It has been nearly a week since Scott Brown’s victory single-handedly started a 2012 style Dem-ageddon, and we are already seeing how it will affect the President’s ambitious agenda. While every talking head discusses the fate of healthcare reform, but it is the prospects for climate change legislation may be far more in peril.

The House has already passed its version of climate change legislation, but recent developments in the Senate have complicated the logistics of passing a similar version. Notably, provisions like cap and trade, already controversial in the chamber, might fall by the wayside. Here are a few reasons why:
Continue reading How Scott Brown destroyed and chance of Climate Change Legislation

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing on the impact of an Exxon Mobil Corp.­­ – XTO Energy Inc. merger last week began as a love fest when Texas representatives gave a warm welcome to witnesses Rex Tillerson, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corp., and Bob Simpson, chairman of the board and founder of XTO Energy Inc. Some representatives – seeing potential jobs and income for their cash-strapped states – seemed willing, even anxious, to yield to industry’s pressure to refrain from supporting legislation that might cost the industry money when they extract natural gas from unconventional reserves, like the Marcellus Shale that runs from West Virginia to New York State.

Continue reading The Devil’s in the Detail