A new deepwater drilling moratorium issued by the Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy approves $92 million in funding for a select set of research projects, and PG&E and the town of Fairfax battle over smart meters.

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Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar yesterday has issued a temporary suspension of deepwater drilling. According to Salazar, the main cause of the temporary suspension is that there has been some recent evidence that’s showed that oil and gas companies have not been able to implement adequate safety measures to reduce the risks associated with deepwater drilling operations nor are they prepared for blowouts and oil spills. The suspension, which could last until November 30th of this year states that the temporary suspension does not apply to any shallow water drilling, provided that companies engaging in shallow water drilling activity are in compliance with all safety and environmental laws.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu yesterday announced  the approval of 43 research projects that focus on way to dramatically improve how the U.S. consumes and produces energy.  A total of $92 million was awarded through Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program. 18 states will receive part of the award as universities, small and large businesses, national labs and non-profits will be responsible for developing long term grid scale energy storage, power electronics and building efficiency solutions.  The agency has selected a total of 117 projects for $349 million in funding, supporting research that can deliver breakthrough changes in how the U.S. generates, stores, and utilizes energy.

A battle is brewing between the city of Fairfax and electricity supplier Pacific Gas & Electric. The Fairfax Town Council this week approved an ordinance that would stop PG&E from installing remote-controlled SmartMeters in their town. The ordinance was passed because the town is concerned these new “smart meters” actually digitally read the amount of power a building consumes. And they are also concerned that the radio signals they produce could be a health hazard. They have asked PG&E to temporarily stop their installing of these new meters until a compromise has been made.

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