Power Vote

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates - the first and third richest men in the world - quietly toured Canadian Natural Resources Ltd's Horizon oil sands project near Fort McMurray, Alberta, this week. Greg Stringham, vice-president at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, says the two men asked the industry body to give a general overview of the oil sands and Canada's position in the energy world.

Also of note: The area the men toured is a part of Alberta known as the place where a two-headed fish was recently caught.

This week, Al Jazeera's Inside USA traveled to the coal mines of Illinois to look at America's dependence on coal, and the politics behind the fossil fuel. It's evident that just below the surface of this election campaign runs a deep seam of coal. Half of America's electricity is generated by coal; an amount that produces 40 percent of the country's greenhouse gases. Leading climate scientists have called for a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants, saying that addressing global warming means addressing America's dependence on coal.

Nearly 100 field staff who will be running Power Vote on behalf of Energy Action Coalition members have descended on St. Paul, Minnesota today to begin a week of training and with the nationally renowned Wellstone Action (www.wellstone.org).

"Energy crisis solved! I’ll see you at the debates, bitches.”

While acknowledging that offshore drilling wouldn't produce a "drop of oil for 10 years", Obama reversed his stance on the controversial issue while speaking in Florida.