Did you know that today's diesel-powered light-duty vehicles must meet the same stringent emission requirements as gasoline-powered models?

API helped those diesel vehicles meet the same air quality standards as gasoline vehicles in two ways. First, by producing Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) fuel, which burns more cleanly than earlier forms of diesel fuel. And second, by developing a certification program for Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF). DEF is a liquid that is injected into the exhaust system of diesel vehicles from a container located under the hood in most cars.

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It's fair to say that the ongoing debate over oil lacks balance. In recent years, oil--a naturally-occurring energy resource--has been accused of being addictive, blamed for changing the climate, chastised for despoiling the environment and criticized for enabling the internal combustion engine.

Rarely does anyone write about oil's benefits to the health, prosperity and well being of people all over the globe. It was refreshing, therefore, to read a recent study by Indur Goklany who says oil and other carbon-based fuels should be credited with saving millions of lives.

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The regulators are coming. They are marching into your communities and into your local businesses. They are usurping the rights of state governments. And they are trying to change the nation's primary clean air law to make it suit their purposes.

These regulators are from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and their goal is to twist and turn the language in the Clean Air Act (CAA) to regulate greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). It's estimated that six million stationary GHG sources, ranging from large industries to big-box stores, churches, athletic complexes, malls, office buildings and farms, would have to get permits to emit GHGs under the EPA's proposed regulations. And the states, charged with managing the permitting process, will be swamped. Many states say they don't have enough people, time or money to process the applications and issue permits.

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had hoped to hold hearings on hydraulic fracturing in New York this week. They were scheduled at Binghamton University, but when it was learned that potentially thousands of people would attend, the EPA moved them to a larger venue in Syracuse, 65 miles north. The move prompted howls among groups who had planned to fly-in from all over the country, leading EPA to postpone the hearings until next month.

The fact that thousands would flock to a hearing about a time-honored oil field practice is indicative of the concern--and misperceptions--that swirl around hydraulic fracturing. Andy Leahy of Syracuse has concluded that "anti-fracking propagandists...have orchestrated a virally contagious chorus of spin, distortion and untruth."

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"Not with a bang but a whimper." - T.S. Eliot

The well that roared to life in April and took the lives of 11 men was drowned in cement yesterday. The Macondo well, which raged for about three months, quietly succumbed as engineers methodically pumped cement through the cap on the top of the well, pushing the pressurized oil and gas down thousands of feet and back into the reservoir.

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With the success of the static kill, another important step has been taken toward recovery from the worst marine oil spill in American history. It's estimated that 4.9 million barrels of oil, plus or minus 10 percent, poured into the Gulf of Mexico.

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BP's static kill has worked. In a statement posted this morning, BP reports that the Macondo well has reached "static condition," meaning that the heavy drilling mud pumped into the top of the well has overcome the pressure of the oil and gas attempting to flow up the wellbore. BP is calling the success of the static kill "a significant milestone."

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Today could be D-Day for the Macondo well. According to reports, BP is conducting a test to determine the likely success of killing the well from the top, while getting in position to assault the well from the bottom.

This two-pronged attack is expected to begin tonight or tomorrow with a static kill in which heavy drilling muds are pumped into the Macondo's cap and down into the well.

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Several activities are underway today that could have a significant impact on America's energy policy. They include congressional efforts to pass energy legislation as well as the killing of the leaking Macondo well.

Today the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2009 (CLEAR) Act. This bill is purported to be a response to the Gulf oil spill, but it reaches far beyond the accident.

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With the House and the Senate poised to vote on energy bills before the August recess, editorial and op-ed writers are taking Congress to task for neglecting the primary issues confronting the United States today--jobs and the economy.

At a time when millions of Americans are out of work and worried about their family budgets, they say Congress and the administration are using the oil spill to enact legislation that could do more economic harm than good:

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