The Sierra Club’s president, Michael Brune, has acknowledged in a blog post that beginning five years ago, the club accepted $26 million from people connected with Chesapeake Energy.

An article raises the issue of whether the Sierra Club’s support of natural gas as a “bridge fuel” was influenced by donations from the gas industry.

A meeting with an advisory panel is deferred, suggesting that the decision-making process will not be rushed in coming months.

The government as well as private nonprofit groups offer help to people who are having difficulty paying their heating bills, especially as heating oil prices rise this winter.

Oil prices are expected to reach record levels this winter, but many users are unable to switch to natural gas or electricity, whose prices are going in the opposite direction.

Environmentalists and landowners in Texas will soon be able to go online and learn how much water has been used by oil and gas drillers in hydraulic fracturing.

If the Indian Point nuclear plant closes in the next few years, the 2,000 megawatts of electricity that it produces will have to come from somewhere else.

Environmental groups want more study of hydrofracking, while the natural gas industry and upstate landowners expecting royalties want a speedy approval.

A plan to drill for natural gas in the Karoo region of South Africa would use millions of gallons of water in a drought-stricken area.

Some grass-roots groups want a ban on hydrofracking in New York, but some established environmental organizations prefer stricter rules.