The American Energy Alliance says, "If the President’s allies would stop suing, we could double U.S. proven reserves he refers to as "only 2% of the world’s oil" right away."   Bloomberg (2/22/12) reports: Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s air pollution permits for offshore oil drilling in Alaska were challenged by environmental groups who said the permits violate the U.S. Clean Air Act…The Alaska Wilderness League and eight other organizations filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Feb. 17, asking it to review two permits the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted Shell to operate its Discoverer drillship in the Sea of Beaufort and the Sea of Chukchi…“As early as this summer, the Discoverer drillship and other vessels in Shell’s fleet could be in the Chukchi Sea or Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean where they will pump tens of thousands of tons of pollution into pristine Arctic skies,” the groups said in a statement today.

Red State: Obama’s Energy Policy is Hurting the American Dream David Holt, Consumer Energy Alliance, Alaska OCS, CD-5, Ocean Policy, ANWR, Photo by Dave Harbour**Podcast interview with David Holt** (NGP Photo)  – On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by David Holt to Obama’s hostile energy policy, the critical importance of the Keystone XL pipeline, and how a growing energy industry can help revive the American dream.

Simons: Harnessing oilsands won’t cause ‘climate calamity’ – Calgary Herald – Swart and Weaver say the biggest potential contributors to global warming are non-conventional gasand coal. The two scientists certainly don’t give the oilsands a free pass. They note that their paper doesn’t weigh the other environmental consequences 

Point missed on oilsands report, say researchers – Calgary Herald – The commentary, published in the British scientific journal Nature Climate Change, estimated the effect of consuming the fuel from oilsands deposits – without factoring in greenhouse gas emissions associated with extraction and production – would be 

 
CNN: Keystone oil pipeline would risk disaster (Op-ed) –  I own a property in Fort Pierre, South Dakota, called the Bad River Ranch. It is a beautiful place, where we have worked very hard to restore the landscape, reintroduce native wildlife species and raise bison sustainably. But it sits about 15 miles downstream of the point where TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline would cross the Bad River, and being that close has led me to examine more closely the potential risks and benefits of a project about which I have been highly skeptical from the beginning.
 
Kansas City Star: Texas becomes battlefield in Keystone XL pipeline fight – The politically volatile Keystone XL pipeline is becoming embroiled in a widening controversy in Texas as supporters tout the promise of jobs and other economic benefits while increasingly vocal opponents say the project would trample property rights and endanger water supplies in East Texas.
 
The Hill: EPA’s fracking, Keystone intervention snubs science (Op-ed) – Dramatics on Capitol Hill is nothing new or unexpected. But last week’s spectacle – in which Capitol Police arrested filmmaker Josh Fox for unlawful entry after disrupting a House Science Committee hearing – pans the camera on a very troublesome reality. It epitomizes the empty, theatrical tactics environmental groups are using to subvert legitimate dialogues over our energy future and the best interests of the American public.
 
CBS: GOP hopefuls hit Obama hard on gas prices – For the past several weeks, we’ve seen signs the economy may be inching up. That’s good news for President Obama and his reelection chances, since the economy is the number one issue for voters, and Republicans have been hammering him on it. But now there’s some bad news for the president: Gas prices continue to rise, and Republicans are blaming him for it. You can expect it to come up in tonight’s GOP debate in Arizona.
 
Washington Post: Will rising gas prices sink Obama? (Op-ed) – It’s not even summer yet, and gas prices are already soaring. The national average for a gallon of gasoline hit $3.57 this week. So what’s causing the spike? And could high gas prices end up demolishing President Obama’s slowly recovering poll numbers? By and large, the current price of gasoline isn’t some deep mystery.
 
Bloomberg: Obama Campaign Set for Political Fallout From Gasoline Prices – President Barack Obama will try to head off the political impact of rising gasoline prices as Republicans vow to make the price at the pump an issue in the 2012 election campaign. Obama this week plans events focusing on his administration’s efforts to expand domestic exploration and development of alternative energy sources to combat cyclical spikes in gas prices.
 
Investor’s Business Daily: Obama’s Double Talk on Sky-High Gas Prices – When gas prices hit $4 a gallon in 2008, candidate Barack Obama said it was due to previous failed energy policies. Now that prices are heading still higher, President Obama calls it progress. Already, pump prices are higher than they’ve been in previous years, suggesting they will top $4 soon and possibly reach an unprecedented $5 this summer. President Obama is starting to notice the political implications.