Meter Reading: American Energy Land Grab Comes to an End, Pipeline Spill Was Preventable, and More

Chesapeake retreat ends American energy land grab – ”About six years ago, an army of agents hired by energy companies started desperately courting landowners across the United States whose farms and ranches happened to sit atop some of the richest oil and gas deposits in the world. And so began one of the biggest land grabs in recent memory. Those days are over.” — - Reuters

Exxon, Shell top Fortune 500 Global list – “Shell Oil and Exxon Mobil took the top two spots on the Fortune 500 Global list, edging out Wal-Mart who had topped the list for the past two years. Houston-based ConocoPhillips ranked ninth to be the highest of six Houston-based companies that made the magazine’s list.” — Fuel Fix

Preventable Errors Led to Pipeline Spill, Inquiry Finds – “Preventable safety blunders by the pipeline operator Enbridge and lax regulation led to the disastrous 2010 rupture and oil spill in the Kalamazoo River in Michigan, a federal agency declared on Tuesday after an investigation.” — New York Times