The Environmental Protection Agency is at it again - trying to implement unrealistic regulations that will severely impact our economy and job growth.This time EPA has targeted U.S. ozone standards - also known as national ambient air quality standards, or NAAQS - two years before their scheduled review under the Clean Air Act. U.S. News World Report frames the debate:

At issue: The EPA's plan go[es] far beyond former President Bush's effort to tighten ozone standards way in advance of the planned review in 2013. It could push much of the nation into non-attainment status under the Clean Air Act, forcing major changes to improve air quality.

Just how much of the United States would be affected? The EPA's aggressive air quality proposal would likely push more than 85 percent of U.S. counti... more »

Greater access to secure energy and more than a half-trillion dollars in economic benefits right here at home: That's the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. Unfortunately, the biggest question about the project - which would bring oil from Canada's oil sands region to U.S. refineries in Texas - is why it remains stuck on the drawing board.

The House of Representatives is working on legislation that would require the administration to grant a permit for the pipeline by Nov. 1. Given the benefits, you wouldn't think it would take an act of Congress to get things started. But deliberations over mostly old arguments are delaying a project worth an estimated $521 billion to the U.S. economy over a 25-year period, according to the Canadian Energy Research Institute.

What's the holdup? The State Depa... more »

On Wednesday, after the President's speech on energy the following tweet popped up in our Twitter stream:

@whitehouse - Hey, Heather Zichal here with the WH to take your energy questions, send them along

And people did, quite a few actually. The White House team was unable to get to all of them, understandably, so we have decided to help them out. But first we have to address a gross inaccuracy in one of the five answers that they did provide. @wilcoxgolf asked:

@whitehouse why do you not drill in the US? We have enough oil!

to which the White House responded:

@willcoxgolf Last year US oil production reached highest level since 2003, oil cos. sitting on many unused leases http://wh.gov/a2u

The last part is simply not true. The administration only can make this statement by defining actio... more »

The U.S. Senate could vote today on measures addressing the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from stationary sources. These measures and the EPA's regulatory proposal on ozone were the topics of discussion in a blogger conference call on Tuesday. Howard Feldman, API's director of scientific and regulatory affairs; Misty McGowen, director of federal relations; and Khary Cauthen, director of federal relations, took questions from bloggers about Congressional action to limit EPA overreach.

Ms. McGowen explained that there is a "groundswell of activity" on EPA regulation of greenhouse gases in the United States Senate and House of Representatives. In particular, she highlighted Sen. McConnell's, Sen. Rockefeller's and Sen. Baucus' amendments... more »

We'd like to set record straight - again - regarding charges by administration officials and members of Congress that American oil and natural gas companies are sitting on oil leases granted by the government, stubbornly refusing to turn them into producing leases. We have heard these tired charges before and we have refuted them with the facts each time they come up. Unfortunately, like the mechanical critters in a game of "Whac-A-Mole," they just keep popping up again and again - totally oblivious to the truth. Political gamesmanship like this is a distraction from the important conversation this nation needs about its energy options and its energy future.

Americans need and deserve an energy policy based on facts, something these charges lack. The reason this argument keeps popping up a... more »