"WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is sticking to a fossil-fuel dependent energy policy, delivering a blow to a monthslong, behind-the-scenes effort by nearly every major environmental group to convince the White House that the policy is at odds with his goals on global warming."
"The division between Obama and some of his staunchest supporters has been simmering for months, a surprising schism that shows the fine line the environmental community has walked with a Democratic president who has taken significant steps on climate change, and the recalcitrance of Obama's White House when it is criticized, even by its allies.
Days before Obama's State of the Union speech, the heads of 18 environmental groups sent a letter to the president that had long been in the works saying his policy doesn't make sense. They see a contradiction in increased American production of energy from oil and natural gas at the same time the government is attempting to reduce the pollution blamed for global warming."
Dina Cappiello and Matthew Daly report for the Associated Press January 30, 2014.
