News bites: Meet Al Gore, green tech guru

Former Vice President Al Gore has transformed himself into a successful clean-technology investor, boosting his assets from less than $2 million in 2001 to $100 million this year, notes The Washington Post.

Fourteen startups with Gore’s backing “received or directly benefited from more than $2.5 billion in loans, grants and tax breaks, part of President Obama’s historic push to seed a U.S. renewable-energy industry with public money,” according to the Post.

An oil sheen discovered in the Gulf of Mexico matches that of the Macondo well, from which more than 4 million barrels escaped into the Gulf during BP’s 2010 oil spill, says The New York Times. The U.S. Coast Guard said BP and Transocean “may be held accountable for any cost associated” with cleaning up the site.

China wants the U.S. to remove tariffs it finalized Wednesday for Chinese solar panels, reports The Associated Press. China called the tariff imposition a protective move that will stunt the development of the clean energy industry.

An industry-backed study says the Mid-Atlantic offshore wind energy industry could create 70,000 jobs and generate an economic impact of $19 billion, notes The Associated Press.

The New York Times’ photography blog captures natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale formation.

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