Thousands of people from all walks of life are expected to participate in rallies for jobs and the economy tomorrow, Sept. 1. They will gather at three venues in Houston, Port Arthur and Corpus Christi, Texas, where they will make their voices heard.

Some of the attendees are likely to be energy workers whose jobs are on the line due to the offshore drilling moratorium and the threat of higher energy taxes. But they won't be the only people who attend.

It's expected that Wednesday's rallies will be similar to the series of rallies held last fall, in which the participants included union members, teachers, homemakers, farmers, small business owners and operators, and veterans--all of whom were citizens and voters who recognized the importance of energy to their lives, economic welfare of t... more »

Although it appears that the Senate climate bill won't come to the floor for a few weeks, work continues on climate legislation in Washington. According to an AP news report, the White House has stepped up its lobbying efforts to push for a bill, and administration officials have met with more than half of the senators as well as mayors and governors to drum up support. The report also quotes Carol Browner, the president's assistant for energy and climate change, as saying the goal "is to get the bill moving and keep it moving."

One of the primary sponsors of the senate's bill, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, says she won't hold mark up on the Kerry-Boxer climate bill until the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completes its study on the bill's potential impact. As reported in Greenw... more »

Today, inspired by a New York Times weekend editorial, Energy Outlook blogger Geoff Styles discusses the Waxman-Markey climate bill and the legislation's potential impact on gasoline prices.

Geoff says the Times doesn't get the rationale for cap & trade as well as they think they do:

"The Times appears to accept the government's analysis suggesting that the increase would amount to no more than 20 cents per gallon by 2020, though this conventional wisdom collides with common sense, since such a low price on carbon seems unlikely to stimulate sufficient conservation and investments in efficiency to deliver on a steadily-shrinking national emissions cap. In particular, the Times seems unfazed by the way the bill's allocation of free emission allowances is stacked against the oil industry, s... more »

For those of you who couldn't attend yesterday's Energy Citizens rally in Houston, we've posted a video about the event. As you'll see, the crowd donned the yellow T-shirts passed out at the door, waved signs and listened intently to the speakers.

It was obvious to me that the 3,500 participants were very sincere in their concern about the House-passed climate bill on their jobs and their families. As I walked through the crowd, several people had stories to tell.

Eric, for example, was worried about American jobs being exported overseas as a result of the Waxman-Markey legislation. He mentioned that India recently built a huge refinery with the sole purpose of exporting petroleum products. He wondered about the future of U.S. refining and how the bill could affect the economy.

Kristen sa... more »