"Supporters of a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline lack the votes to overcome a potential presidential veto and will seek changes during debate to pick up Democratic support, a key Republican lawmaker said."

"Oil prices tumbled below $50 a barrel on Monday, spooking global financial markets and signaling that the remarkable 50 percent price drop since June was continuing this year and even quickening."

"LONGMONT, Colo. — This northern Colorado city vaulted onto the front lines of the battle over oil and gas drilling two years ago, when residents voted to ban hydraulic fracturing from their grassy open spaces and a snow-fed reservoir where anglers catch smallmouth bass."

"As of January 1, 2015 single-hull oil tankers are no longer allowed in U.S. waters."

"The carcasses of thousands of small birds called Cassin's auklets have been washing ashore over the last few months from Northern California up to the north coast of Washington."

"Republicans are putting the Keystone XL pipeline at the top of the agenda as they seek to move a stack of legislation to President Obama’s desk in 2015."

"The Energy Department set new efficiency standards for certain light bulbs and commercial ice-makers, which it said would save consumers and businesses billions of dollars."

"PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — In November, regulators from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration shut down recreational and commercial cod fishing in the Gulf of Maine, that enchanting arm of the coastal sea stretching east-northeast from Cape Cod. They did not have much choice: Federal law requires action to rebuild fish stocks when they are depleted, and recent surveys revealed cod populations to be at record lows, despite decades of regulations intended to restore them."

"Its first attempt to develop genetically engineered grass ended disastrously for the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. The grass escaped into the wild from test plots in Oregon in 2003, dooming the chances that the government would approve the product for commercial use."

A look at 2014's winners and losers in the energy sector. Consumers win on lower gasoline prices. Surge of natural gas from fracking helps electric power industry. Competition from natural gas hurts coal. Keystone XL pipeline loses from another year of delay. Ethanol industry loses after meltdown of Renewable Fuel Standard.