As FT ES predicted last week,  in the wake of the healthcare act’s passage, a loosening of restrictions on US offshore drilling is likely to play a crucial part in Washington’s evolving climate bill. However, its effect on votes is by no means certain.

The New York Times reports the White House has already been briefing legislators about the plans, and President Obama is due to make a formal announcement later on Wednesday. The story confirms expectations that the long-standing moratorium on exploration will be lifted from an area extending from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida:

One of the investigations following the ‘climategate’ emails scandal has concluded that the CRU did not tamper with scientific information  – but stressed that climate scientists should routinely disclose their data and methodology.

The committee said the focus on Professor Phil Jones, the director of the CRU who has stood aside pending reviews into the matter, was ‘largely misplaced’, adding:

Whilst we are concerned that the disclosed e-mails suggest a blunt refusal to share scientific data and methodologies with others, we can sympathise with Professor Jones, who must have found it frustrating to handle requests for data that he knew—or perceived—were motivated by a desire simply to undermine his work.