Update: I am going to stop tabulating the votes at this point. Here were the top choices, in reverse-order of the number of points each received: 33, 13, 4, 3, 11, 12, 16, 31, 1, 7, 9, 23. I will start with Question 33, and work my way through the list as time allows.

I have pointed the API again to this thread, so they can get a handle on what people want to know. Here are some excerpts of the responses I got back:

Interesting questions all. Because we billed this as an “energy and the environment” conference call, we would, of course, prefer that the questions be relevant to the topic, primarily out of respect to those bloggers who signed on because of their interest in the environment and sustainability. There will be future calls during which other topics can be discussed.

I also asked whether or not questions about natural gas (#4) are appropriate for this particular call. The response I received back was:

API has a strong interest in natural gas. While we will leave it up to you to decide whether you should pose that question, I do want to reiterate what I said in my earlier email about sticking to the announced topic.

Given that, I will more or less play it by ear on some of these questions. If everyone else is asking purely environmental questions, I may hold off on certain questions until the next call. I do have a lot of questions that are purely environmental questions, and I will work my way through some of those at the top of the list. I will also do some rewording of some of the questions, as I agree that some are too vague and leave themselves open to a canned reply. I will follow-up on this as soon as they have the transcript online, which should be within a couple of days.

Thanks again to all who participated.