Democrats

President Bush Tuesday dismissed Democrats’ claims that domestic producers are not actively pursuing their oil and natural gas leases and that excessive speculation is responsible for escalating crude oil prices.

The sweeping energy legislation that the House is expected to take up Wednesday will not fare well with the oil and natural gas industry. Democrats have incorporated a proposal to strip producers of billions of dollars in tax benefits.

Three Senate Democrats from western states Thursday called on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to work together in pursuing energy manipulation, and to not become entangled in a turf battle that could jeopardize their enforcement actions.

Three Senate Democrats from western states last Thursday called on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to work together in pursuing energy manipulation, and to not become entangled in a turf battle that could jeopardize their enforcement actions.

The U.S. Senate Thursday defeated efforts to include a $32 billion tax package in the underlying broad energy bill (HR 6), but Democrats scored a procedural victory to limit debate on the measure.

Targeted by both Republicans and Democrats following record-high earnings by North American producers, royalty relief provisions for deepwater oil and natural gas exploration were cut from the fiscal 2008 budget President Bush submitted to Congress last week.

Targeted by both Republicans and Democrats following record-high earnings by North American producers, royalty relief provisions for deepwater oil and natural gas exploration were cut from the fiscal 2008 budget President Bush submitted to Congress on Monday.

A coalition of 19 Senate Democrats led by Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico has called on Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to take a closer look at several issues surrounding an oil and natural gas lease sale that is scheduled for September in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A).

The seemingly solid agreement among a mix of liberal/moderate Democrats and conservative/moderate Republicans on the newly configured five-member appointed California Public Utilities Commission last Thursday was jarred loose and split into a majority of market-based-solution advocates and a minority of command-and-control supporters over the creation of a telecommunications “Consumer Bill of Rights.” The measure was six years in the making and has gone through several iterations in the past 18 months.