Energy Policies Come Up Against Green Initiatives

The slumping economy has sent oil prices tumbling and taken the edge off consumer anxiety about gasoline prices. But energy and climate-change policy will still be significant issues for the new Congress and president.
President-elect Obama promised to fight global warming and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Now, he will have to deal with the reality that the goals aren't entirely compatible -- technically or politically.

Cutting oil imports from the Middle East could increase U.S. reliance on more expensive alternatives, some of which aren't very green. More fundamentally, the new president must determine how to persuade lawmakers to support his agenda for cutting U.S. consumption of carbon-intensive fuels at a time when many Americans are more concerned about high gasoline prices and home-heating bills.
Mr. Obama also is considering naming a special White House energy and climate-change czar as part of his cabinet, according to people familiar with the matter.
Environmentalists and some liberal Democrats are expected to press for a reinstatement of a federal ban on offshore drilling, a step that wouldn't sit well with some of the party's more moderate members.
Mr. Obama talked often of a program to create millions of "green jobs," in fields such as wind and solar energy. Mr. Obama has committed to mandating that the U.S. generate 10% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2012, and 25% by 2025. But electric utilities in Southern states oppose such mandates.—Stephen Power