Pakistan - Plea moved against officials liable for load shedding

LAHORE: Advocate Tariq Aziz Malik on Saturday moved a petition before the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking action against the officials who were responsible for load shedding in the country. The petitioner said that load shedding had adversely affected every walk of life and people were even forced to commit suicide. He said that the president, prime minister and parliamentarians had failed to abide by their oath and work for well-being and prosperity of the country. He said that the previous government was being held responsible for the load shedding and if it was true, former president Pervez Musharraf and former prime minister Shaukat Aziz should be summoned to explain the reasons for the load shedding and why they had failed to deliver.

Pakistan - Cuts in power, gas supply to CNG (compressed natural gas) stations lands motorists in mess

“There is no law in the country; the rulers have just confined themselves to issuing short-term decisions every day. Gas and power load shedding was started this year but nobody bothered about communicating it to the residents. Likewise, the recent decision of closing the CNG stations from 6pm to 6am was never communicated to the people, landing them in a serious mess,” said Ahmed, a motorist.

“The government first launched a nationwide campaign to encourage the use of CNG and now when most of the vehicles had converted to CNG, it was not only unable to manage the gas supply, but also discouraging the use of CNG by increasing its price, said Shehzad Ahmed, a resident.

Does the country need a big gas tax? - Jan. 9, 2009

"What's at stake is whether or not America is going to be the winner in the next, great global industry," John Doerr, a venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins, told Congress Wednesday that higher fossil fuel prices are, among other things, essential if the U.S. is going to develop renewable industries.
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Still, a carbon tax has attracted scant supporters in Congress.

When Rep. Peter Stark (D-Calif.) proposed one last year, it attracted a total of three co-sponsors among the 435 House members.

"I know it's widely popular and makes a lot of sense to economists and academics," said one Democrat Senate staffer. "But unless a member of Congress was considering early retirement, it's not an approach they would consider on the Hill. It's political suicide."