True story: A few days ago I went into a women's clothing store to buy a couple of T-shirts. As I was standing at the counter paying my bill, the clerk decided to make small talk. "Do you work in Washington" she asked. "Who do you work for?"

I answered, "I work for the oil industry."Her friendly demeanor faded. She put my purchase in a bag and had nothing more to say.

The clerk is one of many, many Americans who are troubled by the Deepwater Horizon accident. The leaking well in the Gulf and the tar balls on the beaches have had a major impact on America's collective psyche. But the clerk didn't take out her consternation on me. She didn't charge me more than other customers or slap an extra tax on my purchase. That would have been unfair and unlawful.

Some members of Congress, however, ar... more »

As J. Hunt Perkins points out in a Lexington Herald-Leader op-ed, there's something wrong with an energy policy that promotes offshore drilling but at the same time, proposes to place higher taxes on the oil and the natural gas industry.

Perkins, a petroleum geologist, says that the tax hikes in President Obama's proposed 2011 budget are not only counterproductive, but they also are punitive. He argues that several long-standing tax incentives, which would be cut under the budget, were designed to encourage production of domestic energy resources and should be retained.

Perkins points out that without incentives, new oil and natural gas investment could be reduced by 20 to 40 percent, U.S. oil production could be lowered by 20 percent, and natural gas production could decline by 12 percent... more »

As the ranking Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) is in a position to closely observe and act on the administration's proposed energy policies.

Today in an op-ed published in The Washington Times, he provides an explanation for what he calls the administration's "mixed signals" on offshore energy production.

Hasting writes:

"Sen. Obama opposed it. Candidate Obama changed his mind when gas prices soared. President Obama stalled efforts to expand it, but then seemingly promoted it in this year's State of the Union address. Understandably, his ever-changing position has left Americans confused and frustrated."

Now Hastings believes he has seen the administration's true agenda. He says the president's 2011 budget proposal shows that government reve... more »

Tomorrow Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will defend his agency's proposed 2011 budget before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Salazar calls it a "tough choices budget" requesting about $12 billion for the Interior Department (DOI), which is a slight decrease from 2010. (Environment & Energy Daily)

Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) says the DOI budget does "a fine job of prioritizing the projects," and includes provisions including "boosting funding to acquire land for conservation, promoting renewable energy projects and expanding climate change research..."

But not everyone agrees with Sen. Bingaman's assessment.

In fact, the administration's budget could be a bitter pill for American citizens who are struggling to make ends meet. If approved, it would raise U.S... more »

There's never a dull moment in the energy business. Check out just a few of the things that have happened during the past few days:

• The administration announced its 2011 budget proposal containing an estimated $80 billion in new taxes on the oil and natural gas industry.

• Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) introduced legislation to retroactively change the contracts between oil companies and the federal government on some Gulf of Mexico wells. The bottom line: Markey and Van Hollen want to force oil companies to pay about $54 billion to reduce the deficit. (States News Service)

• The Senate Western Caucus criticized the Interior Department's new drilling regulations. In a letter to Interior Sec. Ken Salazar, the caucus stated, "More red tape equals fewer red, white an... more »