"The ethanol industry is feverishly lobbying lawmakers in an effort to hang onto billions of dollars in subsidies that are set to expire — although there appears to be some discord on the message front."

"Just got confirmation from several Senate offices about what is actually going to be in the package Democrats put forward next week. In a nutshell, this is going to be a very tiny package, with little in the way of energy measures. I'm not even sure you can call it an energy package at this point."

"The effort to advance a major climate change bill through the Senate this summer collapsed Thursday ... Bowing to political reality, Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat and majority leader, said the Senate would not take up legislation intended to reduce carbon emissions blamed as a cause of climate change, but would instead pursue a more limited measure focused on responding to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and tightening energy efficiency standards."

"Three out of every four lobbyists who represent oil and gas companies previously worked in the federal government, a proportion that far exceeds the usual revolving-door standards on Capitol Hill, a Washington Post analysis shows."

"Have you heard about the massive public uprising to protect Big Oil's tax breaks? No? Oh, probably because it doesn't exist. But that doesn't mean the American Petroleum Institute won't try to convince you it does!"

"The Bush administration focused from its earliest days on ramping up domestic oil and gas production, charged House Democrats, but at the same time allowed the industry a 'dangerous culture of permissiveness' that culminated in the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico."

"The Obama administration has asked the governments of Scotland and Britain to review the decision last summer to release the Libyan convicted in the Lockerbie airliner bombing." Four U.S. Senators have asked whether BP lobbied for the release in order to get Libyan oil and gas leases.

"U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer is demanding that the Pentagon explain how war contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root may have been granted immunity from harming any soldier or civilian in Iraq."

"The official groundbreaking of a new advanced battery manufacturing plant in Holland [Mich.] on Thursday attracted both President Barack Obama and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm."

"The world is enduring the hottest year on record, according to a U.S. national weather analysis, causing droughts worldwide and a concern for U.S. farmers counting on another bumper year."