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Having settled one blockbuster item in the energy bill - fuel efficiency standards -- members of the U.S. Senate now turn to the question of whether to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska), the ranking Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Thursday the importance of ANWR drilling is not just about reducing American dependence on foreign oil. It is about the safety of Americans, he said. Murkowski pointed out that Iraq is "a country we are basically at war with," yet Saddam Hussein's regime continues to export billions of...

WASHINGTON, DC – Jerry Hood, former Special Assistant on Energy, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, today issued the following statement: “John Kerry and John Edwards have forgotten their records of supporting job-killing extreme environmental regulations, but the union workers whose jobs he put on the line won’t be as forgiving. Kerry’s 2002 proposal to raise CAFE standards would have destroyed as many as 100,000 jobs and was opposed by both the UAW and the AFL-CIO for facilitating outsourcing. Their Senatorial and Presidential policies are endangering the welfare of the American Worker, and the impact of those policies would be felt nowhere...

The nation’s leading environmental groups are digging their heels in the sand by rejecting President Obama’s “all-of-the above” domestic energy strategy—which calls for pursuing renewable energy sources like wind and solar, but simultaneously expanding oil and gas production. But it appears the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, won’t be taking environmentalists’ side in this fight, despite moves toward labor-environmentalist cooperation in recent years. On a recent conference call with reporters, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka endorsed two initiatives reviled by green groups: the Keystone XL pipeline and new natural gas export terminals. “There’s no environmental reason that [the pipeline] can’t...

ANWR Development Gains Momentum; Poll Shows Americans Favor ANWR Development WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Arctic Power announced today that a recent poll shows 48% of Americans favor opening part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to energy exploration. Arctic Power, the Alaskan-based non-profit organization that supports legislation to open the coastal plain of ANWR to oil and gas development, says that the findings clearly indicate the necessity for immediate passage of a National Energy Plan. Although environmental issues have traditionally garnered support along party lines, the issue of ANWR development is more widely supported among Americans. ``This poll ...

<p>WASHINGTON -- While blaming President Bush for the high price of gasoline, his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry, on Tuesday reiterated his opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, saying it is no solution.</p> <p>"We deserve an administration that doesn't fake it to the American people and pretend that somehow by drilling in the Alaska wildlife refuge we can deal with the problems of America," Kerry, D-Mass., told university students in San Diego. "We can't provide the supply of oil America needs from the Alaska wildlife refuge or from any other source in the United States, because we only have 3 percent of the world's oil reserves."</p>

Environmentalists fete John Kerry as a possible savior in a stalled battle against global warming if the Democratic front-runner topples President Bush in the November election. "Kerry has probably been the greatest champion of climate change issues with (Joe) Lieberman in the U.S. Senate," said Jennifer Morgan, director of the WWF environmental group's climate change program. European governments, among the strongest backers of the U.N.'s stalled 1997 Kyoto protocol meant to limit global warming, would welcome a shift toward Kerry's environmental policies after years of transatlantic feuds with Bush. "Clearly we would like the new administration, whether Republican or Democrat,...

Teamsters Hail Bipartisan Senate Vote Supporting ANWR Oil and Gas Development Wednesday March 16, 2:31 pm ET WASHINGTON, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is an official statement of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa: For the past four years the Teamsters Union has been a part of a growing grassroots and lobbying effort to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas development. Working with a coalition of labor unions, native Alaskan groups and energy independence advocates, we have succeeded in winning multiple votes in the House of Representatives in favor of opening ANWR. ADVERTISEMENT Over the...

(CNSNews.com) - Teamsters union chief Jimmy Hoffa has confused both environmentalists and free-market advocates after saying that Democratic front-runner John Kerry, if elected president, would "drill like never before" across the United States. Hoffa made the comments during a Feb. 17 segment on Hardball with Chris Matthews. Matthews had asked Hoffa why the union chose to endorse the Massachusetts senator even though Kerry opposed drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). "Well, we talked about that," Hoffa responded. "He says, look, I am against ANWR, but I am going to put that pipeline in and we're...

Everyone on the panel was laughing their ass off, Chris asks what is he going to put in the pipeline; Water. Hoffa said no he said he will drill for oil, Kerry will put me on his trade panel and will drill for oil everywhere in the U.S. If anyone can get video on this it would be helpful

The Obama administration has found a way to give unions relief from an Obamacare tax nearly three weeks after Republicans rejected a Democratic push to include the labor carve-out in the latest budget deal.The Department of Health and Human Services quietly released a final rule last week that includes an intention to exempt some union insurance plans from a substantial new tax known as the reinsurance fee.As part of Obamacare, the tax was supposed to be levied against all insurance plans to share the risk for insurers taking on the sickest patients next year.But unions, which were among the strongest...

<p>Democrats are so confident that Big Labor is in their pocket they often forget what it is unions need most -- jobs.</p> <p>Sometimes even labor leaders forget that, as they blindly sign on to a job-killing agenda of high taxes, big spending and excessive regulation.</p>

“That black stuff is hurting us.” ---Sen. John Kerry on oil (Greenwire) Washington, DC – U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) is quoted in today’s edition of Greenwire as saying, “that black stuff is hurting us,” with regard to oil. Members of the House Committee on Resources found the Senator’s comment absurd. “John Kerry is dead wrong,” Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-CA) said. “Oil doesn’t hurt Americans; John Kerry’s anti-energy policies hurt Americans. In fact, this is exactly the kind of rhetoric and bad policy that has led to the outsourcing of good American energy jobs. Last year alone, the United...

As the U.S. Senate prepared Wednesday to debate the nation's energy needs, environmental groups blasted the Republican plan to drill for oil in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge and said the White House lacked enough votes to win Senate passage of the measure. The ANWR drilling provision appeared headed for passage in the Senate Energy Committee earlier this month until Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) yanked the entire bill from the committee and moved it directly to the Senate floor. At the time, Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska), the ranking Republican on the Energy panel, said he had "never seen ...

  "I am committed to preserving Florida's natural beauty … There is no ambiguity in my position on drilling off the coast of Florida." - President Bush, 4/23/04 Kerry Supports Offshore Drilling In Florida Kerry Says He Favors Drilling Off The Coast Of Florida. "But Kerry said he would be in favor of drilling off the coast of Florida. 'I support oil drilling in the right places,' Kerry said. 'There is a capacity to protect what we have today - the protections for the coast of Florida - and still be able to drill in those locations where they're already...

Sarah Palin with her husband Todd spoke to a tea party crowd Monday in New Hampshire. From her Facebook page: In my speech on Saturday in Iowa, I said: “Between bailouts for Wall Street cronies and stimulus projects for union bosses’ security and ‘green energy’ giveaways, [Barack Obama] took care of his friends. And now they’re on course to raise a billion dollars for his re-election bid so that they can do it all over again.” This was shamefully on display yesterday at President Obama’s taxpayer-funded campaign rally in Detroit. In introducing the President, Teamsters President James Hoffa represented precisely...

Monday, October 11, 2004 Out Of Energy   OUT OF ENERGYKerry's Energy PlanIndependent Of Reality______________________________________________________KERRY'S OWN ADVISERS SCOFF AT KERRY'S IDEAS ON ENERGY INDEPENDENCEKerry Energy Advisers Believe Kerry's Energy Plan Is "Unrealistic And Misleading."  "The idea of a United States independent of Middle East oil is a touchstone of Senator John Kerry's campaign and a huge crowd pleaser, but has divided and exasperated many of his most experienced energy advisers.  Some advisers say they worry that Mr. Kerry's focus on freeing the United States from reliance on oil from the Persian Gulf, the linchpin of the energy plan he released...

<p>WASHINGTON -- While blaming President Bush for the high price of gasoline, his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry, on Tuesday reiterated his opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, saying it is no solution.</p> <p>"We deserve an administration that doesn't fake it to the American people and pretend that somehow by drilling in the Alaska wildlife refuge we can deal with the problems of America," Kerry, D-Mass., told university students in San Diego. "We can't provide the supply of oil America needs from the Alaska wildlife refuge or from any other source in the United States, because we only have 3 percent of the world's oil reserves."</p>

Teamsters President James Hoffa said on Friday he would ask the 500,000 truck operators covered by his union to take part in a grass-roots homeland security effort looking for suspicious activity on the roads. Talking to reporters on the White House driveway, Hoffa said he had pitched the idea to President Bush's director of homeland security, Tom Ridge. His comments came shortly before an FBI warning that terrorists may use fuel tanker trucks for attacks in the United States -- possibly on fuel depots, Jewish schools or synagogues -- or on U.S. interests overseas. Hoffa was among a group of...

Not surprisingly, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz was practically orgasmic with joy Tuesday over Teamsters president James Hoffa’s Labor Day declaration of war against the Tea Party. After telling his “Ed Show” audience that Obama’s poll numbers have been declining because he hasn’t spoken to the American people like the union boss, Schultz actually asked Hoffa, “Do you think the Republicans are sons of b---hes?” (video follows) The program began with an exultant Schultz saying, “It is priceless audio. I love this story. It’s about time somebody stood up and said it just like this.” After an introduction, Schultz played Hoffa’s comments,...

MATTHEWS: How about ANWR? You guys want to see ANWR because you want to see guys working in your business. I guess there‘s a lot of Teamsters jobs up there lined up and organized, if you could put a pipeline up to the Alaska wilderness. He is against that. HOFFA: Well, we talked about that. He says, look, I am against ANWR, but I am going to put that pipeline in and we‘re going to drill like never before. (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: What, are they going to run water through it? (CROSSTALK) HOFFA: ... more jobs than the ANWR would have...