President Barack Obama used his weekly radio address to push his plan to shift cars and trucks off oil for good, suggesting the annual spring spikes in gasoline prices have become like a tax increase that must be fought.
"Over the past few weeks, we got a reminder that we need to do more. We went through another spike in gas prices, just like last year, and the year before that. It happens every year," Obama said Saturday during his weekly radio and video address. "It’s a serious blow to your budget – like getting hit with a new tax coming right out of your pocket."
A top energy adviser to Mitt Romney said Wednesday the GOP presidential contender believes humans have some effect on climate change but that the United States doesn't need to regulate greenhouse gases because emissions already are down.
“What would be the point of it? Why should we impose burdens on our economy for no meaningful effect on global greenhouse gas emissions?” said attorney Linda Gillespie Stuntz, a former deputy Energy secretary under President George H.W. Bush.
She cited the Energy Information Agency outlook showing the U.S. emissions have declined, with the recession and changes like fuel efficiency, and will stay below 2005 levels through 2035.
Barclays Bank says a top White House energy official anticipates that President Obama by year's end will make decisions on new applications for export of liquid natural gas, Bloomberg reports.
President Obama is used to being unpopular in coal-friendly West Virginia, and now several Democratic lawmakers, as well as the governor, say they'll be skipping the Democratic National Convention that will nominate him for re-election this summer, The Hill reports. The state's Democratic chairmen have made it clear they will bow out because of Obama's energy policies.
Iraq is seeking President Obama's intervention with Exxon Mobil, asking him to keep the oil company from exploring in the autonomous Kurdistan region, Reuters reports. Baghdad has an ongoing dispute with the Kurdish region over oil exports.
Environmental activists are none too happy with a string of decisions from the Obama administration, but they are nonetheless endorsing the president for re-election after accusing GOP candidate Mitt Romney of becoming a "a climate denier," Politico reports.
President Obama's former energy and climate czar, Carol Browner, and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson separately criticized the fast-pace of modern media for its negative impact on environmental initiatives. Browner argued that it has inhibited discussion, while Jackson said it has turned into a battle over "screaming headlines," The Hill reports.
The Wall Street Journal reviews Mitt Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts that haunts his efforts to undermine President Obama, including the Green Energy Fund that Romney used as governor to support green investments.
President Barack Obama signed a bill this week hastening the addition of seven large tanker planes to the nation's rundown aerial firefighting fleet, at a cost of $24 million. The same day, two C-130 military transport planes designed for that very purpose sat on a tarmac in Cheyenne, shrouded in an eye-watering haze from a raging Colorado wildfire just a 15-minute flight away.
In all, eight workhorse C-130s stand ready to fight destructive wildfires around the country — but all are grounded due to rules governing the use of the nation's aerial firefighting resources. The new purchases, meanwhile, won't help firefighters battling destructive blazes in Colorado, New Mexico and elsewhere in the West for weeks, if not months.
Staples and Starbucks are the latest companies to sign up for President Obama's Better Buildings Challenge, pledging to reduce their energy usage by at least 20 percent by 2020, USA Today reports.
The European Union and the U.S. Trade Representative's office rejected reports that they were working jointly to settle a dispute with China over solar dumping practices, Reuters reports
Both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Duke Energy said they are unsure how operators missed a crack at the Shearon Harris nuclear plant during testing, the Charlotte Business Journal reports.
A report from Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said several electric utilities said they face frequent cyber attacks on their infrastructure, Reuters reports.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it was able to give ample warning ahead of the deadly tornado that hit Moore, Okla., Politico reports.
House Republicans contend the Nuclear Regulatory Commission tripled space at its headquarters by using an appropriations bill to get around the congressional authorization process, the Washington Business Journal reports.
House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings and ranking Democratic Rep. Ed Markey called on the Interior Department to extend the public comment period for its proposed public lands hydraulic fracturing rule, FuelFix reports.
Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., was endorsed by 20 Democrats to replace Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., as ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee should Markey win election to the Senate, Politico reports.
