Obama Wants to Double Renewable Energy in Three years: In Barack Obama’s weekly TV address he outlined a plan to create three to four million new jobs. Half a million of those jobs would be in the area of clean energy and energy efficiency. The president-elect also said he would commit to doubling the country’s renewable energy production in three years.

Waxman Thinks House will Pass Carbon Legislation This year: The new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, U.S. Representative Henry Waxman said he is “determined” to pass a climate bill this year in the House.

Timber Company Drops Road Deal with Forest Service: Plum Creek Timber Company announced it will no longer pursue changes in rules governing its use of U.S. Forest Service roads. Despite the innocent-sounding name, Plum Creek Timber is actually the largest owner of forestland in the U.S. Critics complained the rule change could transform forests into housing subdivisions.

Bush Creates More Marine Protected Areas in Pacific: George W. Bush is clearly working to make his environmental legacy through the preservation of marine areas. This week, Bush moved to protect another swath of area in the Pacific by designating them National Monuments. The new monuments will protect the Mariana Trench, the deepest canyon on Earth; coral reefs off the cost of the Mariana Islands; and an atoll known as the “Islands of Seabirds.”

The executives in both hearings tried to explain that their companies do not really have an excessive profit margin since their final profit is only a small percentage of their total revenue. They also tried to explain that they do not set their prices; for a commodity with a world market like oil, the prices are set on transparent exchanges where anyone is free to buy the product at whatever price they can find a willing seller. They also claim that they have been restricted from developing oil production in high potential areas and that those restrictions have prevented them from being able to produce enough additional oil to have much effect on the supply-demand balance.

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