New Congress sets energy strategy; will address issues with piecemeal approach

Not wanting energy legislation to get bogged down or bloated up in a massive bill, this year's Congress will pursue energy issues individually. But leaders have an aggressive agenda with boosting ethanol use, extracting liquid fuels from coal and imposing higher CAFE standards. Already the Senate Energy Committee has scheduled an all-day session on Feb. 1 to discuss biofuels, then comes another meeting on world oil markets. Midwest senators have introduced a bill requiring the U.S. to use 60 billion gallons a year by 2030. Loan guarantees and tax credits are behind many of the measures. Finally, some senators want to raise the CAFE standards to 40 mpg by or before 2017.

[Source: Chris Baltimore / Reuters via Boston Globe]