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MotherNature, Fickle Mistress: Oil in the Gulf Biodegrading "Far More Rapidly ThanAnyone Expected" - And Far Too Soon for Enviros' Fundraising Efforts. NY Times(7/28) reports, "The oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico appears to be dissolvingfar more rapidly than anyone expected, a piece of good news that raises trickynew questions about how fast the government should scale back its response tothe Deepwater Horizon disaster.  The immense patches of surface oil that covered thousands of squaremiles...

Bill of Goods: Choleric HouseDems Believe Speaker Lied to Them In Insisting Walking the Plank onCap-and-Raid Was Gonna Be OK - Senate Won't Leave You Hangin'! WashingtonPost (7/27) reports, "Thirteen months after that tough vote oncap-and-trade, Boccieri and dozens of other House Democrats along the Rust Beltare not at all happy with the way things have turned out. The White House andSpeaker Pelosi had assured reluctant members that the Senate would take up themeasure. Although Senate...

Off-CycleKerry Wants Senate to Come Back in Lame Duck to Pass Carbon CriminalizationMeasure It Didn't Have Stomach to Pass When It Counted. Bloomberg (7/23) reports, "U.S. Senator John Kerry said Democrats may take up hiscomprehensive climate-change bill in a lame-duck session after the Novemberelections, while calling on President Barack Obama to escalate his advocacy forthe measure. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday introduced a morelimited energy bill that doesn't include a cap...

NewAEA Report on Severe Economic Consequences of Obama Offshore Ban Gets PriorityPlacement of Drudge Report - 20 Million Folks Visit that Joint Each Day. E&P Magazine (7/19)reports, "The presidential offshore drilling moratorium will cost approximatelyUS $2.1 billion in economic loss to the states along the Gulf of Mexico (GoM)in first six months, according to a recently released paper. "The Economic Costof a Moratorium on the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration to the Gulf Region" waswritten...

Hot off thePress:  New AEA Study Finds that ObamaOffshore Moratorium to Cost $2.8 Billion. Politico MorningEnergy (7/19) has the scoop, " Lookfor the oil industry and friends to tout a study coming out today by LouisianaState University financial expert Joseph R. Mason. Mason's paper, "The EconomicCost of a Moratorium on Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration to the Gulf Region,"concludes that the U.S. will see a loss of about $2.8 billion in economicactivity - $2.1 billion of which will come from...

"BrownDog" Democrats Giving White House Heartburn on Carbon Criminalization. Politico (7/16)reports, "President Barack Obama's next big legislative priority - acomprehensive energy and climate bill - sits in limbo in no small part becauseof wavering senators from his own party. About a dozen Democrats - from theGreat Plains, Midwest, Appalachia and the South - continue to resist the ideaof putting a cap on greenhouse gas emissions. And despite months of legwork bythe president's Senate...

Game-Changer:Chair of Obama Spill Commission Changes His Mind on Need for Offshore Ban AfterVisiting Gulf Coast - "It's Not Clear to Me Why It Should Take So Long." NYTimes (7/13) reports, "Three weeks ago, William K. Reilly, the newly namedco-chairman of the presidential commission appointed to investigate the BP oilspill, said he thought the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in theGulf of Mexico was necessary - and maybe even too short. He said in aninterview with The Times that...

InToo Deep: Salazar "Shocks" Oil Spill Commission By Asking Panel for AssuranceHe's Doing the Right Thing in Shilling for Obama Offshore Ban - Rebuke CameQuick. WallStreet Journal (7/12) reports, "The really odd moment came when InteriorSecretary Ken Salazar said in a statement that he was looking to the commissionfor information that could inform the administration's position on haltingdeepwater drilling. Salazar's statement stunned the commission's twoco-chairmen, William K. Reilly and Bob...

WSJEditorial Draws on IER Research to Expose Obama Spill Commission for What ItReally Is: A Few Activists, a Few Hacks, Every One of ‘Em a Dilettante. WallStreet Journal (7/9) editorializes, "As for the rest of the President'scommission, the Institute for EnergyResearch has compiled a summary of their views on oil exploration:"Offshore drilling is a needless risk," said Ms. Beinecke in 2008."We should be redoubling our efforts to get off oil," said fellowcommission member Donald Boesch in...

Poll Released This Week - Oversampled withDemocratic Voters - Finds 70 Percent of Respondents Oppose National Energy TaxBeing Debated by Congress. E&E News (7/7, subs. req'd) reports, "Voters areoverwhelmingly opposed to any policy they perceive as increasing taxes onenergy and have little interest in seeing climate legislation become a reality,according to a poll released today by a conservative-leaning think tank. The pollfound that roughly 70 percent of voters opposed such a policy, while...