WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hoping success rubs off, a U.S. lawmaker had the director of the Oscar-nominated film “Gasland” near when announcing he will reintroduce a bill making companies reveal chemicals used in natural gas drilling.

“Before this country embraces natural gas as the solution to our energy needs … we need to take every step possible to ensure our water is not contaminated, our air is not polluted, and our communities are not irrevocably harmed,” Representative Maurice Hinchey of New York, who will reintroduce the bill, said at a press conference.

WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (Reuters) – The Obama administration is
divided over a proposed pipeline that would ease U.S. reliance
on oil from unstable regions but boost dependence on Canada’s
oil sands which are deemed environmentally unfriendly by green
groups.

TransCanada Corp (TRP.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the company hoping to build the
$7 billion-plus Keystone XL pipeline extension, expects the
State Department to approve the project in the second half of
2011. [ID:nL3E7DF1GA]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama proposed on Monday boosting funds for clean energy research and deployment in his 2012 budget by slashing subsidies for fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.

The budget provides the Department of Energy $29.5 billion for fiscal year 2012, up 4.2 percent from the proposed 2011 budget, and up 12 percent from the enacted 2010 budget. Some $8 billion would support research in clean energy like wind, solar and advanced batteries.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As world food prices reach new highs, a handful of U.S. politicians and hard-hit corporations are readying a fresh effort to forestall the use of more U.S. corn and soybeans as motor fuel.

They are likely doing so in vain, say experts.

Unlike in 2008, when a wave of global panic over grain supplies provoked a fierce “food vs fuel” debate, there’s so far only muted outcry over biofuels, even after corn surged last week to within 10 percent of its 2008 peak following a forecast showing even higher use in the ethanol sector.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican lawmakers, who unveiled a bill to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases, said the agency’s rules will hurt jobs and send manufacturing overseas.

“I know American manufacturers can compete — but not if they are saddled with burdensome regulations that put us at an unfair advantage,” Representative Fred Upton, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee told a hearing on Wednesday on his new bill.

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. government’s energy
forecaster on Tuesday revised up its estimate for global oil
demand this year, but also said more crude from major non-OPEC
oil producing countries will help fill the gap in the supply
shortfall.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration, in its latest
monthly forecast, said top oil exporter and de facto OPEC
leader Saudi Arabia is also pumping more crude than previously
thought, about 100,000 barrels per day extra during both
November and December.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers introducing legislation to stop the federal government from regulating emissions blamed for global warming may have a stronger bargaining position now that President Barack Obama wants to pass a clean-energy plan.

Republicans Fred Upton, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Senator James Inhofe readied draft legislation Wednesday that would stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers introducing legislation to stop the federal government from regulating emissions blamed for global warming may have a stronger bargaining position now that President Barack Obama wants to pass a clean-energy plan.

Republicans Fred Upton, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Senator James Inhofe readied draft legislation Wednesday that would stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A proposed pipeline from Canada’s oil sands to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico would help “essentially eliminate” U.S. oil imports from the Middle East in a decade or two, according to a new study commissioned by the Department of Energy.

Oil deliveries from the $7 billion pipeline, combined with a projected drop in U.S. fuel demand, would potentially turn the United States into a net exporter of products like gasoline, jet fuel and diesel, said the report, called “Keystone XL Assessment.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration is divided over a proposed pipeline that would ease U.S. reliance on oil from politically unstable regions but boost dependence on crude from Canada’s environmentally unfriendly oil sands.

The State Department may begin deciding as early as next month whether the $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline would be necessary to bolster U.S. energy security. The oil would cut dependence on imports from Venezuela and Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia.