STUFF .... US Army to be first to test Sierra Energy waste-to-fuel project in Cal. $3M from Pentagon, $5M from Cal Energy Commission. Modified blast furnace ... Plan to ban oil drilling in Amazon dropped. Only $13M raised for $3.6B fund to buy ~4K sq. mi. in Ecuador. Potential reserves near 800M bls found in national park. In July, Ecuador got $2B loan from China Dev Bank for near 40Kb/d from Ecuador to Petro China over 2 yrs ... Study: Europe forests begin to slow CO2 uptake ... Ancient ice core suggests Antarctica began warming before Arctic ... New Zealand scaling back emissions target ... Drought forcing 1st-ever cutbacks in Lake Mead water deliveries from Lake Powell ... USDA opened program to purchase sugar, sell it to biofuel producers ... Exxon may shut down Arkansas pipeline that ruptured months ago ... Nicaragua plans to explore Caribbean seabed for oil/NG ... Buffett investing in tar sands ... BLM reversed decision to lease parcels near Mesa Verde for oil/NG drilling ... EPA dropped work on coalbed methane rules as drilling declines with NG prices ... OH county election board rejected fracking ban proposal ... Global Data: China to continue to be world's largest wind power market to '20. They doubled cumulative capacity each year '06-'11. Slowed in '12. US the #2 market ... Iran won't have 1/3 of needed revenue for next year's $68B budget ... ND set record of over 821Kb/d production in June ... Beijing signed off on plans for China's 1st offshore LNG facility. $539M import terminal ... Shale gas production in PA, WV up about 50% this year v. last ... Church of England signalled support for fracking of Brit's shale gas reserves. (Now it's religion?!) ... Europe 2Q GDP up .3%. Germany up .7%. France up .5%. Global GDP $74T ... Pacific Ag, Edeniq 5-yr agreement for bolt-on production tech for corn ethanol plants to add cellulosic capacity ... Wisc suspended wind, solar incentives through yearend. Moving toward incentives for biofuel projects like manure digesters, waste wood burning ... 2Q Iowa biodiesel production hit record 57M gal. 9 plants in state ... Lithuania held their biggest biofuel auction. 780M tons worth near $400K ... Mitsubishi bought 50% stakes in 2 EDF solar power stations in France. Total cap 56Mw. Reportedly ~2B Yen ... RWE Innogy to divest biomass assets ... Almost 3.5Gw of German wind capacity denied permits due to aviation authorities ... Google users emit 8 grams CO2/d ... Panda Power to build 859Mw NG combined-cycle power plant in MD.