It's fair to say that the ongoing debate over oil lacks balance. In recent years, oil--a naturally-occurring energy resource--has been accused of being addictive, blamed for changing the climate, chastised for despoiling the environment and criticized for enabling the internal combustion engine.

Rarely does anyone write about oil's benefits to the health, prosperity and well being of people all over the globe. It was refreshing, therefore, to read a recent study by Indur Goklany who says oil and other carbon-based fuels should be credited with saving millions of lives.

In "A Primer on the Global Death Toll of Extreme Weather Events," Goklany tracks the impact of weather on global death rates, adding that "despite the media attention to such events, extreme weather events have a minor impac... more »

In today's episode, I interview Kevin Book of ClearView Energy Partners LLC about the impact of the oil spill on energy policy and the effects of the six-month moratorium on domestic energy supplies and industry workers.

As you'll hear in this podcast, Kevin says deepwater discoveries have been playing an essential role in non-OPEC oil production. Similarly, the consulting firm Wood MacKenzie has projected that U.S. Gulf of Mexico deepwater oil and natural gas production will account for a third of total U.S. production and nearly 95 percent of total offshore production by 2020, according to Chevron's CEO John Watson.

The freeze on deepwater drilling clearly puts the United States at a disadvantage in the quest to find and harness new energy supplies.

Use the audio player below to listen t... more »

Each week the National Journal's Energy and Environment blog poses a question and invites a select group of authorities to respond. The question for the week asked about a Gallup Poll showing that Americans are less concerned about the environment than at any time in the past 20 years.

National Journal asked, why? And what does the lack of concern portend for climate legislation?

API's President and CEO Jack Gerard posted a response that made two key points:

• Americans are focused on jobs and the economy; and

• It's likely that many Americans are aware that the environment has improved markedly during the past several years.

According to a report published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the levels of six common air pollutants have fallen 41 percent on average since 1990, de... more »

More voices are speaking out against the climate legislation being considered on Capitol Hill. Here's a sampling of some of the statements and studies that have been in the news during the past couple of days.

Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Kit Bond released a report showing that the Waxman-Markey climate bill amounts to a $3.6 trillion energy tax on transportation fuels. The study shows that from 2010 to 2050 motorists, workers and businesses would pay $2.0 trillion more for gasoline; truckers, farmers and businesses would pay $1.3 trillion more for diesel fuel; and airline passengers would be charged $330 billion more to pay for jet fuel.

Reacting to the Hutchinson/Bond study, the American Trucking Association (ATA) issued a news release to remind elected officials that diesel fuel is u... more »

House and Senate leaders are continuing to push for climate legislation despite the fact that far fewer people believe that global warming is a serious problem, according to a new survey released today by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The survey, conducted among 1,500 adults from Sept. 30-Oct. 4, shows that 35 percent of respondents believe global warming is very serious as compared with 44 percent in April 2008.

Similarly, the new poll shows that 36 percent of Americans believe that global temperatures are linked to human activity, down from 47 percent last year.

The poll also indicates that few Americans are following the debate about the climate bills that are being considered in Congress. A majority (55 percent) said they had heard nothing about "cap and trade" po... more »