To judge by the U.S. federal spending on energy research and development, you wouldn't think there was any problem with energy independence, climate change, or unemployment. But you might think that the oil, nuclear, and coal industries had succeeded in strangling renewable energy in its crib.
"Have hundreds of millions of dollars in grants from major oil companies compromised the ethics of energy research at such institutions as UC Berkeley, UC Davis and Stanford?"
"The U.N. panel of climate scientists agreed on Thursday to change its practices in response to errors in a 2007 report, and its chairman, Rajendra Pachauri of India, dismissed suggestions he should step down.
"The Obama administration made a gesture of support for the ethanol industry on Wednesday, with a declaration by the Environmental Protection Agency that gasoline retailers can sell fuel blends containing up to 15 percent ethanol for use in late-model cars."
"The decade-long effort to pass comprehensive climate legislation framed around a declining cap and trading for carbon dioxide emissions died an ignominious death. Now new proposals focused on a substantial ramp-up of investments in energy innovation are percolating — and instantly being attacked."
Interviews suggest that politics initially blinded the Obama administration on oil drilling.
"A set of proposed regulations to modernize safety in Pennsylvania's booming natural gas industry and force drillers to disclose the chemicals they use cleared a first procedural hurdle Tuesday."
Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, who held President Obama's nomination for OMB director hostage over the deepwater drilling ban, has said she will now hold it hostage until she is satisfied with the pace at which drilling permits are granted.
"The Obama administration, under heavy pressure from the oil industry and others in the Gulf Coast, on Tuesday lifted the moratorium on deep water drilling that it imposed in the wake of the disastrous BP oil spill.
"Google is backing a plan to lay undersea cables to connect offshore windmills off the mid-Atlantic coast, a step the Internet giant hopes will boost wind power as an energy source."
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