Statistical highlights 4th Test: India vs Australia, Day 4

Adelaide:?Here are the statistical highlights of the fourth day's play between India and Australia in the Adelaide Test.

# Virat Kohli has become the first Indian to aggregate 300 runs (ave.37.50) in the 2011-12 series against Australia.

# Virender Sehwag (62) has posted his highest innings as captain, surpassing the 52 against Bangladesh at Chittagong in January 2010.

# In four Tests as captain, he has aggregated 253 at an average of 31.62, including two fifties.

# Sehwag enjoys an excellent record at Adelaide Oval, aggregating 388 at an average of 64.66 in three Tests, including a hundred and two fifties. Only Rahul Dravid has managed more runs than Sehwag for India at Adelaide - 401 at an average of 66.83, including a hundred and a fifty, in four Tests.?

# In his last 16 innings away from home, Sehwag has recorded just two fifties - 67 against Australia at Melbourne last month and 62 at Adelaide.

# In second team innings, Sehwag has completed his 2,000 runs - 2008 (ave.30.42) in 71 innings, including one hundred and 14 fifties.

# In first team innings, Sehwag is averaging 64.94 as compared to his average of 30.42 in second team innings.

# Sehwag has completed 1,000 runs against Australia in Australia - 1031 at an average of 46.86 in eleven Tests, including two hundreds and five fifties. His tally includes 83 runs for ICC World XI at SCG in October 2005.

# Sehwag's 62 off 53 balls is his tenth fifty against Australia - his 32nd in Tests.

# Sehwag and Gambhir, in their last 12 innings overseas, have totalled 182 runs for the first wicket at an average of 15.16 with 27 against South Africa at Cape Town in January 2011 as their highest stand.

# For the first time in a five Test series in Australia, Tendulkar has failed to post a hundred. He had recorded two hundreds each in 1991-92 and 2007-08 and one each in 1999-00 and 2003-04. Also, for the first time in a Test series, he has failed to record an average of 40. In the present series, he averaged 35.87 - 287 runs in eight innings, including two fifties.

# Sachin has averaged 32.60 in five Tests at Adelaide Oval - 326 runs in ten innings, including a hundred and a fifty. His average is the lowest amongst all Australian venues whereas he has appeared in atleast three Tests. (He has averaged 7.66 at Brisbane - 23 runs in three innings).

# Michael Clarke (37) took his tally to 626 at an average of 125.20 in the series, including a triple hundred and a double hundred. For the first time in a Test series, he has made 600 runs or more in a Test series.

# Clarke became the third Australian to manage 600 runs or more in a Test series against India. He has joined Sir Donald Bradman - 715 runs at an average of 178.75 in five Tests in 1947-48 and Ricky Pontng - 706 (ave.100.85) in four Tests in 2003-04.

# Clarke is the fourth captain to make 600 runs or more in a Test series against India. Apart from Don Bradman (as above), Graham Gooch (752 at 125.33 in three Tests in 1990) and Clive Lloyd (636 at 79.50 in five Tests in 1974-75) have touched 600 runs or more as captain in a Test series against India.

# Ricky Ponting became the first Australian to amass 500 runs or more in a Test series twice against India. In the present series, he has aggregated 544 at an average of 108.80 in six innings.

# Apart from aggregating 500 runs or more twice against India in a Test series, Ponting has managed this feat three times - 576 (ave.82.28) in five Tests against England in 2006-07, 523 (ave.130.75) in three Tests against the West Indies in 2003 and 515 (ave.103.00) in three Tests against South Africa in 2005-06.

# Clarke is averaging 198.00 in three Tests this year - 594 in four innings, including two hundreds.

# As captain, Clarke is averaging 63.78 in twelve Tests - 1212 runs, including five hundreds and a fifty. His strike rate of 64.46 is quite impressive.

# Clarke, as number five batsman, enjoys an impressive record in Tests - 4485 runs at an average of 60.60, in 82 innnings, including 16 hundreds and 16 fifties.

# Ponting (60 not out) has recorded his 61st fifty in Tests - his 12th against India.

# For the second time in a Test match, Ponting has posted a double hundred and a fifty - 221 & 60 not out - the first instance was against Pakistan at Hobart in January 2010 - 209 & 89.

# Ponting's match aggregate of 281 is his third highest in a Test match - the two highest being 298 (209 & 89) against Pakistan Hobart in January 2010 and 288 (257 & 31 not out) against India at Melbourne in 2003-04.

# Ponting's unbeaten 60 is his 102nd of fifty or more - 41 centuries and 61 fifties. Only Sachin Tendulkar has recorded more fifty-plus innings in Tests (116) - 51 centuries + 65 fifties.

# Ponting has become the first batsman to play 20 innings of fifty or more against India - 8 centuries and 12 fifties.

# Ponting's aggregate of 2555 at an average of 54.36 in 29 Tests is the highest by a batsman against India.

# In terms of averages, Ishant Sharma's performance against Australia is his worst - 5 wickets in four Tests at an average of 90.20. In terms of strike rate (150.6) also, his performance is the worst in a Test series.

# After 70 Tests, Michael Hussey has managed an average of fifty-plus - 5489 runs in 121 innings at an average of 50.82.

# Hussey has averaged 58.60 in the present series - 293 runs in six innings, including a hundred and a fifty.

# Ravichandran Ashwin has conceded 200 runs in a Test match for the first time - his figures being 73-8-267-5 - the fourth highest in a Test match for India. Anil Kumble had match figures of 88.5-15-279-12 in the 2003-04 Sydney Test - the most conceded by an Indian bowler in a Test match.

# In his last 14 innings away from home, Gambhir has posted just one fifty - his sequence of scores being 15, 22, 38, 14, 10 & 3 against England and 3, 13, 0, 83, 31, 14, 34 & 3 against Australia.

# Against England in 2011, Gambhir averaged 17.00 - 102 in six innings and 22.62 against Australia - 181 in eight innings.

# Nathan Lyon (3/57) has produced his best figures against India.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NdtvNews-TopStories/~3/RGNtbdj2wik/story01.htm

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DOS CANDENTES COMBATES AGREGADOS A LA TRANSMISI??N DE SHOWTIME ORTIZ-BERT?O II

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Old mortgages rise from dead, haunt homeowners

In July 2009, Roy and Sheila Bowers refinanced the mortgage on their suburban ranch home in Topeka, Kansas. The couple wanted to take advantage of the low interest rates that were all the rage at the time.

Roy, a truck driver, and Sheila, a former hotel housekeeping supervisor, knew their new loan from Wells Fargo would enable them to save $198.86 a month - a nice chunk to help with gas and groceries.

But what the Bowers never imagined was that their old loan, the one Wells Fargo told them was paid off, would resurrect itself, trashing their credit report, scotching their son's student loans and throwing the whole family into foreclosure. All, they say, even though they didn't miss a single mortgage payment.

The Bowers aren't alone.

More and more, homeowners say that mortgages they thought were dead and buried are springing back to life, sometimes haunting them all the way into foreclosure.

"It's the most egregious manifestation of an industry that's seriously broken," said Ira Rheingold, a lawyer who is the executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocate.

Foreclosures keep pushing house prices lower

Diane Thompson, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center, says she has defended hundreds of foreclosure cases, and in nearly all of them, the homeowner was not in default. "The record-keeping on the part of the mortgage servicers is not to be trusted."

The problems grew from a lot of sloppy recordkeeping that began during the housing boom, when Wall Street built a quick-and-dirty back-office operation to process mortgages quickly so lenders could sell as many loans as possible. As the loans were later sold to investors, and then resold around the world, the back office system sidestepped crucial legal procedures.

Now it's becoming clear just how dysfunctional and, according to several state attorneys general, how fraudulent the whole system was.

Depositions from "affidavit slaves" depict a surreal, assembly-line world in which the banks and their partner firms hired hair stylists, fast-food kids and Wal-Mart floor workers, paying them $10 a day, to pose as bank vice presidents, assistant secretaries and corporate attorneys.

These "robosigners" became a national sensation in the fall of 2010 when it was revealed that they faked titles, forged documents and backdated affidavits so they could make up for the bypassed procedures and foreclose on properties.

They passed around notary stamps as if they were salt. They did all of this, they testified, without verifying a single word in any of the documents - as is required by law.

And it was all done, they say, to foreclose on as many homeowners as fast as possible.

Ensnared in mortgage hell
No one collects statistics on wrongful foreclosures, or how many people are facing the phantom mortgage debts. But as the industry enters its fifth year of unwinding its mortgage morass, consumer groups, homeowner attorneys and foreclosure-fraud investigators say they are seeing more cases where people who don't owe the banks a dime are getting ensnared in the same hell as those who have missed payments.

They add that such problems are likely to intensify. Former industry employees have testified that they knowingly pushed through foreclosures on the wrong people.

It all casts a pall over a housing market in worse condition than it was during the Great Depression. By some estimates, 12.5 percent of U.S. homes with mortgages are either in foreclosure or the loans are at least 30 days past due, representing about $1 trillion in value.

"This is an epic problem that the economy hasn't even begun to digest," said Florida foreclosure analyst Lisa Epstein.

In some cases, mortgages that were supposed to die off in a refinancing are popping back up, while in others, the loans were paid in full. Homeowners who pay off their houses through bankruptcy programs are also falling prey.

So are homeowners who never even had a mortgage to begin with.

Homeowners say the banks' repo men sometimes even show up at work. Banks also hector them with threatening letters and phone calls. "It scared the hell out of him," said a Houston lawyer whose client was the target of such efforts. "He was absolutely spooked," lawyer Barry Brown said.

So was Shantell Curtis of Utah. She showed up at her accountant's office last year only to learn that she had been sued for foreclosure on a house she had sold years before. Bank of America reported the delinquency to credit bureaus, tarring Curtis's credit. It turned out the entire saga stemmed from a bank coding error. The amount the bank falsely alleged Curtis still owed on her mortgage? One dollar.

Vietnam vet Dwight Gaines fell behind on his payments on his Birmingham, Alabama, home. Gaines paid off his entire mortgage, plus all the fees and expenses he owed the bank in March 2010, as a part of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan. But Bank of America kept sending Gaines notices that he still owed $6,842.37. Nearly two years later, Gaines is still fighting the bank in court.

"In my experience, if I had not sued Bank of America, they would have eventually placed Mr. Gaines in foreclosure although he had completely paid his mortgage," said Gaines' lawyer, Wesley Phillips.

Bank of America spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens said the bank is working to resolve the Gaines situation. She also said that "these situations pre-date a review of our foreclosure procedures which took place in the fall of 2010. At the time, we identified areas of our process that needed to be improved, and we have been making those improvements."

Mounting pile of probes
The reincarnating mortgage is only the latest development in the megabanks' mortgage debacle, a scandal that has made them the target of a mounting pile of investigations and lawsuits. Though a settlement with most of the U.S. attorneys general may be imminent, a rogue group of AGs has peeled off to launch their own investigations.

One of those AGs, New York's Eric Schneiderman, is a part of the U.S. Justice Department task force announced by President Obama in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

Up until Obama's announcement, the federal government's response to the alleged financial misconduct was in the form of an independent review of the banks overseen by the federal Office of the Comptroller of Currency. But critics have labeled the OCC review as a farce rife with conflicts of interest.

The OCC spokesman, Bryan Hubbard, disputed that claim, saying the OCC has gone to great lengths to ensure that the independent consultants hired by the banks to review their procedures would report to regulators, not the banks. "During the selection process of the independent consultants and law firms, regulators rejected some proposed consultants and law firms to prevent conflicts of interest," said Hubbard.

Such reviews are supposed to gather information from homeowners like Jennifer Wilson, a former nursery school teacher from Philadelphia. Wilson settled a wrongful foreclosure case with Wells Fargo in June 2010. That month, court records show, Wells Fargo filed a satisfaction of mortgage document noting that the $8,000 loan on Wilson's home had been paid in full.

But more than a year later, on Dec. 8, 2011, Wilson, who is disabled and lives below the federal poverty line, answered her door to see a process servicer brandishing foreclosure warning papers from Wells Fargo. The bank's letter warned Wilson that she owed 57 months of late payments, plus expenses, totaling $18,407.55. If she did not pay within 30 days, the bank said, it would sue for foreclosure.

"I thought I'd been punked," said Wilson. Even more bizarrely, one day later, a different process server from a different company showed up on Wilson's door and handed over the exact same papers Wilson had received the day before.

"We see a lot of cases like this, where they are trying to collect even though there is no

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46145645/ns/business-real_estate/

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Bachmann says she'll seek 4th term in Congress (AP)

MINNEAPOLIS ? Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann swept aside doubts about her political future Wednesday, declaring less than a month after ending her presidential bid that she will seek a fourth term in Congress.

Bachmann's decision ended speculation she might be ready to move on from the House, perhaps leveraging her popularity among some conservatives into a career in talk media. Despite her high profile, Bachmann has been only a marginal player in Congress.

"I'm looking forward to coming back and bringing a strong, powerful voice to Washington, D.C.," Bachmann said in an interview with The Associated Press. She said a formal announcement would come later.

Unless redistricting radically changes Minnesota's Republican-leaning 6th District, Bachmann figures to be a heavy favorite. Other Republican hopefuls had stood aside awaiting her decision. No Democrats have yet declared for the race.

Bachmann is a potent fundraiser who brought in $13.5 million in her last House race, but she likely would start from scratch after the presidential campaign. A campaign finance report that would show how much money she can bring to the race isn't due until the end of the month.

Ken Martin, chairman of Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer Labor Party, said Bachmann's announcement wasn't a surprise. He said Democrats would attack Bachmann for being absent from the district and for missing votes in Washington during months chasing the presidential nomination.

"Anyone who thinks that they're unbeatable is fooling themselves, and particularly once you hand us these issues on a silver platter," Martin said.

Martin said he's talked with several potential candidates who were waiting for a special redistricting panel to issue new maps late next month. He said some also were waiting for Bachmann's decision.

David Fitzsimmons, 6th District chairman for Minnesota's Republican Party, said Democrats "put a lot of resources and a lot of energy" into three previous high-profile candidates against Bachmann without seeming to make much of a dent.

"We're very happy and excited in the 6th to have her running again as congresswoman," Fitzsimmons said.

Bachmann captured some early momentum in the chase for the GOP presidential nomination by winning the Iowa straw poll in midsummer, but she eventually faded. Bachmann said she will not be working for any GOP candidate still in the race ahead of Minnesota's caucuses Feb. 7.

Bachmann also addressed President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech. As she did on the campaign trail, Bachmann criticized Obama for "doubling down on failures that didn't work."

She said she "chose to lay everything on the line this last year" because she saw a better way.

"I know how to create jobs and I am a job creator," Bachmann said. "I do have a formula for success. I have lived that formula. ... We need that voice here in Congress."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_el_ho/us_bachmann_house

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Jorge Posada: 17 seasons, 5 titles and 1 team

New York Yankees baseball player Jorge Posada smiles while standing behind five World Series trophies he helped to win during a news conference to announce his retirement at Yankee Stadium in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees baseball player Jorge Posada smiles while standing behind five World Series trophies he helped to win during a news conference to announce his retirement at Yankee Stadium in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees baseball player Jorge Posada, center, is flanked by teammates Mariano Rivera, left, and Derek Jeter, while standing behind five World Series trophies during a news conference to announce his retirement at Yankee Stadium in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees baseball player Jorge Posada becomes emotional during a news conference where he announced his retirement, at Yankee Stadium in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees baseball player Jorge Posada, second from left, sits with his family, wife Laura Posada, second from right, and his children Paulina Posada, left, and Jorge Posda Jr., during a news conference to announce his retirement at Yankee Stadium in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees baseball player Jorge Posada becomes emotional during a news conference where he announced his retirement, at Yankee Stadium in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Jorge Posada was watching television when he saw speculation on which teams were interested in signing him as a free agent.

"They put my face on different uniforms," he said. "And it didn't look good."

He began a Yankee and ended as a Yankee, spending his entire career in pinstripes.

Flanked by his wife and children, with five World Series trophies sitting on a table to his right, the five-time All-Star catcher retired at age 40 on Tuesday after 17 major league seasons. He finished with a .273 career batting average, 275 home runs and 1,065 RBIs.

At a crowded Yankee Stadium news conference, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and CC Sabathia were among those who watched Posada fight off tears as he sat on a dais with wife, Laura, 12-year-old son Jorge Jr. and 9-year-old daughter Paulina. It was clear the rest of the family also wanted to be Yankees lifers.

"This is so cool," Paulina said to her dad as she picked up the cardboard in front of her seat with her name and the famous interlocking "NY" logo. "I'm going to keep this."

Posada joins Bernie Williams and Andy Pettitte in retirement, leaving only the 37-year-old Jeter and 42-year-old Rivera from the core group that led the Yankees to four World Series titles in five years from 1996-2000.

"Mariano said this is it. He says one more year. But Derek says he's got like three more to go. So we'll see," Posada said, adding he didn't expect the great closer to quit after next season.

"I don't think about it right now. But the time will come," Rivera said. "Definitely the time will come when I'll have to just admit it and hang (up) the glove and the uniform and move on. We all go through that."

Jeter, the Yankees' captain and leader, expects to outlast Rivera.

"Mo's still got to go first. He's a lot older than me," he said before adding with a laugh: "Mo's going to be here longer than all of us."

Shrieking at success and fuming over failure, Posada often was nuclear fission at the center of the Yankees and what became known as the Core Four. While Jeter and Rivera rarely reveals their feelings, and Pettitte does only on occasion, Posada has been a passionate open window into the Yankees, praising, strutting, venting and battling.

"We feel the same way; I'm just better at hiding it. But we feel the same way inside, and I think that's why we've gotten along so well throughout the years," said Jeter, who first played alongside Posada in the minors in 1992.

He has called him "Posado" for years, even since late Yankee Stadium announcer Bob Sheppard mispronounced his name when he pinch ran for Wade Boggs in Game 2 of the 1995 AL playoffs.

In the same room where Pettitte announced his retirement 11? months ago, select season ticket holders were invited to sit in the audience.

Posada talked with great fervor about the team that drafted him on the 24th round in 1991.

"Every time I step through the Yankee Stadium doors," he began, "I quoted Joe DiMaggio and said, I want to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee."

"I could never wear another uniform," he said. "I will forever be a Yankee."

Posada's voice broke up, especially when he spoke in Spanish. He thanked his teammates, rubbing his chin three times and wiping his eyes. He called Rivera "my brother" and praised Jeter "who helped me stay focused and positive."

"Hopefully you won't miss me that much," he said.

Diana Munson, wife of the late Yankees catcher Thurman Munson, spoke admiringly of Posada, who kept a quote from her husband in his locker: "Batting fourth and being in the lineup is important, but I think the stuff I do behind the plate is more important." One day at Yankee Stadium, Posada sat next to her and told her about his admiration for the former captain, who died in a plane crash when Posada was 7. She wound up following Posada in the box scores.

"He in fact is the one who brought me back to baseball again. After losing Thurman, I kind of lost my heart for baseball," she said. "He plays the game I think the way Thurman played it: a lot of grittiness, lot of toughness. ... I think he and Thurman would have been best buds. He definitely has the it factor. I can't describe it. I don't know what it is. But I knew immediately upon meeting him that he had it, and I think the Yankee fans also have realized that, and I imagine they're as sad today as we all are."

She was followed by a video of fan tributes and by Lisa and Brett Niederer from Bristol, Wis. She talked about the Jorge Posada Foundation and its emotional support and financial assistance to families affected by craniosynostosis, a disease that causes bones in the skull to fuse prematurely.

Jorge Jr. has had nine operations, and Lisa Niederer was watching on television when the father and son went onto the field together during the introductions for the 1992 All-Star game. Brett, then 2?, was diagnosed the disease around the start of that year, and they talked about the Posada family's assistance.

"I knew we were not alone anymore," said Lisa, who has become a mentor for the foundation.

When the focus returned to baseball, Posada recalled how he started his professional career as a shortstop, was moved to second base and was asked by the Yankees to move to catcher after the 1991 season.

"I felt like it was the worst decision ever," he said, remembering all the passed balls he allowed while catching top draft pick Brien Taylor. "It was not a pretty sight."

He went on to have one of the better offensive careers by a catcher. The switch-hitting Posada made the decision to retire during a season that turned tumultuous May 14 when he was batting .165 and was dropped to No. 9 in the batting order against Boston. He asked to be taken out of the lineup, saying he wasn't ready to play.

Posada rallied to hit .268 for the rest of the season, leaving him with a .235 average, 14 homers and 44 RBIs. And then on Sept. 21, his two-run pinch-hit single beat Tampa Bay to clinch the AL East and earn another huge ovation. He hit .429 (6 for 14) in the five-game loss to Detroit in the division series.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi and general manager Brian Cashman said that was just a blip in his career ? part of Posada's fiery disposition, the one that drew fans to him, one that he may take with him into coaching or managing ? after the Yankees likely honor him with a tribute this year.

That nature caused him to tell his agents not to negotiate with other teams.

"They kept saying that people are asking about you," Posada said. "I'm like ? not interested."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-24-BBA-Yankees-Posada-Retires/id-86fd7d90c4924588859c01e9b6769f2a

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Star Jones making guest appearance on 'The View' (AP)

NEW YORK ? Apparently enough water has flowed under the bridge for Barbara Walters and Star Jones to reunite for a day.

"The View" announced on Wednesday that Jones will appear on the daytime talk show on Feb. 22 to promote an awareness campaign about heart disease among women.

Walters and Jones had a falling out in 2006 when Jones, one of the five original co-hosts of the daytime chat show, exited "The View." ABC decided not to renew her contract and Jones took Walters by surprise by announcing on June 27 that she would be leaving the show.

That exit came more quickly than expected. Walters wouldn't allow her back the next day.

Walters later said that Jones had compelled her co-hosts to lie for her by not revealing that Jones had undergone gastric bypass surgery while on "The View." Jones took her own shots, criticizing Walters for writing an autobiography that revealed details of an affair.

The women later had something serious in common. Both underwent open heart surgery to repair faulty heart valves within two months of each other in 2010.

Jones is coming back to the show to discuss her involvement in the American Heart Association's "Go Red for Women" public information campaign. Women are asked to wear red on Feb. 3 to support heart patients.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_en_ot/us_people_star_jones

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Obama backs shale gas drilling (Reuters)

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged support for the U.S. shale gas boom, but said government must focus on safe development of the energy resource.

In his State of the Union address, Obama called for government to develop a roadmap for responsible shale gas production and said his administration would move forward with "common-sense" new rules to make sure drillers protect the public.

"America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk," Obama said.

Obama's proposals on natural gas were similar to previous administration comments, and would do little to satisfy oil and gas industry backers who argue that the federal government needs to stay out of the way of burgeoning shale development.

Some industry groups had hoped Obama might streamline government oversight or offer specific plans to increase access for oil and gas drilling.

Instead, Obama pressed again for ending tax breaks for the oil and gas industry in his speech, something he has pushed for repeatedly without success.

The American Petroleum Institute, the top oil and gas lobbying group, said the policies Obama promoted in his speech are at odds with expanding energy output.

"It's a contradiction because he calls for further regulation that will slow down the production of energy and then increasing costs by raising taxes," said the institute's president, Jack Gerard.

Chris Jarvis, president of Caprock Risk Management in Rye, New Hampshire, said Obama avoided tackling key issues regarding natural gas, such as switching to using more gas in transportation.

"He was basically using his discussion on energy to deflect away from his critics versus really doing major changes with the U.S. energy sector and natural gas," Jarvis said.

SHALE GAS REVOLUTION

Improvements in drilling techniques have transformed the U.S. energy landscape in recent years by unlocking the country's immense shale oil and gas reserves.

But the drilling boom has raised concerns about the safety of natural gas extraction techniques like hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which environmentalists say could pollute water supplies.

Still, with fracking mostly exempt from federal oversight and most shale gas production occurring on private lands, the Obama administration is limited in its authority over the practice.

Obama said the administration would move forward with rules that would require companies to disclose chemicals used during the fracking process on public lands.

In wide-ranging comments about the energy industry, Obama also said he would direct his administration to open 75 percent of the country's potential offshore oil and gas resources to drilling.

This proposal would be carried out in the latest offshore drilling plan released by the Interior Department in November.

PROMOTING CLEAN ENERGY

Obama strongly defended his record in investing in renewable energy.

The high profile collapse of solar-panel maker Solyndra last year - after the company received $535 million in loan aid from the administration - led critics to argue that government should not be in the business of backing energy companies.

"Some technologies don't pan out; some companies fail," Obama said. "But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy ... I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here."

Though Congress failed to move on a proposal he put forward last year to set a target for power plants to produce mostly clean electricity by 2035, Obama said the administration would establish zones to develop 10 gigawatts of solar and wind power projects on public lands.

In addition, the Defense Department will purchase one gigawatt of renewable energy, with the Navy purchasing enough capacity to power a quarter of a million homes a year.

(Additional reporting by Eileen Houlihan; Editing by David Storey and Eric Beech)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/ts_nm/us_usa_obama_speech_energy

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