Howarth doesn’t have to convince anyone he’s right to devastate New York’s budding shale industry and put tens of thousands of jobs into question. He wins if he muddies the waters enough to give cautious Albany bureaucrats reason to stall.

Not long ago, environmental groups were heralding natural gas as a “bridge fuel to a more climate-friendly energy supply.” Today, New York “progressives” are leading the charge to demonize it as a “bridge to nowhere” — producing “water contamination, air pollution, global warming and fractured communities.” Why the flip-flop?

The wind industry is lobbying for even more government support, but much of the government funding has gone overseas.

Methane is a Jekyll-and-Hyde chemical. When combusted in the form of natural gas it releases energy, accounting for one-fifth of worldwide consumption. But it's controversial.

With the shale boom radically altering the energy chessboard, panicked ideologues are resorting to a tired ploy: pitting natural gas against alternative sources as if generating energy is a zero-sum game.

In a surprise move, the United States announcedthat it was joining other nations in a new pact that offers a refreshing and effective alternative route to tackling the problem of climate change.

Under pressure from environmentalists, the coal industry and its supporters are claiming that their fuel can be clean.

The cap-and-trade legislation supported by the Obama administration is a stealth strategy for a massive long-term tax increase.