Cold Snap Boosts Energy Funds

As the temperature drops across the country, energy policy is heating up in Washington, D.C. The cold weather has spurred demand for the petroleum-related products that heat our homes.

And on Capitol Hill, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed a sweeping bill to take back the tax breaks awarded to oil companies and to force the renegotiation for oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico. Also, the president gave his State of the Union speech plugging alternative energy sources.

Money to fund President Bush's alternative energy initiative would come from the renegotiated leases and the savings from the $7.6 billion tax break being rescinded. ...