gas prices

Recalling last year’s success fighting the Democrats’ plans to stem offshore oil drilling, House Republicans are eyeing the likely hike in summertime gas costs as an ally in their battle against looming climate change legislation, which the Democrats want to take up in July. From The Hill:
The Democrats’ plan of moving a cap-and-trade bill this [...]

This is a couple of days old, but worth a mention: With gas prices dropping ever further in recent months, the country’s fetish for big, gas-guzzling vehicles has returned. According to numbers released last week by Edmunds.com, an automotive analysis Website, trucks and SUVs will outsell cars in December for the first time in nine [...]

It’s not just the government that’s considering bailing out the auto industry. Several utilities executives are considering ordering thousands of plug-in electric cars.

President-elect Obama has said that energy will be a top priority for his administration in its first 100 days — hinting that it will come second only to the economy.
In the past year, the Obama campaign has made a lot of promises on energy, related to jobs, climate change, clean energy, gas prices and [...]

Shock, surprise! Exxon Mobil Corp. reported record-breaking quarterly profits today. The oil company earned $14.83 billion in its fiscal third quarter, more than any company in U.S. history.
Hearing the news, Sen. John McCain accused Sen. Barack Obama of being in the pockets of Big Oil, a charge Obama has repeatedly leveled at McCain in campaign [...]

As I reported last week, it’s still unclear what consumers may do now that oil and gasoline prices have plummeted. A bit of news from TradingMarkets.com shows that consumers’ mixed reactions to lower gas prices are making things especially difficult for the auto industry.

The cost of a barrel of oil is sliding as demand weakens and the global economy falters. Economists wonder whether the conservation lessons learned during the time of high energy prices will stick. But a recession may trump all.

Since oil prices plummeted to below $70 a barrel, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has been talking about cutting oil production to respond to a demand that just keeps dropping. Today, OPEC is doing it. It announced a plan to cut oil output by 1.5 million barrels.

With the price of oil dropping to around $74 a barrel — and gasoline prices, on average, falling below $3 a gallon — the alternative-energy industry may have something to lose. The drop in oil prices stems from the global credit crisis and the recession fears it has spawned.
The stocks of alternative-energy companies, which had [...]

Federal tax credits that have sparked a boom in the wind and solar energy industry will die unless Congress acts to save them this week as part of the bailout.