1. STATES:
Fuels producers take aim at Calif.'s low-carbon standard
Energy companies are mounting new opposition to California's plans to lower the carbon content of fuel sold in-state. A group of oil companies and other fuel providers, including BP PLC, Chevron Technology Ventures, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Pacific Gas and Electric Corp., held a closed-door meeting yesterday in Burbank, Calif., where they discussed the state's low-carbon fuel standard, which aims to lower fuels' average carbon content by 10 percent by 2020.
2. POLICY:
Nothing to fear but inaction on climate change -- Kerry
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) pledged yesterday to make climate change a top priority as secretary of State as he sailed through a mostly genial confirmation hearing before the committee he still chairs. Testifying before his Senate Foreign Relations panel, Kerry sidestepped a question about his views on the controversial $7 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline project. But he jumped at a chance to swat down a Republican senator who declared carbon constraints a threat to the U.S. economy, and he defended the need to abate climate change as a jobs and security imperative.
