More than half of National Journal’s Energy & Environment Insiders argue that the industry will be buoyed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s approval of two new reactors last week.

With a divided Congress mired in election-year politics, the chances of any energy bills making it to President Obama’s desk this year are slim to none, most National Journal Energy and Environment Insiders say.

The political firestorm that erupted when solar-panel maker Solyndra defaulted on its federal loan is sure to affect clean-energy tax credits that are set to expire at the end of the year, an overwhelming majority of National Journal’s Energy and Environment Insiders say.

The Keystone XL pipeline is far from dead, National Journal’s Energy and Environment Insiders say.

Whoever wins the 2012 presidential election will have to take an active role in international climate change negotiations, according to many of National Journal’s Energy and Environment Insiders.

As the Republican presidential contest heats up, the candidates continue to focus on jobs, government spending, and taxes. Energy and environment issues have been a big part of that discussion, mostly in the form of criticism of President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency, questions about the administration’s loan-guarantee program that funded now-bankrupt Solyndra, and proposals to ramp up domestic drilling.

Despite intense lobbying from environmentalists and opposition from many in President Obama’s own party, virtually all National Journal Energy and Environment Insiders say that Obama’s State Department will approve a controversial 1,700-mile pipeline project to bring carbon-heavy tar-sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

The failure of federally backed solar energy startup Solyndra has cast a shadow over the renewable-energy industry, spurring congressional hearings and investigations by the FBI and Treasury Department. Some lawmakers are now asking whether the federal government should be backing energy projects at all when taxpayer money is ultimately at stake.

When President Obama shelved stricter environmental regulations for ground-level ozone until at least 2013, the administration said that delay was meant to alleviate regulatory pressures on a recovering economy. But former Vice President Al Gore accused Obama of “embracing” a scientifically outdated Bush-era environmental standard, and other critics said that the administration is caving to big polluters.

Many National Journal Energy and Environment Insiders say that President Obama’s retreat on environmental issues isn't over yet.

When President Obama announced a deal between the White House and automakers to dramatically increase fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks by 2025, some environmentalists said a built-in midterm review of the standards would give industry an escape clause that it might invoke.