A program to control carbon dioxide emissions through a cap with an emissions-allowance trading program that includes a "safety valve" would be "significantly more efficient" than an inflexible annual cap on CO2, the Congressional Budget Office said in a new study in February.

A cap-and-trade program that includes a price ceiling for emission allowances -- also known as a "safety valve" -- could be relatively easy to implement and link with other GHG emission reduction programs set up by other developed countries, CBO said in the report, "Policy Options for Reducing CO2 Emissions."

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Energy Firms Bullish on Natural Gas

With crude oil topping $100 a barrel, independent U.S. energy companies like Devon Energy are increasing reserves and production of natural gas, a market with an increasingly bullish outlook.

"I think oil prices are a little bit too high," said Phil Weiss, an energy industry analyst at Argus Research. "If you are looking for where there is leverage to make gains, I think there is more opportunity in natural gas."

In 2007, independent U.S. energy companies, even those exploring for oil offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and in other countries, made sizable gains in natural gas production and reserves.

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Court Rules Coal Plants Must Cut Mercury Levels

Coal plants are taking even more shots. The latest salvo is coming from a U.S. Court of Appeals that says that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency illegally removed those facilities from a list of hazardous pollution sources that must comply with air rules to cut mercury emissions.

Environmentalists hailed the court ruling, saying that it is part of a broader trend that is putting pressure on utilities to install the best available technologies in their power plants or to build more sustainable facilities. The EPA now has two choices, which are to either appeal the ruling or to go back to the drawing board. The most likely path will be to take two years to rewrite the rules -- obviously in a way that makes mercury reductions mandatory and not voluntary.

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EIA Projects 'Real-World Crude' At $57 A Barrel In 2016

The Energy Information Administration recently projected that the price of oil would decline to $57 a barrel in 2016 as expanded investment in exploration and development brings new supplies to the market.

Guy Caruso, the administrator of the EIA, provided the estimate in testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

He said that the price of natural gas would decline through 2016, also as new supplies enter the market. After 2016, he projects that real natural gas prices would rise to $6.56 per thousand cubic feet in 2030.

He also said that the consumption of biofuels would rise to 29.7 billion gallons in 2030, or about 11.3% of total motor vehicle fuel, following the enactment last year of a law that mandated more ethanol be blended into the fuel supply.

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