How Obama and Congress Could Find Common Ground on Energy

Despite divided government, the partisan impasse may be about to end on energy policy. The key lies in a grand bargain.

In 2008, Barack Obama campaigned for the White House on the promise that he would pass a sweeping energy and climate-change law and move the country from dependence on fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy that reduced carbon pollution and addressed global warming. In his first term, Obama inched in that direction: The president rolled out regulations to reduce pollution from tailpipes and coal plants, and his stimulus program pumped $40 billion into clean-energy development.

Top Senate lawmakers see chance to revamp US energy policy

The United States needs to update its energy policy to reflect the boom in natural gas and oil production that has boosted manufacturing jobs, said the top Democrat on the Senate energy committee on Thursday.

Ron Wyden, who is in line to take over the panel's gavel in January, said he sees the opportunity for "transformative energy policy" to both spur jobs created by the newfound wealth of energy while also protecting air and water from pollution.

PA Governor says yes to shale but no to solar

This December, the Corbett Administration will start handing out up to $20 million of taxpayer dollars over the next three years to businesses, local governments, non-profits and schools to buy natural gas powered trucks up to $25,000 per vehicle. At the same time the Governor has refused to support a proposed law to extend financial incentives for state’s solar industry.

The Governor is on record as declaring state incentives which aid shale gas development are positive and cost effective while incentives for solar energy are expensive and a drain on taxpayers.

Environmental groups rally for NY ban on fracking

Health and environmental groups rallied at the Capitol on Monday to call for a legislative ban on hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells, saying no amount of regulation can adequately safeguard water supplies from contamination.

"Fracking is the most important environmental issue this state has faced in the past 100 years," Sen. Tony Avella, sponsor of a bill to ban hydraulic fracturing, said at the rally in the Legislative Office Building next to the Capitol. "There is no possible regulation or series of regulations that can stop the one incident that pollutes our water supply for 1,000 years."