News bites: Huntsman faces conservative backlash on climate change, nuke plant disaster a warning for US, and more

Big stories on the Japanese nuclear disaster ...

The New York Times reports that a crucial aspect of the accident is a warning sign for the U.S.

“Emergency vents that American officials have said would prevent devastating hydrogen explosions at nuclear plants in the United States were put to the test in Japan — and failed to work, according to experts and officials with the company that operates the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant,” the paper reports.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription req’d) looks at the harrowing hours just after the tsunami struck the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Exxon Mobil’s annual energy forecast predicts that the accident won’t change projections for nuclear power use over the next 25 years, Bloomberg reports.

Elsewhere, Talking Points Memo reports that GOP White House hopeful Jon Huntsman is taking heat from the right for his confidence in climate scientists.

Bloomberg looks at what’s next for oil exploration plans in Russia’s Arctic now that state-owned Rosneft’s partnership with BP has collapsed. BP could still emerge as a player, it reports.

The AP reports that Pennsylvania regulators are fining natural-gas giant Chesapeake Energy $1.1 million for contaminating well water and causing a tank fire.