Brian Nearing in The Albany Times-Union reports that a series of energy-related protests kicked off around the Capitol Region May 11 when climate protesters drove the head of federal energy policy from the stage at a conference of the Independent Power Producers of New York. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Norman Bay was interrupted and shouted-down by about a half-dozen protesters at the Desmond Hotel and Conference Center, with leaving through a side door instead of finishing his speech. The protesters included Igor Vamos, a media professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a founder of The Yes Men, a media protest group that holds fake press conferences and uses other stunt-tactics to bring attention to social issues. Members of Break Free Albany, an anti-fossil fuel group, plans to disrupt oil train traffic at the Port of Albany on May 14, organizer Aly Johnson-Kurts told the paper. The group is also planning a kayak flotilla May 13 on the Hudson River to draw attention to the oil trains running up and down the Hudson River. Read the full story in The Albany Times-Union.