Declining gasoline prices have taken some of the punch out of the political stump speech that revolves around U.S. oil independence, observers said. "Falling gas prices takes a lot of starch out of the political rhetoric," energy journalist Robert Bryce told the Christian Science Monitor Monday.

By Erika Bolstad, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Jun. 12--WASHINGTON -- As Congress has debated energy policy over the past several days, an unusual argument keeps surfacing in support of drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

By Jane Bussey, The Miami Herald Jun. 15--Former oil executive Jorge Pinon predicted Wednesday that petroleum supplies would be problematic for Cuba for years to come -- even though oil experts believe the country potentially has large reserves.