WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The political goal is the same as it was in the mid-1980s: grassroots support for an overhaul of the U.S. tax code. But lawmakers' approach this time is thoroughly modern.

The chairmen of Congress's tax-writing committees on Thursday launched a website they hope will boost public support for overhauling the tax code in the same way that a "Write Rosty" letter-writing campaign did a quarter-century ago.

TaxReform.gov, created by U.S. Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat, and Representative Dave Camp, a Republican, asks Americans to share their stories and ideas about tax reform.

The site's home page heading says, "Comprehensive Tax Reform: building a tax code for the 21st century."

The U.S. tax code has not been revamped since 1986. The last successful effort was led by Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democratic Representative Dan Rostenkowski, who held the position Camp holds today.

As chairman of the tax-writing House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, Rostenkowski asked the public to "Write Rosty" if they backed his effort to reform the tax code along with Reagan. More than 75,000 letters to Rostenkowski poured in.

Camp has vowed to move a tax reform bill out of Ways and Means this year. Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has said he wants to spend much of the remaining time before his 2014 retirement working on tax reform.

Polls show the public wants a simpler tax code, but major obstacles confront Baucus and Camp.

One is the political divide over whether tax reform should increase tax revenue. Another is the difficulty of eliminating scores of tax breaks prized by individuals and corporations alike.

U.S. President Barack Obama backs a tax code rewrite and he has listed detailed proposals in repeated budget plans, but he has not pursued that objective as aggressively as Reagan did.

There are other significant differences from that period.

Clint Stretch, a former congressional tax staffer, said, "Reagan talked about tax reform constantly and it was well received in stump speeches."

In 1986, the tax code was less complex and the tax loopholes being exploited were more glaring. Reform advocates also won the backing of a big share of the business community.

BUSINESS BUY-IN

Today's business community is divided, and the code is loaded with hundreds of special exemptions, deductions and other favors to special interests. Also, the lobbying industry that protects each of these is larger and more entrenched.

"The public, just like in 1985, is naturally skeptical of tax reform," Camp and Baucus said in a joint statement.

"The kind of engagement the 'Write Rosty' campaign sparked nearly 30 years ago is even easier today thanks to the Internet and social media. That's why the chairmen are launching TaxReform.gov" and a @simplertaxes Twitter handle," they said.

Also on Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee met to weigh options on boosting U.S. companies' global competitiveness, the latest in a series of meetings on tax issues.

Businesses often complain that the top U.S. corporate income tax rate is 35 percent, which is high by global standards, though many companies pay well below that rate due to their ability to use tax breaks and shift profits offshore.

A 12-page paper by bipartisan finance committee staff was discussed at the meeting. It included options to move toward a so-called territorial system - where companies' foreign income is largely exempt from U.S. income tax. That policy is backed by much of corporate America and most Republicans.

It also included options that move in the other direction, including repealing deferral of taxation on foreign profits and the immediate taxation of all income from company subsidiaries in low-tax countries - ideas backed by some Democrats.

The paper does not lay out a one-time tax holiday known as "repatriation" that would put a lower tax rate on profits if they were brought into the United States.

The paper cited estimates of taxable income shifted by U.S. companies from higher-tax countries to tax havens at between $58 billion to $111 billion annually.

Large U.S. companies boosted their offshore earnings by 15 percent last year to a record $1.9 trillion, avoiding hefty tax bills by keeping the profits abroad, according to a report released this week by research firm Audit Analytics.

(Reporting by Kim Dixon; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh,Vicki Allen, Doina Chiacu)

He has been very "hand-sy" with me -- giving me massages, kissing my cheek -- and this all makes me very uncomfortable. I thought it was because he hasn't seen me in a while, but today as I was leaving to go to my mom's, he slapped my butt as I walked out the door. Now I'm scared. I spend a lot of the day at home with him alone. I don't want things to get out of hand. Any advice? -- WORRIED IN DELAWARE

DEAR WORRIED: Your father has lost three years with you. He may not realize that his "little girl" is no longer a child. That is why it is important that you tell him what he's doing makes you uncomfortable. You should also tell your mother and grandparents about what's happening and that it scares you. You do not have to tolerate unwanted contact, and if it persists, report it to a teacher or counselor at school or contact me again.

DEAR ABBY: I have a dilemma. I work in a small high school in a student support position. Girls come into my office who are pregnant and excited about it! Telling them congratulations for putting themselves in this position seems counterproductive, or like I am endorsing this choice. I don't!

No high school girls -- or boys, for that matter -- should put themselves in a position to be a parent when they themselves aren't fully grown and independent. I feel like saying, "You have ruined your life" instead, but I hold my tongue. What do you suggest? -- DON'T WANT TO ENCOURAGE THEM IN ILLINOIS

DEAR DON'T WANT TO ENCOURAGE: Your job is to support the students, not to condemn or endorse their predicament. Telling a pregnant girl she has ruined her life isn't helpful. What you need to do is encourage the girl to get a diploma while she can.

Too many girls fail to complete their high school education when they have a baby, and it impedes their ability to provide for themselves and their child because they are suited only for minimum-wage jobs. If you are enthusiastic about helping them, your positive attitude may be contagious and inspire them to succeed.

DEAR ABBY: I wrote you a short time ago about my marital problems, but I have to share this with you! My husband, who walked out on me, went to a counselor for a session. Then we went together, and he learned a few things about me and himself.

He is coming back, and we are going to work harder at our marriage. We both recognize there were places where we needed to work together more, that he doesn't need to be afraid to talk to me and I can be pretty understanding.

Thank you so much for being there, Abby. I know you always recommend talking to a counselor before doing anything rash, and you are so right. It made all the difference. -- GRATEFUL WIFE IN ARIZONA

DEAR GRATEFUL: I'm pleased counseling helped to open the clogged lines of communication between you and your husband. While it may seem expensive, it's far cheaper than a divorce can be, both emotionally and financially.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby ator P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

To receive a collection of Abby's most memorable -- and most frequently requested -- poems and essays, send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby -- Keepers Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. Shipping and handling are included in the price.

The top-seeded Russian swept to her second title of the year after winning in Indian Wells, Calif. She became the first player to retain the Stuttgart title since Lindsey Davenport in 2005.

"I thought it'd be the toughest match of the tournament, but I played my best tennis today," Sharapova said. "I was able to step it up."

This was her 29th career title and 16th consecutive win on clay, dating to Rome last year. Since Stuttgart last year, she is 23-1 on clay. Her only loss was to Serena Williams in Madrid.

Sharapova, ranked No. 2, was using the Stuttgart tournament for her clay-court debut this season, as she did last year when she went on to capture the French Open.

The second-seeded Li had a double-fault on match point, with another one earlier in the final game.

"I was under pressure on her return," Li said. "She was aggressive."

Sharapova had to fight through three long three-setters to get to the championship match, but there was little drama in the final.

The Russian opened with a break and went up 4-1 before Li could pull back one break. But that was not enough, and Sharapova closed the set with a service winner.

"I tried to put it together from the start," Sharapova said.

Li, who became the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam title with her victory at Roland Garros in 2011, simply didn't have enough consistency to threaten. Sharapova gained the key break in the seventh game of the second when Li sent a volley wide.

Sharapova holds a 9-5 career edge over Li, who beat her in the semifinals of the Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam.

"I'm a little sad to lose," Li said. "But it's a pretty good start to my clay-court season."

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Adam Levine's "Voice" is growing stronger at NBC.

Maroon 5 frontman and "The Voice" coach Levine is strengthening has signed a one-year first-look development deal, the network said Wednesday.

The exclusive pact also includes Levine's producing partner, Jordan Feldstein, and covers scripted and alternative programming.

Feldstein, the CEO of Career Artist Management, manages Maroon 5 and works with Alanis Morrissette, Sara Bareilles and Robin Thicke.

"It would be impossible to quantify Adam's influence and importance to the success of The Voice,'" NBC Entertainment president, alternative and late night programming Paul Telegdy said of the deal. "Given those enormous contributions, we're very anxious to work with him and Jordan to see what future shows they develop that can find a home here at NBC."

Levine's deal with the network follows a similar deal for his "Voice" cohort Cee Lo Green, who signed a first-look deal with NBC in September to develop, produce and possibly star in scripted and unscripted projects. The first potential project from that agreement is a comedy loosely based on Green's life, which he would star in.

In fact, the Giro didn't even have to ask. Race director and RCS Sport general director Michele Acquarone tells The Associated Press he first heard about Wiggins' plans from two-time Giro champion Ivan Basso.

During the Tour of Britain in September, Basso sent Acquarone a message saying that Wiggins had told him casually that he was interested in racing the Giro. Acquarone forwarded the message to Dave Brailsford, the general manager of Wiggins' team, Sky, to ask if there was any truth to it.

''From that point on we stayed in contact with Sky and slowly but surely we realized that the possibility was becoming greater and that he was coming,'' Acquarone said Sunday, shortly before Sky won a team time trial to take control of the race and move Wiggins up to second overall.

The Tour of Britain came just after Wiggins had followed his Tour title with a gold medal in the time trial at the London Olympics.

''So it was really him who wanted to take on the challenge,'' Acquarone said. ''I think he said to himself, 'I've won what I've needed to win. Now what other romantic, attractive races are out there that are worth winning?'''

In 2009, Armstrong came out of retirement and raced the Giro for the first time at a big price - $1 million for his Livestrong cancer foundation.

''We didn't pay Armstrong, but it was a way to get Armstrong here,'' said Acquarone, who wasn't the Giro director at the time but was already the general director of RCS Sport, the company that controls the race. ''I remember Angelo (Zomegnan, the former Giro director) calling me and asking, 'Michele, is it possible? For him to come there needs to be a big involvement with Livestrong.' So we made a big deal with his foundation.''

While the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency stripped Armstrong of his seven Tour titles last year and banned him from elite sports for life, the American still had his reputation intact in 2009. Still, he was 37 then and no longer in his prime.

Wiggins, meanwhile, is coming off his best season. And it's rare when the Tour winner builds his next season around the Giro, which he is racing for the fifth time.

''This is completely different. It makes us realize how much the Giro is growing. I'm just as pleased with the presence of Cadel Evans,'' Acquarone said, referring to the 2011 Tour winner from Australia.

Along with defending champion Ryder Hesjedal of Canada, Dutch contender Robert Gesink and 2008 Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez of Spain, there is a decided international accent to this year's Giro.

Last year, when Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain and Thomas De Gendt joined Hesjedal on the final podium, it marked the first Giro without an Italian in the top three in 17 years.

''That was a message that something is changing,'' Acquarone said. ''I'm friends with guys like Basso and (2011 Giro winner Michele) Scarponi, so it was upsetting to see them in difficulty, but I realize that if we want more visibility for the Giro then that helps.''

This year there is also a Chinese rider for the first time - Ji Cheng of the Argos squad.

''The Giro is no longer the Giro of Italians,'' Acquarone added. ''It's the Giro of the entire world now.''

For the record, Acquarone said that neither Wiggins nor Sky was receiving any sort of special appearance fee.

''We deal directly with the teams and it's the same rules for everyone,'' he said.

Next year's Giro will begin in Northern Ireland and Ireland, with stages in Belfast and Dublin. Then in 2015, organizers hope to bring the start home to Milan - and possibly the finish, too -to coincide with the Expo 2015 being held in the city. But that hasn't fallen into place yet even though RCS is based in Milan.

''It will be a very big year for Milan and there's been a lot of talk that Milan and the Lombardy region wants the start, but as of today we haven't received an official offer,'' Acquarone said.

There's no set rule about alternating the starts between Italy and abroad from year to year, as has been the case recently with starts in the Netherlands in 2010 and Denmark in 2012.

''That's nice but it's not obligatory,'' Acquarone said. ''Half of Europe wants the Giro. There have been a lot of offers.''

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 ended at record highs on Friday, and stocks posted a third consecutive week of gains as a rise in Google and other technology shares offset a slide in energy stocks.

Nasdaq led gains, boosted by a 1 percent rise in Google'sstock, which also led the S&P 500's rise.

Indexes were flat for much of the session but managed a late-day surge. On Thursday, the S&P 500 broke a five-day streak of record closing highs.

Stocks have risen on the Federal Reserve's accommodative monetary stance and some encouraging corporate earnings, but analysts said momentum could wane without further positive signs.

"I think it's going to hard to maintain these levels in the short term," said Natalie Trunow, chief investment officer of equities at Calvert Investment Management, which has about $13 billion in assets.

"There are not a lot of positive catalysts to keep it going," she said, noting that spending cuts by the federal government could pressure the economy in the near term.

Oil prices tumbled as the U.S. dollar hit a 4 1/2-year high against the yen and the dollar indexwas on track for its strongest week against other major currencies in 10 months. A strong dollar makes commodities priced in the greenback, such as gold and oil, more expensive for foreign investors, pressuring shares of energy and basic materials companies.

The Dow Jones industrial averagewas up 35.87 points, or 0.24 percent, at 15,118.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 Indexwas up 7.03 points, or 0.43 percent, at 1,633.70. The Nasdaq Composite Indexwas up 27.41 points, or 0.80 percent, at 3,436.58.

The S&P 500 is up 14.6 percent for the year. For the week, the Dow rose 1 percent, the S&P 500 1.2 percent and the Nasdaq 1.7 percent.

Exxon Mobillost 1 percent to $90.14 and helped drag on the Dow. The S&P energy indexdropped 0.5 percent as Brent and U.S. crude oil prices fell.

Shares of Pricelinejumped 3.9 percent to $765.41, a day after the online travel company reported a first-quarter profit that topped estimates.

It was among several stronger-than-expected profit reports this week that have helped stocks as the first-quarter earnings period draws to a close.

Shares of electric carmaker Tesla Motorsjumped 10.6 percent to $76.76, adding to Thursday's gain of 24.4 percent and making it one of the Nasdaq's top percentage gainers.

Tesla is part of a group of companies with heavy bets against them from investors. Recent upbeat results have triggered a wave of short-covering.

In contrast, shares of Hess Corpslid 2.3 percent to $69.30. Chief executive John Hess, son of the company's founder, is being stripped of his duties as chairman as the oil and gas company scrambles to avoid an embarrassing defeat by an activist investor.

Volume was roughly 5.7 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, below the average daily closing volume of about 6.4 billion this year.

Volume has been weak throughout the market's rally, and this week has seen below-average volume on every day except Thursday when the market fell.

Advancers outpaced decliners on the NYSE by nearly 9 to 5 and the Nasdaq by a ratio of about 2 to 1.

(Editing by Jan Paschal and Kenneth Barry)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Apparently frustrated by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down an $18 million penalty for a Texas natural gas firm, a federal judge is taking the unusual step of asking the environmental community for suggestions on how to sentence the company in a way that will have "the broadest possible impact."

U.S. District Judge William Smith in Providence said in a preliminary sentencing memorandum filed April 25 that the high court's decision means he is limited to fining Southern Union Co. $500,000 or the equivalent in community service, rather than the $6 million fine and $12 million in charitable contributions that he had previously imposed as punishment.

"This result is manifestly unsatisfactory and even unjust," Smith wrote in his decision.

Saying he was doing the best he could in a bad situation, Smith wrote that he has decided a community service sentence would be most appropriate. He then gave prosecutors, Southern Union and unspecified members of the greater environmental community 90 days to suggest a community service sentence valued at no more than $500,000.

Smith wondered aloud during a hearing on the matter in December whether he could order "higher-ups" at the company to perform community service as punishment, and it was unclear Tuesday whether he would consider that.

He hopes his invitation will spur "creative ideas," said David DiMarzio, clerk of court for U.S. District Court in Providence. DiMarzio likened the request to letters submitted by family members and those affected by a crime when defendants are being sentenced, but said he had never seen such a request by a judge in this kind of case.

It's highly unusual for a judge to invite those other than victims of the crime to weigh in on a sentence, said David Uhlmann, a University of Michigan law professor who was the top environmental crimes prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice when the case was brought. But he said he believes the judge is allowed to do it.

A lawyer for Southern Union did not return a phone call seeking comment. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office said it would prepare a sentencing memo to meet the judge's request, but did not comment further.

Smith said Southern Union had broken the law for more than two years by storing liquid mercury without a permit inside a neglected building in a densely populated section of Pawtucket. The mercury came from old gas regulators the company was removing from customers' homes, and was left around in glass jars, a plastic jug and other containers.

In 2004, teenagers broke into the building and dumped mercury there and at a nearby apartment complex, which had to be evacuated. Many residents later were found to have unacceptably high levels of mercury in their blood and showed other symptoms of mercury exposure, such as hair loss and rashes, and about 90 of them later settled a lawsuit over the spill for undisclosed terms. All have recovered.

Smith said in his memorandum that Congress had deemed the crime so serious that it imposed a maximum sentence of $50,000 per day, but that Southern Union, a company that reported $9.9 billion in assets in December, could escape with a penalty of $500,000 even though prosecutors say the illegal conduct went on for 762 days.

"It is not an adequate penalty to punish Southern Union for its conduct, nor will it deter Southern Union or other similarly situated companies from similar actions in the future," Smith wrote.

In the December hearing, Smith asked a prosecutor whether he would have the authority to order Southern Union to have its employees perform 10,000 hours of environmental cleanup work. The prosecutor responded that he did.

"If I have the authority to do that, do I have the authority to designate who in the company should do that?" Smith asked, then indicated he was talking about "higher-ups" rather than low-level people at the company. The prosecutor said he wasn't sure.

Uhlmann said he shared the judge's concern that a $500,000 penalty was too low but said it would be difficult to see how Smith could order individuals to perform community service when the corporation, not any specific person, was convicted of wrongdoing. He said he respectfully disagreed with the judge's determination that the law does not allow him to convene a new sentencing hearing in the case, but said it is possible the government could appeal that part of the decision.

___

Follow Michelle R. Smith at www.twitter.com/MRSmithAP

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 broke a five-day streak of record closing highs on Thursday, ending a fairly volatile session lower as the market's recent momentum faded and Apple's shares declined.

The Dow also broke its two-day string of all-time closing highs, but still ended above 15,000.

The length of the recent rally has surprised many investors. Analysts said it's difficult for the upward momentum to continue without further catalysts, such as first-quarter earnings reports, which are nearing an end.

Volume was the highest of the week so far, giving more weight to the day's decline. Much of this year's rally has been on weak volume.

"This market is so stretched to the upside that if we get some little wiggle somewhere, I can easily see us getting back down to 1,580" on the S&P 500, said Stephen Massocca, managing director of Wedbush Equity Management LLC in San Francisco.

Apple , down 0.9 percent at $456.77, led the declines of both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, while International Business Machines , down 0.8 percent at $203.24, was the biggest drag on the Dow.

The day's economic data was mostly positive, but failed to give much of a boost to stocks. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in almost 5-1/2 years - contrary to economists' forecast of a gain - U.S. Labor Department data showed.

The Dow Jones industrial averagefell 22.50 points, or 0.15 percent, to end at 15,082.62. The Standard & Poor's 500 Indexdeclined 6.02 points, or 0.37 percent, to finish at 1,626.67. The Nasdaq Composite Indexslipped 4.10 points, or 0.12 percent, to close at 3,409.17.

After the bell, shares of Pricelinefell 3.3 percent to $713 after the online travel agency forecast second-quarter profit would fall below analysts' estimates.

Despite the declines for the day, both the Dow and the S&P 500 reached all-time intraday highs - with the Dow touching 15,144.83 and the S&P 500 reaching 1,635.01.

The market, which had been down slightly from the opening bell through midday, reversed course and began to edge higher in early afternoon. Stocks gave up those gains later in the session.

Limiting the S&P 500's loss, News Corpshares gained 4.5 percent to $33.29. It reported earnings late Wednesday that beat expectations while revenue rose 14 percent. Rupert Murdoch's media company also said it was on track to split off its slow-growing publishing business by the end of June.

Among other top advancers, Tesla Motors Incsurged 24.4 percent to $69.40 a day after posting adjusted earnings that were three times what analysts were expecting as the company sold more cars than it had initially forecast.

Shares of Barnes & Noble Incshot up 24.3 percent to $22.08, after hitting a fresh 52-week high of $22.25. The stock's sharp advance followed a report by web publication TechCrunch that Microsoft Corpwas considering an offer to acquire all of Nook Media's digital assets for $1 billion. Microsoft shares slipped 1 percent to $32.66.

Both Barnes & Noble and Tesla Motors have been among favorite stocks to short, and their gains on Thursday were likely extended by traders who were forced to cover bets the stocks would fall in order to prevent further losses.

Volume was roughly 6.4 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, matching the average daily closing volume this year.

Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a ratio of nearly 2 to 1 and on the Nasdaq, about three stocks fell for every two that rose.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski and Jan Paschal)

Mothers, children and others who have been affected by gun violence will gather Friday in Cleveland and Columbus for a walk and rally and Saturday in Cincinnati for a press conference to raise awareness about the effects of gun violence on mothers and children.Recent independent polls that have found that 83 percent of Ohioans support background checks for all gun buyers.

Last month Senator Rob Portman was among those who voted against bipartisan legislation proposed by NRA A-rated Senators Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey that would have closed the loopholes that make it easy for criminals and dangerous people to get guns.

Ohioans can sign a Mother's Day card urging Senator Portman to take action on gun violence

In addition, to mark Mother's Day, Roxanna Green, whose nine year-old daughter Christina-Taylor Green was killed in the 2011 Tucson mass shooting, released a video message. Link to the video

Event details are below.

Cincinnati

What: Mother's Day Press Conference

Who: Regina Morris,family member of gun violence victim, Sr. Pastor Lesley E Jones, Truth & Destiny Covenant Ministries United Church of Christ, Mayors Against Illegal guns, Organizing for Action

When: Saturday, May 11 12:00 p.m.

Where:University of Cincinnati,outside the TangemanUniversity Center,2600 Clifton Ave,Cincinnati, 45221

Cleveland

What: Moms Demand Action Mother's Day Walk and Rally Against Gun Violence

Who:Cleveland lead for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America JaneBurgett; Pastor Kristine Eggert, Disciples Christian Church; Christina Antenucci, MD, Doctors for Healthcare Solutions; Mayors Against Illegal Guns and concerned citizens

When: Friday, May 10 - 11:00 a.m.

Where: Public Square, Corner of Ontario St. and West Superior Ave,Cleveland

Columbus

What: Mother's Day Rally Against Gun Violence

Who:Mother of gun violence victim Felicia Saunders, Moms Demand Action for GunSense in America, Mayors Against Illegal Guns and concerned citizens

When: Friday, May 10 at 4:30 p.m.

Where:Worthington Village Green: corners of SR 161 and High St, Columbus

About Mayors Against Illegal Guns Since its creation in April 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown from 15 members to more than 950 mayors from across the country. We have more than 1.5 million grassroots supporters, making us the largest gun violence prevention advocacy organization in the country. The bipartisan coalition, co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, has united the nation's mayors around these common goals: protecting communities by holding gun offenders accountable; demanding access to crime gun trace data that is critical to law enforcement efforts to combat gun trafficking; and working with legislators to fix weaknesses and loopholes in the law that make it far too easy for criminals and other dangerous people to get guns. Learn more at

MEDIA CONTACTErika Soto Lamb:or 646-580-5281Kate Downen:or 406-224-5056

SOURCE Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Oil and gas drilling companies had pushed for the change, but there have been differing scientific estimates of the amount of methane that leaks from wells, pipelines and other facilities during production and delivery. Methane is the main component of natural gas.

The new EPA data is "kind of an earthquake" in the debate over drilling, said Michael Shellenberger, the president of the Breakthrough Institute, an environmental group based in Oakland, Calif. "This is great news for anybody concerned about the climate and strong proof that existing technologies can be deployed to reduce methane leaks."

The scope of the EPA's revision was vast. In a mid-April report on greenhouse emissions, the agency now says that tighter pollution controls instituted by the industry resulted in an average annual decrease of 41.6 million metric tons of methane emissions from 1990 through 2010, or more than 850 million metric tons overall. That's about a 20 percent reduction from previous estimates. The agency converts the methane emissions into their equivalent in carbon dioxide, following standard scientific practice.

The EPA revisions came even though natural gas production has grown by nearly 40 percent since 1990. The industry has boomed in recent years, thanks to a stunning expansion of drilling in previously untapped areas because of the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which injects sand, water and chemicals to break apart rock and free the gas inside.

Experts on both sides of the debate say the leaks can be controlled by fixes such as better gaskets, maintenance and monitoring. Such fixes are also thought to be cost-effective, since the industry ends up with more product to sell.

"That is money going up into the air," said Roger Pielke Jr., a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado, adding he isn't surprised the EPA's new data show more widespread use of pollution control equipment. Pielke noted that the success of the pollution controls also means that the industry "probably can go further" in reducing leaks.

Representatives of the oil and gas industry said the EPA revisions show emissions from the fracking boom can be managed.

"The methane 'leak' claim just got a lot more difficult for opponents" of natural gas, noted Steve Everley, with Energy In Depth, an industry-funded group.

In a separate blog post, Everley predicted future reductions, too.

"As technologies continue to improve, it's hard to imagine those methane numbers going anywhere but down as we eagerly await the next installment of this EPA report," Everley wrote.

One leading environmentalist argued the EPA revisions don't change the bigger picture.

"We need a dramatic shift off carbon-based fuel: coal, oil and also gas," Bill McKibbern, the founder of 350.org, wrote in an email to The Associated Press. "Natural gas provides at best a kind of fad diet, where a dangerously overweight patient loses a few pounds and then their weight stabilizes; instead, we need at this point a crash diet, difficult to do" but needed to limit the damage from climate change.

The EPA said it made the changes based on expert reviews and new data from several sources, including a report funded by the oil and gas industry. But the estimates aren't based on independent field tests of actual emissions, and some scientists said that's a problem.

Robert Howarth, a Cornell University professor of ecology who led a 2011 methane leak study that is widely cited by critics of fracking, wrote in an email that "time will tell where the truth lies in all this, but I think EPA is wrong."

Howarth said other federal climate scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have published recent studies documenting massive methane leaks from natural gas operations in Colorado and other Western states.

Howarth wrote that the EPA seems "to be ignoring the published NOAA data in their latest efforts, and the bias on industry only pushing estimates downward never up is quite real. EPA badly needs a counter-acting force, such as outside independent review of their process."

The issue of methane leaks has caused a major split between environmental groups.

Since power plants that burn natural gas emit about half the amount of the greenhouse gases as coal-fired power, some say that the gas drilling boom has helped the U.S. become the only major industrialized country to significantly reduce greenhouse emissions. But others believe the methane leaks negate any benefits over coal, since methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas.

The new EPA figures still show natural gas operations as the leading source of methane emissions in the U.S., at about 145 million metric tons in 2011. The next biggest source was enteric fermentation, scientific jargon for belches from cows and other animals, at 137 million metric tons. Landfills were the third-biggest source, at 103 million metric tons.

But the EPA estimates that all the sources of methane combined still account for only 9 percent of greenhouse gases, even taking into account methane's more potent heat-trapping.

The EPA said it is still seeking more data and feedback on the issue of methane leaks, so the report may change again in the future.

The EPA revisions have international implications, too. The agency says the new report, Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, was submitted to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change by an April 15 deadline.