DRILLING BAN
Most Say Continuing Offshore Ban Will Hurt Economy
"A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 54% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the new seven-year ban will increase gas prices, while just 11% think it will make gas prices go down. Twenty-five percent (25%) expect the ban to have no impact on prices at the pump."
Oil industry urges Congress to reverse Obama administration's drilling rollback
THE NORTH SEA
A near miss for the North Sea oil industry
"An internal safety review passed to the Today programme shows that Transocean - the company operating BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico - narrowly avoided a similar accident in the North Sea, four months earlier.
The blowout happened on Shell's Sedco 711 platform on 23 December last year as the Transocean crew was preparing to switch from a drilling operation to production, bringing the reservoir in stream.
In a marked parallel with the Deepwater Horizon disaster, key indicators that something was going badly wrong were either misinterpreted or discounted..."ALTERNATIVES TO OIL
Missed opportunity
Still needed: A responsible path to energy independence
"But Americans, in the midst of the recession, remain conflicted about our energy and environmental priorities. They have handed the House back to the Republicans, who announced last week they will disband the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming currently chaired by Massachusetts' Democrat Ed Markey. [...] But with Republicans now threatening fresh attacks on the EPA and the Endangered Species Act, Obama needs to make sure the nation gets on a path toward responsible energy independence."
