Archive for Energy & Climate Headlines

U.S. begins pursuing drilling off Virginia coast
Months after President George W. Bush and Congress lifted bans on offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, the federal government moved Thursday to pursue oil and natural gas exploration off the coast of Virginia.

Coal power plants may have to limit emissions
About 100 proposed coal-fired power plants in the USA may be required to limit their greenhouse gas emissions after the Environmental Protection Agency was blocked Thursday from issuing a permit for a proposed Utah plant without addressing the issue of gl

Mexico Hedges All Oil Exports in ‘09 at $70
Mexico said it has hedged all of its oil exports for next year against a price of oil below $70 a barrel, in a sign of how some resource-rich nations are trying to protect themselves against slumping commodity prices amid a global economic slowdown.

OPEC to Meet in Attempt to Halt Oil-Price Decline
OPEC members will meet later this month in a bid to halt the tumble in crude prices, amid signs that a global economic slowdown is punishing near-term demand for oil.

IEA Cuts Oil Demand Forecast
The International Energy Agency warned Thursday that world oil-demand growth this year is on the cusp of falling into negative territory for the first time in 25 years, as global economic problems hammer away at energy consumption.

Oil Breaches $60 and Points Lower Still
Crude oil fell below $60 a barrel for the first time since March 2007, and there is heavy betting that it will fall further as traders expect the global economic slowdown to resist government efforts to spur growth.

Chesapeake Energy Sells Stake in Natural-Gas Field
Chesapeake Energy Corp. agreed to sell an interest in a massive natural-gas field for $3.4 billion in a deal that helps shore up the battered finances of the largest U.S. natural-gas producer while opening the door to its first overseas exploration.

Utilities hunker down for tough year ahead
If misery loves company, this week’s meeting of the nation’s utility executives is a good place to hang out.

China Expands Markets for Emissions Trading
After years of small-scale experiments in using so-called emissions trading to reduce pollution, China is taking steps to set up a nationwide system.

If a Tree Falls in the Forest, Are Biofuels To Blame? It’s Not Easy Being Green
Biofuels are under siege from critics who say they crowd out food production. Now these fuels made from grass and grain, long touted as green, are being criticized as bad for the planet.

Report Says Sun and Wind Power Could Threaten Nation’s Electrical Grid
Adding electricity from the wind and the sun could increase the frequency of blackouts and reduce the reliability of the nation’s electrical grid, an industry report says.

China’s Oil Giants Lose Their Edge
It’s this crowd’s view that China’s state oil giants no longer warrant the lofty stock-price premiums traditionally associated with their protected access to the country’s energy-hungry economy, not to mention the potentially vast oil and gas riches that

A New Dawn
Global warming needs strong leadership. Avoiding the lost decades and misused resources of a Kyoto approach would be paramount, and a focus on 0.05% of GDP R&D would fix long-term global warming at much lower cost and with much higher probability of s

Does Green Energy Add 5 Million Jobs? Potent Pitch, but Numbers Are Squishy
Calls for a clean-energy system in the U.S. have long met with sticker shock. Now, the cost of making the transition — hundreds of billions of dollars — is being touted as a selling point.

Oil Supplies Will Tighten And Prices Jump, IEA Warns
The world faces mounting uncertainty and escalating costs on the energy front in the years ahead, as companies scramble to find new pockets of oil and squeeze more production from aging fields, the International Energy Agency says in a largely gloomy annu

‘Aliens Cause Global Warming’
Crichton: Nobody believes a weather prediction twelve hours ahead. Now we’re asked to believe a prediction that goes out 100 years into the future? And make financial investments based on that prediction? Has everybody lost their minds?

Renewable power, alternative fuel measures fail
Two state ballot measures that would dramatically expand California’s use of renewable power and alternative fuels appeared headed for defeat Tuesday night.

Under Obama, Dark Days Seen Ahead For Fossil Fuels
Under President-elect Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., the fossil fuels industry may face “dark days ahead,” while alternative energy sectors are likely to flourish.

Obama May Put Renewable-Energy Plan Ahead of Climate Package
President-elect Barack Obama may pursue legislation early next year to speed a transition to an economy fueled by renewable energy sources and delay a fight on climate change until the economy improves.

Government Rapped Over Drilling Pace
The government isn’t doing enough to expedite drilling in federal waters and on public lands, according to a report issued Tuesday by congressional investigators.

Oil Soars Above $70 a Barrel
Oil futures soared 10% with buyers spurred by signs that recent OPEC cuts are taking hold and greater risk appetite is lifting commodities markets.

VeraSun Secures Creditor Funds to Keep Running
VeraSun Energy Corp. won court approval to tap about $250 million in funding from creditors, allowing one of the U.S.’s top ethanol producers to remain in operation.

Signs of Global Slowdown Pull Oil Below $63 a Barrel
Oil prices fell below $63 a barrel in Asia Tuesday after more evidence of a U.S. recession piled up and hopes China will prop demand waned.

Utilities putting new energy into geothermal sources
Although geothermal energy is virtually limitless, the massive upfront costs required to extract it have long rendered geothermal a novelty. But that’s changing fast as this old-line industry buzzes with activity after decades of stagnation.

Shell Wagers That Delays Will Pay Off
Why put off to tomorrow what you can do today? Because it might get cheaper, says Royal Dutch Shell.

Oil Group Signs Kashagan Accord
A group of western oil companies signed an agreement with the government of Kazakhstan Friday that resolves a long-running dispute over one of the world’s largest oilfields in the Caspian Sea.

Russia Sets Pipeline Deal With China
A top Russian energy official said China will provide Russian oil firms with “considerable” loans in return for increased oil supplies as Moscow and Beijing agreed on details of a new pipeline linking the two countries.

Oil’s Slide Threatens Future Supply
The slump in oil prices has spread relief among consumers and fuel-reliant industries, but also is squeezing the companies who could invest in new sources of oil — spurring concerns that prices will prompt them to shelve investments.

A proposed EPA change in a power plant rule would worsen pollution.
The Environmental Protection Agency is pushing to issue an ill-advised rule that would allow old, pollution-spewing power plants to increase deadly emissions without restriction.

Pickens’s Investors Ask for Exit
About half of the investors in T. Boone Pickens’s energy-oriented equity hedge fund have asked to withdraw their money on the heels of losses of about 60% this year.

The Election Choice: Energy
Discounting election-year hyperbole, Barack Obama and John McCain are broadly like-minded in their approach to energy and the environment.

Oil Falls Below $63 a Barrel
Oil prices fell to 17-month lows below $63 a barrel Monday in Asia as investors brushed off OPEC’s output cut, focusing instead on growing evidence of a severe global economic slowdown that would undermine crude demand.

EPA to Loosen Controls On Power-Plant Pollution
The Bush administration is moving to adopt rules that would loosen pollution controls on power plants, by judging the plants on their hourly rate of emissions rather than their total annual output, people familiar with the matter said.

OPEC Cut to Be Felt Eventually
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ move to pump less oil in the presence of shaky demand growth will result in higher prices — eventually.

Court Case in Miami Casts Light on Corruption in Venezuela
The Miami trial of a Venezuelan entrepreneur who grew rich doing business with President Hugo Chávez’s populist administration has exposed how some top government officials have profited from a corrosive web of corruption in the oil-rich country.

Nuclear Power May Be in Early Stages of a Revival
After three decades without starting a single new plant, the American nuclear power industry is getting ready to build again.

The Matrix Overloaded: Clean Energy Will Depend on a New, ‘Smart’ Grid
Wind turbines and solar panels have become the icons of renewable energy. But renewable energy is only as effective as the infrastructure that moves it around: the electrical grid.

OPEC Cuts Production by 1.5 Million Barrels a Day
Eager to rein in a dramatic slide in oil prices, OPEC decided Friday to make a deep cut in oil production, taking 1.5 million barrels a day off global markets as it embarks on the challenging task of managing prices amid a potential global recession.

Alaska, Exxon Mobil work to resolve lease dispute
Exxon Mobil Corp. and Alaska officials are trying to settle a complex lawsuit over a North Slope natural gas field deemed essential to a successful 1,170-mile pipeline project.

Iran, Qatar, Russia Form Gas Alliance
Iran, Qatar and Russia have agreed to form an OPEC-style organization for gas-exporting countries, Iran’s oil minister said Tuesday after a trilateral meeting in Tehran.

Crude Oil Drops to 2008 Low
Crude oil futures fell to a fresh 2008 low Wednesday, pressured by a surging dollar and expectations of gains in U.S. petroleum stockpiles.

Africa’s Potential to Sate World’s Oil Demand Dims
The petroleum potential of Africa, a key contributor of oil barrels to thirsty markets, is beginning to look dimmer because of the credit crunch and a host of endemic challenges.

Who is Google to lecture us on energy efficiency?
Google has ambitions beyond organising the world’s information. It also wants to organise the world’s energy infrastructure. And it would do so at the expense of others, including the aspirational economies of Asia.

As Fuel Prices Fall, Will Push For Alternatives Lose Steam?
Almost all of those alternatives rely on federal subsidies or are counting on lower costs as technology evolves. The cheaper oil gets, the bigger those technological improvements need to be to compete.

How Washington Can Help Alaska Drill
Since 2005, Shell Oil has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to buy leases in hopes of exploring for oil off the coast of northern Alaska. But so far Shell has not been allowed even to look for oil on these leases, much less extract any of it.

Obama’s Carbon Ultimatum
Liberals pretend that only President Bush is preventing the U.S. from adopting some global warming “solution.” But occasionally their mask slips.

Agencies Rated on Scientific Candor
The EPA and OSHA have among the most restrictive policies in the federal government on releasing scientific information to the press and public, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Oil’s Slide Deepens as Downturn Triggers Sharp Drop in Demand
Signs that an enfeebled U.S. economy is using less and less oil sent world crude prices below $70 a barrel for the first time in 14 months, a dramatic turnaround for a market that not long ago had some analysts predicting $200-a-barrel oil as early as nex

Gas prices still too high
Gas prices are falling amid recent concerns about the U.S. and global economy. However, consumers are still paying significantly more at the pump than they did a year ago.

In Gas Prices, A Silver Lining
U.S. gasoline prices are tumbling because of uncertain economic prospects and sagging consumption, providing a small bit of good news for Americans in a month of financial turmoil.

Don’t overturn ‘Drill, baby, drill’
In a unique turn of events, congressional inaction has yielded exactly what Americans need: energy opportunity.

Regional alliances enlist cap-and-trade approach to curtail greenhouse gases
Clusters of states on the East and West Coasts and in the Midwest are setting up marketplaces for electric utilities and other companies to buy and sell credits to emit carbon dioxide and other gases responsible for global warming.

Gasoline Prices Drop 22%; Further Declines Are Seen
U.S. gasoline prices have skidded 22% from their highs and may fall further as the economy slows and as refinery operations disrupted by hurricanes return to normal.

Some See Floor for Oil Below $80
The floor for oil prices is painted with two words: demand and OPEC.

Oil Is a Bright Spot Amid Turmoil
In case you haven’t noticed amid market turmoil, oil is back below $80 a barrel. That’s after reaching a record high of $147 a barrel on July 11.

Tax rebate, food stamp money possible in aid plan
After consulting with Barack Obama, Democratic leaders are likely to call Congress back to work after the election in hopes of passing legislation that would include extended jobless benefits, money for food stamps and possibly a tax rebate.

Interior Department Drafts New Oil Shale Rules
The U.S. Department of the Interior has published proposed regulations for the production of oil from shale deposits on federal lands, bringing the nation one step closer to accessing oil reserves three times as big as those of oil giant Saudi Arabia.

IEA Warns on Global Oil Demand
The International Energy Agency on Friday warned that global oil demand this year is on course to register its weakest growth in 15 years and is likely to log similarly anemic growth in 2009 as the world’s financial woes eat away economic activity.

Economic woes may give planet a breather
A slowdown in the world economy may give the planet a breather from the excessively high carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions responsible for climate change, a Nobel Prize winning scientist said on Tuesday.

Sorting out the truth on energy
In an ongoing series, we’re examining issues from the presidential campaign. For each topic, we’ll distill the candidates’ positions and present some key rulings. Part 1 was taxes. And Part 2 was Iraq. Now we take on energy.

House Democrats Unveil Climate-Change Proposal
A House Democratic plan for imposing mandatory reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions was unveiled Tuesday, setting the stage for a political battle that is expected to heat up next year when a new U.S. president takes office.

China grim on prospects for climate pact
Negotiations seeking a global pact to tackle global warming are troubled and could end in disastrous failure, China’s top climate change envoy warned on Monday, saying rich countries are failing to deliver on promises.

California drilling
When it comes to energy, we’re supposed to pick between a clean environment and affordable fuel. But what if we could have both?

Everybody Into the Ocean: The race is on to turn waves, tides and currents into electrical energy
Surfers aren’t the only ones itching to jump in the water and catch some big waves. Dozens of companies, from oil giant Chevron Corp. to smaller firms like Ocean Power Technologies Inc., have invested in or are evaluating the potential of technology desig

China Oil Firms Cast Global Net
Chinese oil company Cnooc Ltd. is bidding for natural-gas assets in the Caribbean, and is teaming up with refiner China Petrochemical Corp. to buy a stake in an Angolan oil field, the latest efforts by Chinese state-owned energy companies to expand their

Oil Drops Most in 17 Years in Quarter on Economy Woes
Crude oil futures plunged 28 percent in the third quarter, their biggest decline since 1991, amid concern that slowing economic growth will curtail global demand and as the dollar advanced.

Commodities Take a Brutal Beating as Growth Outlook Dims
Commodities took a wild ride in the third quarter, hitting new highs in early July, falling sharply into early September and rallying as the U.S. government took steps to stabilize the financial system.

Drill, Maybe Drill
At midnight last night, the chanters of “drill, baby, drill” got their wish. The congressional ban on offshore drilling for oil expired after it was not included in the continuing resolution that will keep the federal government funded until March.

An Exhausting War on Emissions
In 1991, Norway became one of the first countries in the world to impose a stiff tax on harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Since then, the country’s emissions should have dropped. Instead, they have risen by 15%.

Lawmakers at Impasse on Incentives for Renewable Energy
The House and the Senate conceded Monday that they were in a stalemate over proposals to provide tax incentives for the production and use of renewable energy, leaving the future of the nascent industry in limbo.

Russia may boost OPEC clout, raise oil risk premium
Closer cooperation between OPEC and Russia, which between them supply half the world’s oil, could see a bigger political risk premium priced into oil and add more muscle to the producer group’s output policy.

Oil Falls Sharply on Renewed Economic Fears
Oil prices slumped below $100 a barrel on Monday as the House of Representatives voted down a $700 billion bailout plan for the financial markets, raising the prospect of slower economic growth and depressed demand for petroleum products.

Climate heats up lawsuits
Climate change spilled over into the nation’s laws and policies in recent days, giving environmentalists plenty of fodder for public interest lawsuits.

Lieberman: Another reason to drill
Gasoline prices have dropped a little since hitting $4 a gallon, but America’s total energy bill will increase as we enter the home heating season.

GAO Faults ‘Credibility’ Of CO2-Offset Market
The growing U.S. market for carbon offsets — vouchers that let companies and individuals project an environmentally friendly image by paying others to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions — is so opaque and loosely regulated that it offers consumers “limi

Gore’s Rebellion
For a while, it was a standard-issue Al Gore jeremiad, with calls for everything from installing solar panels in Darfur to legal action against “the carbon lobby” for denying global warming. But then Mr. Gore really got going and told his disciples to hea

Democrats add billions to stopgap bill
Even as Congress moves to bail out Wall Street, congressional Democrats called Thursday for billions more in taxpayer dollars to be spent on private shipyards, a new Department of Homeland Security headquarters and hybrid car batteries…

Southeast gas shortage squeezes small retailers
The fuel shortage that has drivers across the Southeast scrambling to fill their tanks is pinching independent stations that rely on gas sales to lure customers who also buy snacks, soda and other incidentals.

Gas Shortage In the South Creates Panic, Long Lines
Gasoline shortages hit towns across the southeastern United States this week, sparking panic buying, long lines and high prices at stations from the small towns of northeast Alabama to Charlotte in the wake of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

EU Panel Backs Tough Stance on Pollution
In a surprise setback for Europe’s auto makers, an important committee of the European Union Parliament backed a tougher approach to cap greenhouse-gas emissions from new cars.

House Democrats to Let Ban on Drilling Expire
Congressional Democrats bowed to political pressure yesterday and agreed to let the ban on offshore oil drilling expire, a decision that would allow exploration just three miles off the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines.

STEELE: Drill, baby, drill
While it still remains to be seen whether the majority party in Congress is serious about energy security, the recent shift in support for lifting the 30-year moratorium on exploration of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is more than encouraging.

Bill Would End Coastal Oil Drilling Ban
House Democrats are preparing a stopgap spending measure that would eliminate a 26-year-old ban on coastal oil drilling, avoiding a showdown with Republicans over domestic energy production that could have shut down the government.

Highlights of offshore drilling, budget measure
Highlights of a Democratic bill lifting a moratorium on additional offshore oil drilling and providing stopgap funding for federal agencies after the 2009 budget year starts Oct. 1

Gasoline Surges in Southeast in Ike’s Wake
Drivers in the Southeast U.S. are facing sharply higher gasoline prices and some shortages, triggered by refinery closures in the wake of Hurricane Ike and pipelines that are moving less gas.

U.S. companies see climate risk, but lack plan
U.S. companies judge climate change a risk to their business, but lag global companies in setting targets to cut emissions, according to a global survey.

Palin, McCain Disagree on Causes of Global Warming
No one, including Gov. Sarah Palin, questions that Alaska’s climate is changing more rapidly than any other state’s. But her skepticism about the causes and what needs to be done to address the consequences contrasts with John McCain’s.

Democrats Work on Energy Plan
Congressional Democrats are working on a proposal to enact provisions of a House bill that opens up new areas of the Outer Continental Shelf to oil drilling as part a stopgap government funding measure, now that passage of a standalone energy bill by the

Efforts to Curtail Emissions Gain
How Washington might crack down on global-warming emissions won’t be clear until after the fall election. But this week will bring two signs that U.S companies believe change is on the way.

Energy’s foreseen crisis
After hearing about OPEC’s latest announcement that it will cut oil production by around a half a million barrels of oil per day (bpd) to shore up “falling prices,” Rep. Dan Burton cannot help but feel a sense of deja vu from the worst days of the 1970s.

Offshore sham
The other night when House Democrats appeared to reverse their long-standing ban on offshore oil drilling, the electorate was again hoodwinked.

Chicago Unveils Multifaceted Plan to Curb Emissions of Heat-Trapping Gases
Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago on Thursday unveiled perhaps the most aggressive plan of any major American city to reduce heat-trapping gases.

House Passes Bill Targeting Oil Speculators
The House yesterday approved legislation aimed at curbing speculation in oil and other commodity markets, saying federal regulators don’t have the tools or manpower to track trading abuses.

House Democrats Offer Bill Allowing Offshore Drilling
A Democratic bill to allow more oil drilling off the U.S. coasts passed the House of Representatives, but it faces an uncertain future in the Senate and a fresh veto threat from President George W. Bush.

Offshore drilling up to Senate after House passage
Offshore oil drilling, which has dominated energy debates in the presidential campaign, is now coming to the Senate.

House approves offshore drilling
The House voted late Tuesday to open waters off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to oil and gas drilling but only 50 or more miles out to sea and only if a state agrees to energy development off its shore.

CO2 regulation could hit 1 million U.S. firms
The prospect of U.S. regulation of climate-warming carbon dioxide has sparked a pre-emptive outcry from the Chamber of Commerce, which warned of bureaucratic gridlock if proposed limits are put in place.

Fed Silence on Energy Speaks Volumes
The six-week period between the August and September FOMC meetings was the most favorable of the Ben Bernanke era when it comes to controlling inflation.

The Big Push
The U.K. is one of Europe’s low-carbon laggards. In the European Union, only Malta and Luxembourg generate less of their energy from renewable resources.

States Aim to Cut Gases by Making Polluters Pay
Ten states are about to undertake the nation’s most serious effort yet to tackle climate change, but there are worries that it may fail to reduce pollution.

Oil Workers Flee Attacks by Militants in Nigeria
Two security officials in the oil industry said that more than 100 people might have been killed by the fighting, which has spread to at least seven villages.

Ike’s Fallout: Don’t Underestimate Storm’s Impact on Refiners
There were so many fears that Hurricane Ike was going to absolutely devastate Gulf Coast refinery capacity, that when it didn’t quite happen, the market seems to have figured Ike didn’t really do any refinery damage at all.

Drilling for Dollars
Congress is usually scrambling for revenue to spend, not rejecting it out of hand. Which makes it all the more strange that Democrats have resisted the windfall they stand to collect if they drop their ban on offshore oil-and-gas development.

Gas Prices Continue to Rise as Hurricane Destroys Oil Facilities
Gasoline prices once again soared across the country yesterday as federal officials said a preliminary survey of damage found that a number of production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico had been destroyed by Hurricane Ike.

Why the Gasoline Engine Isn’t Going Away Any Time Soon
An automotive revolution is coming — but it’s traveling in the slow lane.

Critics claim deception in California energy measures
Californians will vote on two ballot initiatives this fall that at first glance would seem shoo-ins for approval in a state long associated with environmental activism.

GOP: Democrats’ plan leaves most oil off limits
House Republicans attacked a Democratic offshore drilling plan Friday for including a 50-mile coastal buffer that they said would leave untouched most of the 18 billion barrels of oil in waters now off-limits to energy companies.

Outer Continental Shuffle
The so-called “Gang of 10″ energy plan is becoming the political escape hatch for those Members of Congress who suddenly want to appear more in favor for offshore drilling.

Election-Year Energy
The Gang of 16, a group of senators who support a controversial energy plan that promotes offshore drilling and renewable energy, is about to get larger.

Regulator Aims to Sort Oil Moves
The main U.S. futures-markets regulator called for new tools to assess the impact of speculators on the price of oil and other raw materials, calling its own data lacking and proposing to put a bigger burden on Wall Street to clarify the picture.

Democrats Reluctantly Embrace Offshore Drilling
A concerted Republican assault over domestic oil production and the threat of political backlash from financially pressed motorists have Democrats poised to embrace a fundamental shift in energy policy.

Oil and Water: A Guest Post
Over the past few months, newspapers, blogs, and television screens have been filled with stories of two precious liquids — oil and water.

OPEC not likely to slash output
Senior oil officials from Iran and Libya said Monday there is too much crude on the market, adding that OPEC is reviewing whether supply exceeds demand before deciding whether to cut back production.

Congress warms to new oil drilling
Senate Democrats promised a series of votes next week on offshore oil drilling as Republicans agreed Monday to let the Senate proceed on a defense bill that had been bottled up because of partisan disputes over the country’s energy priorities.

Dems’ offshore drilling plan comes with catch
As Congress returns this week for a three-week legislative sprint, the two parties will face off in a chess match over energy with high stakes for both the November elections and the nation’s energy future.

New bacteria could make cheaper ethanol
Genetically engineered bacteria could make cellulosic ethanol cheaper to manufacture, researchers reported on Monday, in a finding that may unlock more energy from the waste products of farming and forestry.

Energy Firms Prepare for Ike
With Hurricane Ike on the horizon, energy companies in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico are bringing employees onshore again and preparing to halt production just days after they began restaffing following Hurricane Gustav.

Republicans break with Bush on ethanol
U.S. Republicans called on Monday for an end to a controversial requirement that gasoline contain a set amount of ethanol, a policy backed by the Bush administration that critics say has helped drive up world food prices.

Brazil sees WTO ethanol case against U.S. soon
Brazil, the world’s largest ethanol exporter, may soon challenge the United States at the World Trade Organization over its tariffs on imports of the fuel, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Tuesday.

API chief sees energy bill deadlock in September
The U.S. Congress is unlikely to pass energy legislation this year to bring down high oil prices, despite intense interest for competing plans among Democrats and Republicans, American Petroleum Institute President Red Cavaney predicted on Tuesday.

In Gustav’s Wake, Bush Touts Drilling
President Bush said yesterday that the relatively little damage suffered by oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico because of Hurricane Gustav should prod Congress to open more coastal areas to offshore oil drilling, sounding a political note in the wake of the s

BP Gains Access to U.S. Shale Firm
BP PLC said its U.S. unit plans to acquire a 25% stake in Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s Fayetteville Shale assets in Arkansas for $1.9 billion.

Calif. anti-oil groups strike up with oil company
Environmentalists fighting the practice of oil drilling off Southern California will go before a county board next week to advocate for an oil company that wants to do just that.

Mich. residents may pay more green power costs
Saying it’s only fair, Michigan lawmakers plan to raise residential electricity bills and drop business rates so all customers are charged the true cost of their power.

Gustav loses stranglehold on energy prices
The punch of Hurricane Gustav appeared to fall softly Monday on the vast energy complex along the U.S. Gulf Coast, allowing oil market traders to focus not on storm damage, but on their growing anxiety over the state of the global economy.

Surge in Natural Gas Has Utah Driving Cheaply
The best deal on fuel in the country right now might be here in Utah, where people are waiting in lines to pay the equivalent of 87 cents a gallon.

Analyst: Gas Could Hit $5 a Gallon
A CIBC analyst warned supply disruptions on par with those seen following hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 could send gasoline prices to new records, pushing pump prices to $5 a gallon and causing natural-gas prices to spike.

Crude-Oil Prices Jump In Gustav-Fueled Session
Crude oil futures jumped at the open of electronic trading Sunday, as the energy industry braced for the onslaught of Hurricane Gustav.

Gustav’s impact on U.S. oil sector
Tropical Storm Gustav was forecast to strengthen into a major hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico over the next few days, posing the biggest threat to U.S. energy infrastructure since the devastating hurricanes of 2005.

The whole story on oil, budget surpluses
Sen. Barack Obama’s formal nomination Wednesday as the Democratic candidate for president brought with it praise for Obama and a barrage of renewed attacks on his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain.

Traders on Weather Watch
Who should be feared more, Vladimir or Gustav? Oil traders apparently sweat more about the latter.

Boone’s Beef: NBC Bans Pickens Ad Saying U.S. Trails Iran in Natural-Gas Cars
NBC says Mr. Pickens has to “prove” the U.S. is doing nothing; otherwise the ad is misleading.

Santa Barbara County panel OKs offshore oil drilling
In a largely symbolic act, the county Board of Supervisors votes 3 to 2 to support offshore oil extraction.

Drilling down on the drill ban
President Bush has persistently called on Congress to act on drilling, but the ball is now in his court, not theirs.

UN urges phasing out of energy subsidies
A new U.N. report urges countries to phase out energy subsidies, saying they often waste money, do not always help the poor and are bad for the environment.

6 more senators seek end to oil drilling impasse
Six more senators on Tuesday joined a bipartisan group of 10 senators backing a bill they say will break the stalemate over offshore drilling in Congress.

Going Nuclear: Will Dems Support Nukes To Fight Climate Change?
Will nuclear power get a Rocky Mountain high at the Democratic convention in Denver? Democrats are spending all week staring at the big issues, from health care to the energy crisis and climate change. There’s a radioactive elephant in the room.

A Carbon Education
Nancy Pelosi recently diluted her opposition to offshore drilling, but we’re beginning to wonder if the House Speaker even knows why she opposed increasing domestic energy supplies in the first place.

A Bear Energy Market
Along with a rapid military victory in Georgia, Vladimir Putin succeeded with another weapon in Russia’s effort to divide and conquer Europe: energy.

Drilling Boom Revives Hopes for Natural Gas
American natural gas production is rising at a clip not seen in half a century, pushing down prices of the fuel and reversing conventional wisdom that domestic gas fields were in irreversible decline.

Santa Barbara County supervisors expected to back offshore oil drilling
Nearly 40 years after a disastrous oil spill off the Santa Barbara coast galvanized the nation and gave birth to the modern environmental movement, the county Board of Supervisors is poised to vote today in support of offshore drilling.

Ethanol makers lose money after month of gains
Ethanol makers lost money this week, after about a month of slim profits, as prices spiked for corn, the country’s main feedstock for the alternative motor fuel, analysts said.

Energy: Different Routes to Free the U.S. From ‘Foreign Oil’
Not since the 1980 race between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan has the U.S. energy challenge been more front and center in a presidential campaign.

Pelosi says case needed for U.S. offshore drilling
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that expanded oil drilling in federal waters could be included in a broader energy bill if advocates can prove its viability as a solution to America’s energy problems.

Running dry on gas price fix
If only drivers could avoid high gasoline prices as easily as Congress has avoided doing anything about them.

Out of Energy
Colorado’s $23 billion-a-year oil and gas industry is keeping the state’s economy afloat, but Governor Bill Ritter and his fellow Democrats are promoting new rules and tax hikes that would drive business elsewhere.

Californians wary of costs of going green: survey
Most Californians won’t support the state’s ambitious efforts to fight global warming if they lead to sharply higher energy costs, according to a survey commissioned by a pro-business group released on Thursday.

Presidential Problem: Americans Want Their Energy Clean AND Cheap
Clean energy is a lot like motherhood, apple pie, and left-handed pitchers with control: Who could possibly be against it? The rub: Most people want cheap energy, too.

California County Weighs Push for Offshore Drilling
Almost 40 years ago, a major oil spill off the coast here helped launch the environmental movement. Now, some in this wealthy seaside community are trying to sway the energy debate again — this time in favor of offshore drilling.

Speculators vs. Congress: Recess from reality
This August, oil and gas prices have come down — thanks to speculators, not Congress.

Energy Politics Proving Difficult to Master
The politics of energy are convoluted and volatile in Congressional campaigns across the United States this summer, as candidates search for a Goldilocks approach that is neither too hot nor too cold, and that voters will believe is sincere.

Tensions between the U.S. and Russia, concerns about Tropical Storm Fay, and their impact on gas prices
While the market reaction to the US/Russia tension wasn’t as pronounced when the crisis first started, rising awareness about the extent of oil and natural gas provided to Europe through the Russian pipeline incited production and supply fears.

The Energy Policy End Game
In 41 days, the long-imposed moratorium on offshore oil drilling and domestic oil shale production is set to expire — gone. This happens automatically and can be stopped only if Congress votes to re-establish the ban.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2008/08/big_oil_bob_vs_flip-flopping_u.html
Every day seems to bring another neat campaign trail microcosm of how the energy issue is playing out nationally.

U.S. Appeals Court Overturns EPA’s Pollution Rule
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit could lead to higher compliance costs and give states, local authorities and environmentalists more data that could be used to prosecute polluters, environmentalists said.

Group says climate resolutions increase
Support for climate-change proposals may be growing among investors in big U.S. companies.

47 companies bid on Gulf offshore oil leases
Dozens of energy companies bid Tuesday to explore nearly two million acres of the western Gulf of Mexico for oil and natural gas, but no offers were made for 90 percent of the acreage on the auction block.

U.S. exchanges launch cap and trade CO2 contracts
The U.S. Chicago Climate Futures Exchange has completed the first exchange-traded deals in permits to emit carbon dioxide under a U.S. cap and trade scheme.

To drill or not to drill?
All week, Cato Institute senior fellow Jerry Taylor and Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies Executive Director V. John White debate U.S. energy security.

BOEHNER: Madam Speaker… Please stand up for energy
The House Republicans’ unprecedented nationwide gas-prices protest is now in its third full week. My Republican colleagues and I have vowed to continue the historic uprising – in Washington and in communities across the country – until the House returns.

West Texas oil patch towns reap benefits of boom
Around the country, Americans are tightening their belts, scrapping vacation plans, eating more dinners at home, getting rid of their SUVs and watching “For Sale” signs linger on front lawns. But in oil-and-gas rich West Texas, folks are living large.

From Russia With Love: Could Georgia Fight Boost Global Energy Supply?
Could the Kremlin’s latest bid for energy dominance boomerang and finally wake up the West?

Falling oil prices present mixed blessing for consumers
An editorial in USA Today says that falling oil prices are a mixed blessing, because while they will help consumers pay for gas and energy, a drop in prices may also discourage investment in alternative fuels.

Reid summit in green spotlight
Leading up to next week’s “bipartisan” energy summit hosted by Senator Reid, the Las Vegas Sun reports that Reid will tout the Pickens plan along with other renewable energy programs.

Strategic choice for US energy policy
An editorial in the Financial Times says that while energy has deservedly shifted to the forefront, neither of the presidential candidates are likely to pass sound policy

Let’s Invest in Clean Energy
Weighing in a Journal debate on how a “hypothetical $10 billion” would best be spent for global improvements, Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer cites clean energy investments: “A dramatic investment in clean energy would be the most effective check on aggressive

Some Conservative Republicans Balk at Drilling Compromise
Some conservative Republicans are balking at an effort to compromise with Democrats on allowing more offshore drilling for oil, even as more key Democrats appear to be softening their opposition to such a move.

America’s Main Energy Problem May Well Be Congress
In the past 30 years, seven billion barrels of oil have been pumped without a single significant spill. Over that same period, on average 80% to 90% of Democratic members of Congress repeatedly voted to lock up America’s domestic energy supply.

The Great Energy Confusion
Forget about a candid national conversation on energy. As John McCain and Barack Obama campaigned last week, that much seemed clear.

Pelosi indicates openness to offshore drilling vote
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday night dropped her staunch opposition to a vote on offshore oil drilling in the House.

Strong Energy Measures Wanted
A new national poll shows broad public support for government action in the face of $4-a-gallon gas and other energy concerns, giving Republicans a rare opening to go on the offensive.

Fresh energy problems for new president
No matter who moves into the White House in January, energy problems will hit him with the punch of a winter storm.

Comparing McCain, Obama energy plans
A comparison of the major energy initiatives proposed by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate John McCain

Oil Goes to the Bears
Just weeks ago the fragile commodities markets could be sparked ahead by a mere hint of bad news. That market psychology has reversed, with Monday’s action showing that even war can’t halt oil’s current retreat.

The Public Figure Of the Moment: Oil
America these days is a great petro-focused nation, from the midsummer political theater targeting an audience strained by high gas prices to oil’s prolonged star turn in the spotlight of economic debates.

Bush asked to call Congress back on energy issues
The Democratic-controlled Congress has been slammed from just about all sides for going on a five-week vacation without clearing a bill that would help solve America’s ongoing energy problems.

Boone Doggle
Boone Pickens may be a fine man, and has played a colorful and useful role on the American stage for decades. But his “energy plan,” which he’s spending a fortune to promote on cable TV, is not a plan.

Global Warming Did It! Well, Maybe Not.
We’re stuck on the notion that climate change is the culprit every time a natural disaster strikes. But that’s just muddying the waters.

Congress Adjourns Without Action on Energy
After two months of fever-pitch debate over how to deal with the soaring price of oil, Congress left town yesterday without doing anything on energy.

Pelosi: Save the Planet, Let Someone Else Drill
utsourcing U.S. oil production does nothing to lessen worldwide environmental despoliation. It simply exports it to more corrupt, less efficient, more unstable parts of the world — thereby increasing net planetary damage.

Breaking Own Record, Exxon Sets Highest U.S. Profit Ever
As political heat rises over high oil prices, Exxon Mobil yesterday announced the biggest quarterly profit of any corporation in U.S. history, breaking its own previous record with $11.68 billion in earnings during the second quarter.

Pelosi’s Energy Stonewall
For the first time since the 1950s, Members will skip town today for the August recess without either chamber having passed a single appropriations bill. Then again, Democrats appear ready to sacrifice their whole agenda, even spending, rather than allow

Nigeria militants attack oil pipelines, output hit
Militants in Nigeria’s Niger Delta said on Monday they had blown up two major oil pipelines belonging to Royal Dutch Shell, forcing the firm to halt some production and helping push world oil prices higher.

Plan To Build The World’s First Zero-Waste, Zero-Carbon City Gets Financial Backing
General Electric and Mubadala Development have just announced a multi-billion dollar partnership that will give a huge financial boost to a plan to develop a clean-energy walled city in the United Arab Emirates.

As oil nears 20 percent “bear” market, bulls unfazed
As the rout in oil prices nears the 20 percent mark that for stocks would signal a bear market, many analysts offer a word of caution — don’t mistake a healthy correction for the end of a multi-year bull trend.

ADM Bests Exxon as Farmers Gain Influence Over Energy Policy
While farmers and oil companies are both reaping record profits from rising commodity prices, Archer Daniels Midland Co. and farmers’ groups are proving more adept than Exxon Mobil Corp. and its fellow oil companies at bending Washington to their will.

Fuel-Economy Push Hits Snags
A Bush administration proposal to boost fuel efficiency of automobiles to 31.5 miles per gallon by 2015 is raising hackles on two sides: from car makers, who say it is too tough, and from some Democrats, who say it isn’t tough enough.

Australian carbon costs to hurt food exports-farmers
Australian food production and exports could be cut when carbon trading starts from mid-2010, Australia’s biggest farmers’ group said on Tuesday, with the price of carbon to add to already hefty price rises for fuel.

WSJ Opinion: The Democrats’ Energy Charade
Earlier this month the House of Representatives voted on an energy bill called the Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands (Drill) Act. The good news, for those of us who actually want to do something to lower gas prices, is that it failed.

China’s Cars, Accelerating A Global Demand for Fuel
Car ownership in China is exploding, and it’s not only cars but also sport-utility vehicles, pickup trucks and other gas-guzzling rides.

Virginia Is Sitting on the Energy Mother Lode
Amid the rolling hills and verdant pastures of south central Virginia an unlikely new front in the battle over nuclear energy is opening up. How it is decided will tell us a lot about whether this country is willing to get serious about addressing its ene

We need to be realistic in our energy aspirations
Our economy — like most economies — has always relied on imports, and energy is no different, but our energy imports are out of balance. We now import almost three-fourths of our oil, which holds our economy hostage to the supply constraints that now are

Baseball Team Clashes With Environmentalists Over Oil Company Advertising
Despite the stadium’s recognition for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design by the U.S. Green Building Council, ExxonMobil’s involvement has erased any good will, say the leaders of Strike Out Exxon, a combination of environmental, civic and relig

In Gas-Powered World, Ethanol Stirs Complaints
Along the highways of this sprawling prairie city, and in other pockets of the country, a mutiny is growing against energy policies that heavily support and subsidize the blending of ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, into gasoline.

East Europeans fear climate policy pinch
Many pensioners in the Bulgarian village of Gorno Osenovo, who go to bed with the sunset and wake up at sunrise, have never heard of carbon dioxide. They don’t get electricity either.

Oil May Become GOP’s 2008 Issue
Four-dollar-a-gallon gas has done something that few Republicans thought possible just a few months ago: given them hope.

One Last Thing: Drill, and ease fear factor’s affect on price
Sometimes political parties play to type so perfectly that it’s almost charming. Consider the completely predictable responses of Democrats and Republicans to the record prices of oil.

Agribusiness Group Forms To Protect Ethanol Subsidies
A group of U.S. agribusiness companies including Archer Daniels Midland Co. are uniting in the intensifying food-versus-fuel debate, forming an alliance to promote the idea that technology can ease global supply shortages.

Skewed logic over oil shale
Oil shale in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming could yield 800 billion barrels of oil for the global market. That is more than the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia and certainly enough to help drive down gas prices in America. But political posturing has prevente

Alaska House OKs gas pipeline license
The Alaska State House of Representatives has approved a state license for a Canadian company to pursue a natural gas pipeline project that could unlock 4.5 billion cubic feet of North Slope gas reserves daily.

Uprising Against the Ethanol Mandate
The ethanol industry, until recently a golden child that got favorable treatment from Washington, is facing a critical decision on its future.

Democrats and Energy: Reality Bites
This week Al Gore laid out his demand for a miraculous transformation in U.S. energy use over a mere 10 years. As for drilling for more oil? “Absurd,” the Nobel Laureate scoffed. “When you’re in a hole, stop digging.”

Climate Film Draws a Rebuke
A controversial British documentary called “The Great Global Warming Swindle” unfairly portrays several scientists and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Britain’s television watchdog agency ruled on Monday.

Alaska House readies for gas pipeline vote
Alaska lawmakers vote Tuesday on whether to give a Canadian company the green light to pursue a natural gas pipeline project that could unlock 4.5 billion cubic feet of North Slope gas reserves daily.

Gold miner’s son seeks energy refuge in solar
While the push by President Bush and congressional Republicans for more oil drilling is resonating with voters, the Nevada Democrat is focused on solar and other renewable energy sources, which happen to be more abundant in his home state than almost anyw

A Famed Dry Hole Gets a Second Shot
Exxon Mobil Corp. walked away from the legendary Blackbeard prospect in the Gulf of Mexico in 2006 after drilling to more than 30,000 feet without a payoff. But high energy prices have emboldened the industry, stirring wildcatter passions and prompting co

Europeans Reconsider Biofuel Goal
European officials proposed scaling back drastically on their goal of increasing Europe’s use of biofuels, a major about-face on a central environmental and energy issue.

Developing economies don’t back G-8 climate goal
A joint gathering of major developed and developing nations on Wednesday agreed that climate change was “one of the great global challenges of our time” and pledged to back a United Nations effort to conclude new climate pact by 2009.

Al Gore lays down green challenge to America
Former Vice President Al Gore, seeking to shake up an energy debate that is focused mostly on drilling, challenged the United States to shift its entire electricity sector to carbon-free wind, solar and geothermal power within 10 years, and use that power

Prospect of Drilling Roils Political Waters
A new push in Washington to increase offshore oil and natural-gas drilling has intrigued politicians and alarmed environmentalists in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware, where the ocean has been off-limits to exploration for 19 years.

Bush to Lift Executive Ban on Offshore Drilling
In another push to deal with soaring gas prices, President Bush on Monday will lift an executive ban on offshore drilling that his stood since his father was president. But the move, by itself, will do nothing unless Congress acts as well.

Offshore Drilling Backed as Remedy for Oil Prices
Push for U.S. exploration gains traction, but big political hurdles remain…

Iraq’s Oil Surge
Here’s a thought experiment: Assume that Iraq’s democratic government declared it was nationalizing its oil industry, a la Venezuela or Saudi Arabia, while excluding American companies from the country. How do you think U.S. politicians would react?

Your Carbon Ration Card
While American politicians mull a carbon cap-and-trade system for industry, our British cousins are already contemplating the next step: personal CO2 rations.

G – 8 summit draws grab – bag of activists, causes
Battling maternal mortality, demanding clean water and urging the destruction of capitalism might not seem to have much in common — unless you’re at a summit of the world’s top industrialized nations.

Oil producers can solve supply woes: Exxon
Oil producing countries need to remove barriers to investment to ensure global oil markets are well supplied, but they are unlikely to do so as long as prices remain high, Exxon Mobil Corp CEO said on Tuesday.

Energy experts puzzled over oil prices
As crude soared to a new record, the head of the International Energy Agency declared that the world was in the grip of an “oil shock,” and the president of OPEC acknowledged he could not say whether prices would flatten out or continue to soar.

Who’s Behind High Prices
Speculator-bashing is another exercise in scapegoating and grandstanding. Leading politicians either don’t understand what’s happening or don’t want to acknowledge their own complicity.

Iraq Opens Bidding on 8 Oil and Natural Gas Fields
Iraq opened international bidding for eight enormous oil and gas fields Monday, paving the way for investment in a nation with some of the world’s largest petroleum reserves.

Don’t Blame the Oil ‘Speculators’
A campaign in Congress to punish traders for record oil prices reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how futures markets work.

Solar and Wind Will Drive Natural Gas Up
The price of natural gas in the U.S. has about doubled in a bit less than a year despite the fact that U.S. production has actually increased by about 5%.

Mexico Calls for Reducing Production of Ethanol
Mexico’s agriculture secretary says ethanol production is bankrupting cattle and poultry farmers and causing food prices to hit record highs around the world.

Fuels on the Hill
Right now, the welcome mat is out for analysts who claim that out-of-control speculators are responsible for $4-a-gallon gas.

Global Oil-Supply Worries Fuel Debate in Saudi Arabia
Sadad al-Husseini and Nansen Saleri raced up the ranks at Saudi Aramco, the world’s most powerful oil company, working together for years to squeeze more crude from Saudi Arabia’s massive fields. Today, the two men have staked out opposite sides of a mome

Consumer Pain Goes Beyond The Pump
The rising cost of fuel is rippling far beyond what consumers pay at the pump. Companies across an array of industries are instituting fuel surcharges that are nibbling away at consumers’ pocketbooks.

Hot air clouds the energy debate
Week in and week out, Washington gives master classes in making simple questions complicated. It is a bipartisan effort of mutually assured irrelevance. You see it everywhere, but nowhere more than in energy policy.

The ‘Idle’ Oil Field Fallacy
A bill introduced in Congress this week would “compel” oil and natural gas companies to produce from federal lands they are leasing. If only it were that easy to find and produce oil. Imagine, an act of Congress that could do what geology could not.

The Trouble With Markets for Carbon
As the United States moves toward taking action on global warming, practical experience with carbon markets in the European Union raises a critical question: Will such systems ever work?

There’s Plenty of Energy in This Race
With gas prices rising and billions of additional dollars flowing to the Middle East to buy oil, energy policy is turning into a battleground in the race for President.

Oil surges to new record high near $140 a barrel
Oil surged to a new record high on Monday of nearly $140 a barrel, propelled by weakness in the U.S. dollar which offset the bearish impact of plans by Saudi Arabia to boost output.

China Increases Lead as Biggest Carbon Dioxide Emitter
China has clearly overtaken the United States as the world’s leading emitter of carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas, a new study has found, its emissions increasing 8 percent in 2007.

Human cost of Brazil’s biofuels boom
Biofuels may help reduce humanity’s carbon footprint, but the social footprint is substantial.

Why Brazil Isn’t Ashamed to Exploit Its Oil
Neither environmentalists nor Brazilian politicians have raised concerns about exploiting oil in the waters off the Brazilian coast.

$5 Gas Likely by July 4th; Get Ready for ‘Stay-cation’
Americans could be celebrating the Fourth of July with $5-a-gallon gas, and the effects will ring out from sea to shining sea.

Oil Above $135 on Saudi Output Doubts
Oil rebounded above $135 a barrel on Monday as doubts were expressed on Saudi Arabia’s ability to boost production enough to bring prices down.

Oil Price Falls, Nigeria Strike Threatens Supply
Oil dropped below $136 a barrel on Friday after volatile trading in the previous session, helped by a strong U.S. dollar and OPEC’s reduction of its oil demand growth forecasts.

$4 Gasbags
Record-high fuel costs are hitting consumers and business like a huge tax increase. Yet the U.S. remains one of the only countries in the world that chooses as a matter of policy to lock up its natural resources. The Chinese think we’re insane and self-de

Drill! Drill! Drill!
One thing Brazil and the U.S. have in common is the price of oil: It is priced in dollars, and everyone in the world now knows what the price is. Another commonality is that each country has vast oil reserves in waters off their coastlines.

Iran Building 7 Refineries to End Petrol Imports
Iran has launched construction of seven oil refineries in an effort to boost its crude and gas refining capacity and achieve energy self-sufficiency.

Gasoline Hits Average of $4 a Gallon
The average price of gasoline in the U.S. hit $4 a gallon for the first time Sunday, the latest milestone in a run-up in fuel prices that is sapping consumer confidence and threatening to nudge the nation into recession.

Pressure from oil prices spreads
Rising oil prices are beginning to cut into the profits of a wide range of businesses, pushing many to raise prices and maneuver aggressively to offset the rising cost of merchandise made from petroleum.

Ask AP: Oil shale
Access to the richest oil-shale deposits is tricky because most are on federally owned and managed lands, primarily in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Companies will have to get federal approval for any large-scale operations.

$45 trillion needed to combat warming?
The world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday.

Climate Bill Appears Headed for Defeat
A sweeping proposal to combat global warming by requiring economy-wide reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions appeared headed for defeat in the Senate amid partisan wrangling and concerns among lawmakers about the costs it would impose on American consume

Oil Tops $130 on Weakening Dollar
Oil rose above $130 a barrel Friday in Asia, extending gains made in the previous session when the euro rose against the dollar in response to comments by the head of the European Central Bank.

Rep. Bart Stupak Claims Manipulation In Energy Markets
Rep. Bart Stupak, chairman of the House Energy Oversight Committee, says there is manipulation in the energy markets. He discusses the situation with CNBC’s Erin Burnett.

Climate bill stalls in Senate after dispute
A Senate debate over global warming legislation turned into late-night drama Wednesday marked by an eight-hour reading of the 492-page bill and a call for senators to return _ some of them from their homes – to cast a procedural vote not long before midni

Locals and MMS Reach Agreement on Alaskan Lease Sale
The Aleutians East Borough and the Minerals Management Service recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement that outlines a cooperative arrangement between the two that will ensure local interests are considered during the evaluation of Proposed North Aleuti

Oil prices hold above $122 a barrel
Oil held above $122 a barrel Thursday in Asia after dropping more than $2 overnight on worries about declining demand in the U.S. and abroad.

Pump Prices Resist Falling for Now
The price of crude oil may be dropping, but consumers shouldn’t expect gasoline prices to fall anytime soon.

Cap and Pay
We are fairly confident that the Climate Security Act, being debated this week in the U.S. Senate, will have at most a negligible impact on global warming.

Coal States in Climate-Bill Fight
The direction Congress takes on proposals to cap greenhouse gases could depend on coal-rich states such as West Virginia, which has some of the nation’s poorest households, but is rich in both coal and political clout.

Will: U.S. Has Oil, But Has Chosen Not To USe It
Rising in the Senate on May 13, Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat, explained: “I rise to discuss rising energy prices.” The president was heading to Saudi Arabia to seek an increase in its oil production, and Schumer’s gorge was rising.

N.J. Fisherman Angling To Develop Offshore Wind
A group of commercial fishermen wants to get in on the rush to build offshore wind farms to generate electricity. It’s an interesting about face for the fishing industry, which has traditionally fought offshore industrialization – other than their own flo

China builds plant to turn coal into barrels of oil
With oil prices at historic highs, China is moving full steam ahead with a controversial process to turn its vast coal reserves into barrels of oil.

We Don’t Need a Climate Tax on the Poor
With average gas prices across the country approaching $4 a gallon, it may be hard to believe, but the U.S. Senate is considering legislation this week that will further drive up the cost at the pump.

Global Warming Draws Heat From Democrats
In the heat of Monday afternoon, Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) fumbled with her kickoff speech on global warming legislation as she tried to wax poetic about the need to save the planet, and the United States, from

A Conservative Energy Policy
When Ronald Reagan accepted his party’s nomination in 1980, he said that America’s energy policy was based on the sharing of scarcity, and that our great nation had to get to work producing more energy.

Carbon’s Power Brokers
An unprecedentedly radical government grab for control of the American economy will be debated this week when the Senate considers saving the planet by means of a cap-and-trade system to ration carbon emissions.

Cost drives Senate climate debate
From higher electric bills to more expensive gasoline, the possible economic cost of tackling global warming is driving the debate as climate change takes center stage in Congress.

Lieberman-Warner: The Carbon Emissions Police Are Coming
In my column last week, I informed those who were not aware of how the Democratic leaders in the United States Senate had systematically and consistently blocked legislation (S.2958) that would have allowed oil exploration and drilling right here at the h

Have Gas Prices Peaked?
The average price of gasoline took a big jump the past week, but it might have been the last gasp of the recent, unrelenting stream of fuel price records.

Cap and Spend
As the Senate opens debate on its mammoth carbon regulation program this week, the phrase of the hour is “cap and trade.” This sounds innocuous enough. But anyone who looks at the legislative details will quickly see that a better description is cap and s

Food Report Criticizes Biofuel Policies
Agriculture Secretary Edward T. Schafer is preparing to walk into a buzzsaw of criticism over American biofuels policy when he meets with world leaders to discuss the global food crisis next week.

Carbon Chastity
I’m not a global warming believer. I’m not a global warming denier. I’m a global warming agnostic who believes instinctively that it can’t be very good to pump lots of CO2into the atmosphere but is equally convinced that those who presume to know exactly

Getting Oil From A Stone
Exxon Mobil’s CEO says his energy company’s “corporate social responsibility” is to produce more energy. While Congress wants to tax oil profits, he wants to spend them to find more oil. What a concept.

Gallup Poll: 57% of Americans Support Additional Drilling
When Americans are asked what steps should be taken to reduce gas prices, no consensus appears, but somewhat surprisingly, a majority favor drilling in U.S. coastal and wilderness areas now off limits.

Returns From Solar Power Could Take Time
As oil prices continue to rise and companies search for alternative sources of energy, Japanese manufacturers see solar technology as a major avenue of long-term growth. But for investors, it’s still too early to expect any significant returns from tappin

Citing Energy Prices, Dow Increases Prices 20 Percent
Dow Chemical Co, the biggest U.S. chemical manufacturer, said on Wednesday it would raise prices for all products by up to 20 percent, the latest signal that escalating energy prices were stoking inflation.

Natural Gas in Pause Mode
The cost of a gallon of gas gets all the headlines, but the natural gas that will heat many American homes next winter is going up in price as fast or faster.

Markey unveils sweeping climate change legislation
Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) unveiled sweeping climate change legislation on Wednesday, laying down an ambitious marker in the ongoing congressional debate over how to address global warming.

Are Energy Markets In For a Storm-Tossed Season?
As if the energy markets weren’t jittery enough: Sunday marks the start of the first hurricane season in the era of $100-plus oil.

Britain Cuts Taxes on Oil Fields, Opens Areas to Development
The British government, pressed for solutions to soaring fuel prices, said it will exempt about 30 existing North Sea crude-oil and natural-gas fields from some taxes and approved the development of two new North Sea oil fields, which could begin producti

Senate set to debate emissions cuts
The international fight to control climate change heads to a new arena in June when the Senate is to debate a bill that could cut total U.S. global warming emissions by 66 percent by 2050.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/24831606
Oil was near $133 a barrel on Tuesday, after an attack by rebels on Nigerian oil facilities, and as the weak dollar helped to feed the bullish mood.

Oil’s Surge Causing Major Changes in US Economy
Oil’s relentless price rise has pushed U.S. drivers off the road, curbed consumers’ appetite for expensive goods, forced airlines into their deepest cuts in years and threatened car makers with a flood of red ink.

Costs to Build Power Plants Pressure Rates
Construction costs for power plants have more than doubled since 2000, according to new index data to be released Tuesday, and inflationary pressures will continue to put the squeeze on electricity prices.

New Find Fuels Speculation Brazil Will Be a Power in Oil
A flurry of activity by emerging oil giant Petróleo Brasileiro SA is heating up speculation that Brazil may have enough deep-water oil to propel it into the big leagues of global oil exporters and ease pressure on soaring oil prices.

Congress helped to drive up gas prices
OIL COMPANY executives were summoned to Washington this week to endure ritualized fingerpointing from Congress over high gas prices. Americans have seen this dog-and-pony show many times before, and they can expect the same old results: Prices will contin

Italy Embraces Nuclear Power
Italy announced Thursday that within five years it planned to resume building nuclear energy plants, two decades after a public referendum resoundingly banned nuclear power and deactivated all its reactors.

The Same Old Song on High Gas Prices
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz peered down at the executives from the nation’s biggest oil companies, arrayed before the House Judiciary Committee like five targets in a carnival dunk tank, wearing dark suits and ties instead of swim trunks.

Oil Rises on Forecast of Worse-Than-Average Hurricane Season
Crude oil rose, headed for a third weekly gain, after a report forecast that the 2008 hurricane season may be more active than usual, threatening oil platforms and refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.

Poll: 30% Blame Congress for Oil/Gas Prices
CNBC.com asks Americans “Who’s to blame?” for high energy prices. Roughly a third of the respodents are answering correctly.

Oil hits $135 a barrel on new supply concerns
Oil prices rose above $135 a barrel for the first time Thursday, with supply worries, global demand and an ever weakening U.S dollar driving crude futures up.

How to Think About the World’s Problems
The pain caused by the global food crisis has led many people to belatedly realize that we have prioritized growing crops to feed cars instead of people. That is only a small part of the real problem.

Energy Watchdog Warns Of Oil-Production Crunch
The world’s premier energy monitor is preparing a sharp downward revision of its oil-supply forecast, a shift that reflects deepening pessimism over whether oil companies can keep abreast of booming demand.

New Gov’t Report Offers Road Map for Energy Relief
The Bureau of Land Management today released a study that shows vast untapped oil and natural gas resources exist on public lands in the U.S. At least 31 billion barrels of oil and 231 trillion cubic feet of natural gas exist onshore, but are off-limits

Carbon dioxide increases in 2007
The Energy Department reports that carbon dioxide emissions increased by 1.6 percent last year with most coming from residential and commercial energy use. Emissions from transportation and industrial sources were essentially flat, compared to 2006.

Oil Breaks $130 Barrier on Future Supply Fears
Oil climbed to a life-time high above $130 a barrel on Wednesday, driven higher by a combination of long-term production worries and a near-term focus on tight fuel supplies.

For Energy-Producing States, Prices Yield a Boom
Even as much of the country struggles with the housing bust and a weak economy, states that produce oil, gas and other commodities are enjoying a boom and ramping up spending on things from wind farms to education.

Oil Prices Jump to Fresh Record Above $129 a Barrel
Oil rose to a new record above $129 a barrel on Tuesday, spurred by tight supplies of refined products, especially diesel ahead of the U.S. driving season, and a weak U.S. dollar.

Chicago’s gas prices top nation
Chicagoans are paying an average $4.07 a gallon for gasoline, good enough for topping the notorious list of the highest gas prices in the country.

U.S. Wants China to Enter IEA
The U.S. has asked that China join the International Energy Agency, which was set up after the oil shocks of the 1970s to help developed countries manage emergency oil supplies.

Oil Closes at Another Record, Above $127
Nymex-traded oil finished Monday at yet another record high, hitting $127.05, after a seesaw trading session that saw crude prices hit alternately by profit-taking and supply concerns.

Bush signs law freezing shipments to US oil reserve
US President George W. Bush on Monday signed legislation that suspends shipments to the US strategic oil reserve for the second half of the year.

Don’t hope for gas prices to drop, says oil economist
Most drivers think $4 per gallon of gasoline is too much to pay in a weakening economy. Sales for sport-utility vehicles are plummeting. And people are actually driving less.

OPEC Trims 2008 Global Oil Demand Forecast
OPEC on Thursday trimmed its forecast for global growth in oil demand in 2008, the latest sign that record-high oil prices are putting the brakes on consumption.

Why the Candidates Dodge Offshore Drilling
None of them has any backbone. If they did, then instead of blaming Big Oil for soaring energy prices, they would stand up to some real culprits responsible for the run-up.

Iran Expects OPEC Supply Cut as Heavy Oil Demand Weak
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will eventually have to cut production of lower-quality crude as warmer weather in the northern hemisphere reduces demand for oil, Iran’s OPEC governor said today.

Warming to McCain
In his climate speech on Monday, Mr. McCain exhibited (as the press usually does) a complete lack of consciousness of the fact that evidence of warming is not evidence of what causes warming. Yet policy must be a matter of costs and benefits, adjusted for

Carbon-Market Concept Moves to Mainstream
Ten years ago, anyone advocating a national system of trading greenhouse-gas emission rights would have seemed like a zealot on the fringe, with no idea of what the American business community could tolerate

Oil stockpiling may get key tests today
The Senate and House are both expected today to approve legislation to stop the Bush administration from adding more oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

ANWR drilling benefits Americans
One of the United States’ most pressing political issues over the past 40 years has been the question of whether or not to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refugem known as ANWR.

McCain’s Climate ‘Market’
If “the market” is your favored mechanism, Mr. McCain’s endorsement of a “cap and trade” system is the worst choice for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

Polar Bears Threatening to Deliver Us $200 Oil
Listing the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act in response to frivolous environmental litigation could send oil to $200 per barrel, according to Kevin Hassett of AEI.

Hearings planned on energy market speculation
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A House committee has started investigating speculation in energy markets, with plans to hold hearings in May and June, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday, citing a Democratic aide and several other people invited as witnesses.

Iran looks to tap key oil field with homegrown crews
At this huge oil field in southwest Iran, one building stands out among the pumps and maze of pipelines: On its roof in giant letters, big enough for satellites or pilots to see, are the words: “We can do it.”

AP: Congress Divided on Energy Plan
As millions of people approach the summer vacation season under the threat of $4-per-gallon gasoline, Congress is scrambling to respond. But don’t wait for anything that will drive down prices at the pump.