Drilling bans take a hard hit. The U.S. House passed a sweeping measure Thursday that would upend decades of restrictions on energy exploration off the nation’s coasts, giving states broad power to allow drilling close to shore and financially rewarding those that do. [News Source]

EPA considering using California small-engine rules nationally. The federal government may use California's strict pollution rules for lawnmowers and other small-engine machines as a national standard. [News Source]

Air quality alerts issued; heat wave blamed. GVRD officials said air quality was poor early this week in Maple Ridge, Langley, Abbotsford and Chilliwack, Canada. [News Source]

China increases power prices to counter coal costs. China, the world's second-biggest energy user, raised electricity prices for the first time in more than a year to help power companies pass on the higher cost of coal. [News Source]

Crops could make their own fertilizer. Plant geneticists have induced plants to form 'fertilizer factories' without the aid of bacteria that are normally crucial to the process. If the technology can be transferred to plants such as wheat or rice, industrial fertilization of these crops could be reduced or even abolished. [News Source]

Connecticut, other state governments promote biodiesel as alternative fuel. The Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control has ruled that biodiesel is a renewable energy resource, and that electricity produced from it counts towards the state's renewable portfolio standard. [News Source]

Survey suggests more awareness of ethanol. A public information campaign touting the positive benefits of ethanol-blended fuels is working, according to the latest results of a national tracking study of public opinion. [News Source]

They’ve got an awful lot of ethyl in Brazil. The hot biofuel is ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, which can be mixed with gasoline to reduce air pollution and our consumption of fossil fuels and Brazil is the current leader in its production. [News Source]

Storm runoff may worsen bay’s water-quality problems. Scientists are watching the ecological equivalent of a train wreck as flooding flushes huge amounts of soil, nutrients and other pollutants into the Chesapeake Bay. [News Source]

EU’s fledgling carbon market faces crunch date. The European Union's key scheme to fight climate change is heading for impasse as member states this week submitted pollution targets that are much softer than the European Commission's guidelines require. [News Source]

Carbon trading will not cut airline emissions, says BA. Greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft, increasingly implicated in climate change, will continue to grow even if the airlines join Europe's emissions trading scheme (ETS) which is designed to cut them, British Airways' chief economist admitted yesterday. [News Source]