 On Our Radar: A Global Coal BoomBy THE NEW YORK TIMES - December 18, 2012Coal will come close to surpassing oil as the world’s top energy source by 2017, the International Energy Agency predicts. Demand for coal will increase in every region of the world except the United States, where the fuel is being pushed out by natural gas, the agency says. [International Energy Agency] The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general says it will investigate whether the agency uses separate internal e-mail accounts to conduct government affairs and if so, whether its actions comply with federal laws. [The Hill] TransCanada’s chief executive asserts that the prospect of a new secretary of state will not worsen the odds of the Keystone XL oil pipeline’s being approved. [Reuters] The record for converting natural gas to liquids is spotty. Nonetheless, a vast petrochemical complex in Qatar that is converting natural gas to diesel fuel reflects the betting that the global demand for cleaner diesel fuel will soar. [The New York Times] Five Chinese yellow-headed box turtles, an endangered species, hatch at the Bronx Zoo. Zoo officials say fewer than 150 are thought to remain in the wild as a result of human consumption, their use in traditional medicine, their sale as pets, pollution and habitat loss. [NY 1] 
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