Obama Climate Adviser Browner to Step Down

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's top adviser on energy and climate matters is stepping down, two White House officials confirmed Monday. The departure of Carol Browner underscores any prospects for a major White House push on climate change, given that such efforts have little chance of succeeding on Capitol Hill.

Browner, a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator under President Bill Clinton, will be leaving the White House just as Republicans in Congress prepare to take on the Obama administration over global warming and the administration's response to the massive Gulf oil spill.

Browner successfully helped negotiate a deal with automakers boosting federal fuel economy standards and requiring the first-ever greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles. She also pushed for billions of dollars for renewable energy in the economic stimulus bill.

But the administration fell short on it key domestic priority of passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill to place a firm limit on the pollution blamed for global warming. Just after the November elections, which gave Republicans a majority of seats in the House, Obama admitted the legislation was dead.

One White House official said Monday that Browner was "confident that the mission of her office will remain critical to the president." The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Browner was "pleased" with the clean energy commitment Obama would lay out in his State of the Union address Tuesday and in his budget request.

Scott Segal, an energy lobbyist with Bracewell & Giuliani, said Browner's exit could "be a part of a legitimate effort to pay careful attention to addressing some of the real regulatory obstacles in the way of job creation."

Besides regulations to curb global warming, industry groups -- and Republicans on Capitol Hill -- are questioning a host of EPA rules targeting other air pollutants as job killers that will increase the costs of doing business.

And recently Browner's office had come under scrutiny for politicizing the response to the massive Gulf oil spill. The commission set up by Obama to investigate the disaster said Browner misconstrued on national television the findings of a federal scientific report by saying most of the oil was gone. The White House later said she misspoke.

Browner's office also has been criticized by the presidential panel for editing an Interior Department document in a manner that implied scientists supported the administration's decision to place a moratorium on deep water drilling. The commission found no evidence that the change made was intentional, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar later apologized for the misunderstanding.

Browner's resignation comes amid a series of high-profile staff changes in Obama's White House.

The president has brought in a new chief of staff, Bill Daley, and is zeroing in on the choice of a new press secretary to replace the departing Robert Gibbs. Senior adviser David Axelrod is leaving the White House to focus on Obama's re-election, and both of Obama's deputy chiefs of staff are also leaving.

Staff members who are considering a change have been told to make their moves now or plan to stay for the remaining two years of Obama's term to ensure continuity.

Yeddyurappa's act immoral but not illegal: Gadkari

Beijing: Accusing Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj of foisting cases against B S Yeddyurappa, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari has said the chief minister has not committed any "illegal act" in allotment of plots even though denotifying land in favour of his son was "immoral" and "not proper."

Commenting on Bhardwaj's decision to sanction prosecution against Yeddyurappa, Gadkari, who is in China on a five-day visit, told the Indian media in Beijing that denotification of land is the privilege of the chief minister, which was exercised by many of Yeddyurappa's predecessors.

"Denotification of land is a privilege and the right of chief minister given by law. Nothing is wrong with it. Before Yeddyurappa, (former chief ministers H D) Kumarasamy, Dharma Singh and S M Krishna exercised it several times. The Governor has not taken action against them because they belonged to Congress Party," he said.

"Only thing is that BJP and I personally feel that denotifying land for his (chief minister's) son, though it is a legal decision, on the ground of morality, I think it is not good. It is not proper and immoral I think...," he said.

If it is illegal why the government has not taken action against the previous chief ministers? he asked.

Gadkari alleged the Governor's decision was politically motivated and that he was working under the directives of Congress.

The BJP demands his recall as he has already crossed the limits, he said.

It is total discrimination, Gadkari said, claiming that many number of cases filed against Yeddyurappa are politically motivated.

"They are misusing the institution of Governor and creating problems for democracy in the country. It is unfortunate that the institution of Governor is diluted in such a way that people have lost faith," he said.

Jagan to fast against Krishna water distribution verdict

Former Congress MP Jagan Mohan Reddy arrived in Delhi on Tuesday morning to hold a one-day protest fast to highlight the plight of Andhra Pradesh farmers and oppose the Krishna water dispute tribunal verdict.
Former Andhra chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy's son is apparently set to embarrass the Congress yet again by his latest move as he reached the national capital with 1,500 farmers in a special train from Secunderabad.

The former Kadapa MP would sit on a fast at Jantar Mantar. Over half-a-dozen Congress MLAs, who have been loyal to Jagan, would also participate in the hunger strike, while more leaders were on their way to Delhi to join the young leader.

Jagan's fast is to highlight the adverse impact of Krishna water dispute tribunal verdict on Andhra Pradesh and the farmers residing around the Krishna delta.

Jagan and Congress have been at loggerheads ever since the death of his father. He recently resigned as the Lok Sabha Member and quit Congress alleging humiliation by the party high command.

India Starts Looking Beyond Iran for Oil

SINGAPORE – India's largest buyer of Iranian crude is scouting for alternative supplies from the spot market to pre-empt a possible disruption in shipments from Iran after India's central bank closed a longstanding payment route for such transactions.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd., which buys more than half of its crude oil from Iran, has issued three spot tenders in as many days, the latest for loading as early as next month.

A motorcyclist filled up his vehicle with petrol in New Delhi, June 4, 2008.he flurry of tenders will likely boost sentiment for the heavier, high-sulfur grades from the Middle East, whose premiums are declining in the spot market due to weak fuel oil margins.

While both New Delhi and Tehran could be hard pressed to find an early resolution, there's greater pressure on Iran, which has been increasingly isolated from its customers due to trade restrictions and sanctions aimed at slowing down its nuclear program.

For now, crude supplies from Iran appear normal, and both countries are trying to hammer out an alternative mechanism to continue trade after the Reserve Bank of India, the country's central bank, last week said all trade-related transactions with Tehran had to be done outside the Asian Clearing Union, used by Indian refiners to pay for Iranian crude.

"But there's no guarantee (that normal supplies) will continue," a senior MRPL executive told Dow Jones Newswires. MRPL had one crude cargo scheduled for loading from Iran on Wednesday.

A senior Indian official Tuesday said Iran has proposed a temporary payment channel through a bank based in Germany and has said that it will continue usual shipments of crude oil to Indian refiners in January.

Although the United Nations sanctions don't ban countries from buying crude from Iran, difficulties in financing such transactions have limited the number of trade partners. This has forced Iran to store large quantities of unsold crude oil in tankers, about 21.7 million barrels as of the end of November, the International Energy Agency said recently.

Iran remains India's second biggest crude supplier after Saudi Arabia.

A slew of spot tenders from MRPL has taken the regional market by surprise because of the prompt nature of deliveries sought by MRPL. Its latest tender seeks 650,000 barrels of high-sulfur crude--the kind it normally buys from Iran--for loading in February, when trade for Middle East crude is moving on to March-loading cargoes.

"It's a question of how many such prompt cargoes are available," said a Singapore-based crude oil trader.

It remains to be seen if other Indian refiners will follow suit in seeking spot cargoes.

Unlike MRPL, which gets more than half its supplies from Iran, other larger Indian refiners are less susceptible to any possible supply disruptions.

"We buy six to eight cargoes from Iran a month. I can't make it up all from the spot market, but we are keeping ready in case of any disruptions," the MRPL executive said. "We can decide to buy some or all of the cargoes being sought."