By Hans A. von Spakovsky

A number of states have joined with industry organizations to challenge new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency on the grounds that they run contrary to the Clean Air Act. Oral arguments began on February 28 before D.C.’s Court of Appeals.

Previous cases have not gone so well. In 2007, in Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court affirmed the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. And last year, the Court unanimously threw out a lawsuit, American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, that was brought by eight states. In its decision, the court held that neither states nor private parties could bring a global-warming claim under the federal common-law theory of “public nuisance” because the EPA held authority over this issue. That decision leaves all such regulation solely in the hands of the EPA and threatens the right of plaintiffs even to appeal its decisions.

By Joel Kotkin, for the Daily Beast

The divide between the fossil-fuel industry and the green movement is increasingly dividing the country by region, class, and culture.

With gas prices beginning their summer spike to what could be record highs, President Obama in recent days has gone out of his way to sound reassuring on energy, seeming to approve an oil pipeline to Oklahoma this week after earlier approving leases for drilling in Alaska. Yet few in the energy industry trust the administration’s commitment to expanding the nation’s conventional energy supplies given his strong ties to the powerful green movement, which opposes the fossil-fuel industry in a split that’s increasingly dividing the country by region, class, and culture.

But Republicans, other than the increasingly irrelevant Newt Gingrich, have failed to capitalize on the potent issue, instead lending the president an unwitting assist by focusing the primary fight on vague economic plans and sex-related side issues like abortion, gay marriage, and contraception. The GOP may be winning over the College of Cardinals, but it is squandering its chance of gaining a majority in the Electoral College, holding the House, and taking the Senate.

As recent reports have noted, gasoline prices are on course to hit $4 a gallon by summertime — more than doubling since President Obama took office in January 2009 and marking a record high for February.

Higher prices at the gas pump hurt families and small businesses in Missouri and nationwide, delaying much-needed job creation and threatening our economic recovery.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration recently brushed off Americans’ concern over rising gas prices as a product of media hysteria that occurs every year as we head into peak driving season in the summer months. The reality is that people are feeling the consequences of the administration’s hostility to increased domestic energy production in the form of pain at the pump.

By: Phil Taylor, E&E Reporter

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today suggested he may not fully merge the Office of Surface Mining with the Bureau of Land Management, a sign the department is backtracking on plans announced in October.

"I think at the end of the day, there is going to continue [to be] a separate OSM and a separate BLM," Salazar told reporters after a budget hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

More than 1,500 coal miners have tested positive for drug use since Kentucky began screenings six years ago, creating additional risks in an already dangerous industry.

That information from the Office of Mine Safety and Licensing convinced the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee to approve legislation Thursday to eliminate loopholes in current law that could allow miners who abuse drugs to return to work in Kentucky.

The legislation would revoke the mine certifications for three years for first offenders, five years for second offenders and for life for third offenders. Current law allows miners to be retested after 10 days. Those who test negative can then return to work.