As rising oil prices continue to grab headlines, the spotlight turns to what politicians are and aren’t doing to solve our energy problems.

• David Roberts at Gristmill is outraged that Senator McCain will miss the vote on the Climate Security Act (true to his pattern of missing 2007 environmental votes).
• Also at Gristmill, Kate Sheppard  reports on the Investing in Climate Action and Protection Act just unveiled by Representative Ed Markey.
• And with yet another Gristmill post, James Hansen takes three “Governors Greenwash” to task over their failure to deal appropriately with coal-burning plants in their states.
• Gina-Marie Cheesman at Triple Pundit describes the oil subsidies that Representative Jay Inslee and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decry.
• Andrew Leonard at How the World Works has little sympathy for the corn-state Senators who are bemoaning the vilification of ethanol.
• Keith Johnson at Environmental Capital brings us news of a very uncharacteristic action from the White House: President Bush is close to designating an unprecedented amount of ocean and coastal area as marine monuments, which would put their oil deposits off-limits.

And in other climate-related matters, Kaid Benfield at NRDC’s Switchboard considers the prospects for the suburban mess that is Tysons Corner turning into a model of smart growth, and Ryan Avent at The Bellows explains some of the factors behind a new ranking of 100 metro areas’ carbon footprints.

Elsewhere:

 

Robert McClure at Dateline Earth alerts us to a new USDA report on climate change’s impacts on agriculture, water resources, and biodiversity.

John Astad at OSHA Underground highlights a spate of recent combustible dust explosions, and factors that allow this problem to persist.

Niko Karvounis at Health Beat delves into the implications of Riegel v. Medtronic, which preempts liability lawsuits over medical devices.

Sarah Seltzer at RH Reality Check describes several projects using new media tools to communicate sexual health information.

Merrill Goozner at GoozNews looks at the debate going on in medical journals about the cost-effectiveness of prevention.

Sarah Rubenstein at WSJ’s Health Blog explains why young adults go without health insurance.

Aman at Technology, Health & Development profiles Aravind Eye Care System of Tamil Nadu, which serves hundreds of thousands of patients with the goal of eradicating blindness (much of it due to cataracts) in developing regions – and which has won the 2008 Global Health Council Gates Award.