While most of Tennessee's congressional delegation has resisted President Obama's proposal to privative the Tennessee Valley Authority, Sen. Bob Corker is open to changes at the utility, The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. Corker said he doesn't favor a sale to cut the federal debt — he doesn't believe it would sell for enough to recoup the utility's nearly $25 billion debt — but believes becoming a nonprofit corporation or transferring ownership to TVA distributors could help the utility. "I've…

“There’s a time to negotiate and there’s a time not to negotiate,” said Gail Pressberg, senior program director at Civil Society Institute, during a conference call Wednesday to clarify that the Environmental Defense Fund doesn’t speak for all environmental and local groups when it comes to fracking. Pressberg, along with 69 other individuals and groups, sent a letter to EDF scolding it for participating in the Center for Sustainable Shale Development, a coalition of groups announced in…

The Paper Battery Co., a Troy, NY startup developing a paper-thin energy technology, has been named to a Silicon Valley list for the 50 hottest early-stage tech companies. The founded by Shreefal Mehta, a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, was named to the 2013 TiE50 list for promising tech startup companies. Paper Battery has caught the attention of several investors over the past two years. The startup with technology that could have applications in cell phones, hyrbrid cars…

Bradenton, Fla.-based First Titan Corp. is planning to expand its oil and gas interests in Texas with the acquisition of a working interest in 1,000 acres in Hardin County near Beaumont. The company’s Texas portfolio currently includes assets in Terrell County in far west Texas. The company announced plans for a more aggressive acquisition strategy centered in the Lone Star State in response to recent reports of the state’s accelerating pace of oil production. The Wall Street Journal recently…

Gas prices are heading back up, though the increase isn't a big one. Gasoline is selling for an average of $3.750 per gallon in Erie and Niagara counties, according to a report issued this morning by the American Automobile Association. That's up slightly more than two cents from $3.727 a week ago. AAA issues daily price estimates for Buffalo and other metropolitan areas, based on its analysis of credit-card purchases at self-service stations.

Glowing red and green lights pierced the night sky as I stood on the runway at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Then, a row of LED lights came on, revealing the 200-foot wingspan that's entirely covered in solar panels. It seemed to hover over the airport, heading right into a steady wind. Slowly, but surely, the SolarImpulse touched down at D/FW Airport just after 1 a.m. Thursday. The crowd cheered as Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg emerged victorious from the cockpit. He'd just traveled…

The Illinois House on Wednesday voted 71-41 to override Gov. Pat Quinn’s veto of a bill aimed at allowing Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison to raise rates to pay for so-called Smart Grid technology. The Senate voted Tuesday to override the veto of Senate Bill 9. The measure immediately becomes law following this week’s votes. The Citizens Utility Board had opposed the bill because it claimed it gave utility companies the ability to raise rates. The governor had said he was concerned about…

Nineteen entities responded to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s call for ideas on how to develop 78 acres of land at the lab. The land is part of the LLNL and Sandia National Laboratories' Livermore Valley Open Campus project to facilitate businesses to make use of the labs’ research and technology. Last month, LLNL issued a request for information from developers interested in building facilities such as office and lab space at the Open Campus. “It’s taken some time, but we’re…

Prospect Energy LLC, the only oil and gas company working inside Fort Collins, will be able to drill new wells — and used hydraulic fracturing — under an operating agreement approved by the city council. The agreement requires Prospect to adhere to stricter standards than those imposed by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC), which oversees industry operations in the state. The Fort Collins city council voted 4-3 late Tuesday to approve the operating agreement with Prospect,…

Houston was ranked as the No. 1 market in the U.S. with the highest demand for engineers, according to a new Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) survey. Following Houston were San Jose, Calif.; San Diego, Calif.; Chicago; and Auburn Hills, Mich. The Monster survey also revealed that throughout the U.S., the top five engineering occupations are industrial engineer, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, civil engineer and electronics engineer. Along the same lines, companies surveyed indicated…