G8 concerned about rising oil prices. Soaring oil and food prices are emerging as serious threats to global economic growth, finance ministers from the world's top industrialized nations said Saturday, while vowing to work together to address the problem. [News Source]

Canada under pressure to fund green initiative. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is under pressure this weekend to contribute a sizable portion of his shrinking budget surplus to an international fund meant to help poorer countries buy green technology. [News Source]

Ameren to seek license for new nuclear plant. Union Electric Co. withdrew plans for a second nuclear reactor in Callaway County in October 1982, but a new generation of executives is back 25 years later with plans for another plant. [News Source]

Touring a coal mine. Mississippi Power escorted the Meridian Star on a tour of a surface coal mine in Ackerman, hoping to show off the reclamation efforts of the coal mining company and explaining the new "clean coal" technology that Mississippi Power plans to implement in Kemper County. [News Source]

Pumping gas underground could provide extra crude. Oil companies are developing a range of new technologies for extracting crude oil - the source of petrol and diesel - from the ground. One key technique involves the use of gas which is pumped into the ground at a depleted field to force out lingering oil deposits. [News Source]

Seeds of biofuel about to take off, fueling jumbo jet. If all goes well this summer, an Air New Zealand jumbo jet will take off from Auckland this fall powered by fuel refined from the seed of a fast-growing weed. [News Source]

Beaumont group wants to turn waste-produced methane into fuel. In a unique operation, several organizations are in the planning stage to create a system which would collect methane gas from a landfill and convert it to hydrogen to fuel city vehicles. [News Source]

Companies get OK to annoy polar bears. Less than a month after declaring polar bears a threatened species because of global warming, the Bush administration is giving oil companies permission to annoy and potentially harm them in the pursuit of oil and natural gas. [News Source]

Undersea mission to restore coral reef. Scientists are conducting an eight day undersea mission to determine why some species of coral survive transplanting after a disturbance, while other species die, which could lead to improved coral reef restoration. [News Source]

Battling for oil: Shades of old West in yellow grease wars. Waste vegetable oil, that greasy stuff restaurants discard from fry cookers into 55-gallon drums or recycling bins, is becoming a pawn in an increasingly competitive market, with pickup services working to defend their rights to claim waste oil. [News Source]

The debate continues: Environmental community remains unmoved by project changes. When the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities announced its coal-fired power plant would be equipped with carbon capture and storage technology, environmental groups immediately renewed objections. [News Source]