Climate Change

"Last month was the warmest May on record, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Tuesday."

"President Obama urged the nation Tuesday to rally behind legislation that would begin changing the way the country consumes and generates energy, saying the expanding oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is 'the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now.'"

"The Senate Thursday defeated 53-47 an effort to limit the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and President Barack Obama said the vote was a reminder of the need to pass more comprehensive climate change legislation."

"Rich countries led by Russia, Australia and the EU have been accused of trying to cheat their way out of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by creating 'dishonest' forestry accounting loopholes."

"A growing number of Americans want the United States to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as the largest oil spill in U.S. history helps boost interest in petroleum alternatives, a poll by two universities found on Tuesday."

"The White House made clear on Tuesday what had been assumed for months – that it does not like a resolution sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, that would thwart the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases."

"A vote in the U.S. Senate to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from going it alone in battling carbon dioxide emissions will fail this week without new last-minute support, according to congressional and private-sector sources."

Initial enthusiasm from electric utilities for the Kerry-Lieberman Senate climate bill has given way to lobbying silence -- which worries environmentalists hoping a last-ditch effort to pass it this year might succeed.

Some 30 energy companies are off the hook for now. "So many members of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals have recused themselves from a rehearing of a lawsuit that charges energy companies with contributing to the effects of Hurricane Katrina by emitting greenhouse gases that the court cannot conduct the rehearing."