than four months ago.

A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iranian nuclear scientists had made at least 22 kilograms of enriched uranium at least 20 per cent purity, a technical hurdle that is the hardest to overcome on the way to weapons-grade uranium.

China's push for cleaner fuels has kept urban gas distributors in a sweet spot, but an industry regulation being tested in the northern province of Hebei suggests they face a bumpy road ahead

The electricity industry is wrestling with how to restructure its business model to account for efforts to convince consumers to reduce their energy use while being paid for promoting this efficiency. Historically, utilities have experienced demand growth with the annual pace of growth dictated by the health of the economy.

Today's explosion of a Mariner Energy production platform in the Gulf has to be wracking the nerves of Apache Corp. Chief Executive Steven Farris. Apache is in the process of acquiring Mariner-a deal that was announced just five days before BP's Deepwater Horizon rig exploded. Today's disaster will be nothing like that one-the latest reports indicate that all seven producing wells were shut off shortly after fire broke out. This could however, give Farris pause about continuing with the Mariner acquisition.

Early in his Presidency, Barack Obama made it clear that if Congress failed to limit carbon emissions, he would use his authority under the Clean Air Act to control greenhouse gases. Now that Congress has pulled the plug on legislation, that task has fallen to Lisa Jackson, Obama''s Environmental Protection Agency chief. Caught between business groups and some Senate Democrats who want to stop her, and environmental organizations that say she''s not going far enough, Jackson may have the toughest job in town.

The direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that started in Washington Thursday are likely to move on a bumpy road, analysts say.

Forget about the new oil well explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. The big breaking news is BP's attempt to leverage its promised 20 billion Gulf Restoration Fund to get the US government to let it keep drilling for oil in the Gulf.

We hear lots of concerned chatter these days - not least, here on this site - about peak oil, peak water, deforestation, resource depletion and the like, but a popular riposte offered by those doubting such concerns is something commonly referred to as the "Environmentalist's Paradox".

An oil platform exploded and caught fire Thursday off the Louisiana coast, the second such disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in less than five months. All 13 crew members were rescued from the water in protective survival suits.

A market and social research group found a significant number of Australians becoming more carbon-efficient.

Kuwait will build a fourth generation nuclear reactor, which is considered the safest in the world, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily quoting Environment Public Authority (EPA) General Manager Dr Salah Al-Mudhi. Al-Mudhi revealed the crisis management issue is included in the agenda of the meeting of GCC environment ministers in October. He said First Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Head of the Supreme Council for the Environment Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak will preside over the meeting.

An official of Indonesia's National Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan) say the country has a uranium reserve of at least 53,000 tons which could serve as the foundation for building nuclear power plants in the country.

Dependency on oil produced by OPEC countries is set to rise in the next 5-10 years as non-OPEC supplies are set to decline, Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said on Friday.

The future for European coal generation looks gloomy with the odds stacked against new coal plants but if Turkey is included in the European zone a very different picture emerges, analysts say.

The fire that engulfed an oil and gas platform Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico heightened pressure on the energy industry, which is battling greater regulation and a deep-water drilling ban.

A deal between Brazil's government and oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras, has removed some doubts that the company can pull off the world''s largest share offer later this month.

Japan approved fresh economic sanctions against Iran on Friday after the United Nations asked Tokyo to tighten restrictions against Tehran over its controversial nuclear enrichment program, an official said.

Since I've been taking potshots at German energy policy recently, I was pleased to see that it appears the country's government is nearing a reasonable compromise concerning nuclear power, which accounts for 22% of the electricity generated in Germany.