The U.S. House of Representatives appears to be fast-tracking U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge’s bill (HR6334) to crack down on any oil market manipulation or excessive speculation that might be going on in the energy commodities markets.

Etheridge introduced his bill Friday. He held a news conference on it today. Tomorrow, the House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing. Then a committee vote. A vote on the full House floor could come as soon as Wednesday.

Such speed is virtually unheard of in Congress unless leadership wants to push something through quickly, Barb Barrett reports. With gas prices jumping an average 10 cents a gallon in the past two weeks, Congress is working hard to prove that it is responding to public outcry.

It’s unclear what effect Etheridge’s bill might have on oil prices.

But over in another House committee hearing today, oil trading experts predicted that regulation could have an immediate impact on prices.

One oil analyst told Congress that global crude oil trading regulation "would significantly curb speculation and could burst the current oil price bubble."

A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, a Democrat.

Coal-fired power plants are the primary contributors to global warming.

A blogger challenged that statement in a story in Thursday's paper, so we came up with some data to back it up.

There are several ways to slice the data. Petroleum is actually the biggest man-made source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, with coal a close second.

But petroleum is used in many different forms, including transportation and heating, while coal is almost exclusively used in power plants.

And coal-fired power plants produce more carbon dioxide than motor gasoline.

More details after the jump.

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