Energy

U.S. Rep. Peter H. Kostmayer has assumed the chairmanship of the House Interior subcommittee on energy and the environment, a position that could broaden his influence over national energy policy and critical environmental issues facing Bucks County. Members of Congress are allowed to chair only one subcommittee, so Kostmayer is giving up his chairmanship of the subcommittee on general oversight and investigations. He called his move to the energy and environment panel "a step up. This is a subcommittee which is going to be very deeply involved in the writing of a national energy policy over the next two years," Kostmayer said.

Eagles defensive lineman Mike Golic catches a little rest on top of some mats at Veterans Stadium before practicing for Sunday's game against the Redskins in Washington.

THE Daily News Pets of the Week are Gina (top, in photo) and Nino, 3-month-old brother-and-sister pitbull-mix puppies at the Pennsylvania SPCA. Gina and Nino were brought to the shelter along with three of their siblings because their owner couldn't take care of them. They're full of energy. The adoption fee of $125 for each puppy includes vaccinations, spaying or neutering and a month of pet insurance. For more information on Gina and Nino, contact the PSPCA, 215-426-6300, stop by 350 E. Erie Ave., or visit the website at www.pspca.org .

I had my first taste of gasoline the other day. Well, to be honest, it shot down my throat so fast (through the hose I was using as a siphon) that I didn't actually have time to savor it. However, over the next 24 hours, I had a small sense of what the fish, fowl, and other fauna of the Gulf of Mexico must be experiencing. Like many Americans, I have watched in horror as the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon explosion has unfolded. But once I have heard enough bad news for a day, I turn off the television or put down the paper and go back to my comfortable, energy-intensive lifestyle.

Flamenco Ole's performance at the Movement Theatre International Saturday night emitted a fiery energy. Graceful hand gestures and staccato foot stomps make flamenco a uniquely subtle and symbolic style of dance. Add a guitarist - playing sounds from gently lyrical to full-throttle strum - to accompany and punctuate these movements. On Saturday, a hand drummer provided extra accents. A male singer's plaintive vocals embodied the soulfulness of a cantorial chant joined with the theatrical passion of an operatic aria.

He's going to be a firefighter, or maybe a police officer, when he grows up. Jimmy isn't quite sure what his career will be, but the 10-year-old is determined that it will involve helping people. For now, his efforts include working in the yard with his foster father, assisting his teacher by passing out and collecting papers, and patiently explaining the intricacies of math, his favorite subject, to some of his fellow students. Full of energy, Jimmy enjoys many activities - outdoor sports, bike riding, arts and crafts, and playing video games.

When the social worker comes to visit Andrew, he runs to her for a hug and bubbles over with the latest news. "See my muscle?" he proudly asks. "See how tall I am?" (He weighs 82 pounds and is 4 feet tall.) "He's full of energy" the worker reports, "and not withdrawn as he could be with his background. "Though Andrew, 9, has neglect and abuse in his past, he has made a good adjustment in his foster home," his worker says, "and he would do well in a family with an older or younger child so he could get individual attention.

A pickup game of basketball can be organized in short order for Elymas, 13, since he lives in a residential center with eight other boys. They ride bikes around a field in back of the house, too, and play kickball and football and go roller-skating. Elymas' favorite sport is soccer. Whether he's defending the goal or scoring, he plays as hard as he can. Indoors, he builds model airplanes, and has shown skill in taking stereos and handheld fans apart and reassembling them.

Rennie Harris' Awe-Inspiring Work RHAW is considered the forward-looking training company to Harris' legacy company Puremovement, which brought hip-hop dance into theatrical space. All of RHAW's members are under 21 and a talented few will make it to Puremovement. But despite the focus on the future, to company manager Rodney Hill, RHAW feels retro. The dancers "take you back to the parties and the dances of way back," Hill said about group's youthful energy and enthusiasm for movement.

It was a little noisier at Soul practice on Wednesday morning, and the coaches couldn't have been happier. Wide receiver Donovan Morgan was back for his first day of on-field work since fracturing his left wrist on April 1. "Sitting out was very difficult," said Morgan, who chatted up and encouraged teammates as usual during practice. "It was like seeing your troops go to battle, and you're not able to go out on the front lines and be there with them. "I'm one of those guys that wants to be on the front lines with my troops and lead the way. Sitting on the sidelines was killing me. " Morgan, a team captain and the most popular player among fans, had 23 catches and eight touchdowns in two-plus games before he was injured.

Two years after it was created by City Council, the Philadelphia Energy Authority hits the public stage on Wednesday looking for a few good ideas about saving energy. The five-member authority is holding a public hearing to gather suggestions on ways to fulfill its mission of reducing city government's energy consumption and to facilitate the development of renewable energy projects. "We're looking for great ideas," said Christopher A. Lewis, a Blank Rome law partner who is the authority's chairman.

The development of Canada's tar sands and North Dakota's Bakken oil shale region have profoundly transformed the U.S. energy landscape. U.S. and Canadian oil production has risen 11 percent since 2010 and could rise by as much as 50 percent over the next decade. More plentiful North American supply has lowered costs for some U.S. refineries, but mainly in places such as Oklahoma and Illinois, where it can be shipped via the Keystone pipeline. But there are no pipelines to carry this oil to the U.S. coastal refining hubs.

Good thing my clothes can't feel anything or talk. If they could, they'd surely berate me. I used to bathe them in nice warm water. These days, they're thrashing about in cold. From my viewpoint, it's all good. Cold water means they don't shrink, they don't fade, I save money by not using hot water, and — more to the point of this column — I'm helping the environment by not using as much electricity. According to most estimates, heating the water accounts for about 80 to 85 percent of the energy consumed by a typical batch of laundry.

The risks of owning natural-gas stocks in your portfolio flared with the recent news that Chesapeake Energy's chairman had taken out more than $1 billion in undisclosed loans using company wells as his collateral. Natural gas has proved a frustrating conundrum for investors. For years, the prices of natural gas and crude oil traded together — both up and down. But that tandem relationship broke down in late 2008. Oil prices skyrocketed to more than $100 a barrel, but natural gas plummeted roughly 45 percent just this year, to $2 per MBtu (1,000 Btus)

TRENTON - Fishermen's Energy, the company likely closest to placing wind turbines off the coast of New Jersey, is seeking more time to file an amended application with state regulators after harsh criticism of its initial proposal by consultants. The extension request by Cape May-based Fishermen's Energy is to be taken up Wednesday by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. The company wants to put five or six turbines 2.8 miles off the coast of Atlantic City in a $200 million, 25-megawatt project intended to provide enough electricity to power 10,000 homes.

By Llewellyn King When the Obama administration seeks to explain its oil policy, it changes the subject mid-sentence. The most frequent practitioner of this verbal contortion is the president's press secretary, Jay Carney. It is as though he's a magician who has promised to pull a live rabbit from his top hat. This conjurer stands before his audience, recites some incantations and, poof, retrieves not a live rabbit, but a dead chicken. Carney, like others in the administration, starts talking about oil and switches to talking about "alternatives.

WASHINGTON - With gasoline prices high at the pump and on voters' list of complaints, President Obama on Wednesday began a two-day, four-state trip to bring to life what he calls his "all of the above" agenda to foster alternative energy sources as well as oil and gas. Obama hopscotched Wednesday from Nevada, and the desert site of the nation's largest solar photovoltaic power plant, to New Mexico to see oil and gas drilling rigs on federal lands...

JERMAINE Perry Alexander Jr. loved dirt bikes. He loved riding and working on them, and even though he was only 14, he worked at a mechanic shop near his home. He was riding his dirt bike at Frankford Avenue and Butler Street in Frankford on the afternoon of March 13 when it collided with a minivan. He was pronounced dead at the scene. "He was loved by everyone who knew him," his family said. "He had a beautiful smile and a loving personality. He was full of energy and life.

YOU AIN'T heard nothing like "rockjazz" musician ELEW - the torrent of power and passion kicking out the jams tonight for the "Live from Loews" (hotel) monthly concert series. The press release bills it as an "intimate live performance. " Don't they know what they're really getting here? Standing/dancing at his Yamaha piano, with legs fanned out like a sumo wrestler and arms encrusted with metallic "vambrace" armor, the man truly attacks his keyboard. The left hand pounds bass lines with such fervor you'll never notice there's no drummer.