USA Today: Gas Prices Could Drop to $1 a Gallon

At some gas stations around the country, the price of a gallon of regular has dropped below $1.42. AAA and GasBuddy, two organizations that follow gasoline prices, say that gasoline prices below $2 will not be unusual in most of the United States. As oil prices fall, and refinery capacity stays strong, the price of gas could reach $1 a gallon in some areas, a level last reached in 1999. As a matter of fact, the entire states of Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina have gas prices that average at or below $1.75.

Gasoline prices are driven mostly by four factors: oil prices, proximity to refineries, refinery capacity and state taxes and levies. Oil prices have dropped below $33 a barrel and continue to collapse.

Guardian: Is the Sun Setting on Ethanol as an Iowa Caucus Decider?

For decades, presidential candidates seeking to compete in the Iowa caucuses have dutifully pledged their support for the production and sale of ethanol.

This year could be different. While all three Democratic candidates for the White House have voiced their support for the corn-based biofuel and thus, they hope, garnered support from those who produce and profit from it, the Republican frontrunner in Iowa is adamantly opposed. And that could permanently change caucus politics.

Bloomberg: NRG Says States Should Consider Dropping RGGI

A major electric power company is bucking the trend in its industry and urging states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to consider abandoning the nine-state greenhouse-gas emissions trading program in favor of individual state approaches.

NRG Energy Inc., in formal comments submitted to RGGI as part of the program's ongoing review, said it favors a “state measures” approach for the nine RGGI states as a way to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan.

San Diego Union-Tribune: Gas Leak Will Cost SoCal Gas Billions

With ailing residents, displaced neighborhoods and a potential decline in property values, the leak at Southern California Gas’ Aliso Canyon storage facility could cost the utility billions of dollars, some legal experts say.

So far, SoCal Gas has spent more than $50 million combating the leak that began Oct. 23, according to a securities filing Thursday. More than 25 lawsuits have been lodged against the utility; “the cost of defending the lawsuits, and any damages, if awarded, could be significant,” the filing stated.

LA Times: Canadian Company Sues the Obama Admin. Over Keystone XL

The Canadian company that proposed a 2,639-mile cross-border pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast is suing the Obama administration for rejecting it last November.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston, Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. alleged that President Obama exceeded his constitutional power by denying construction of Keystone XL.

The lawsuit argues that the U.S. Constitution “expressly commits regulation of domestic and international commerce to Congress,” which had passed legislation authorizing the construction.