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E2 Morning Roundup: House panel examines Michigan oil spill, greens and labor unite over renewable power mandate, Landrieu readying for big debate over drilling hiatus and more
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday
will examine this summer’s other oil spill – one that leaked an estimated
one million gallons or more of oil after a pipeline ruptured in a rural
area of Michigan July 26.
The panel’s hearing will include
testimony from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Deputy Transportation
Secretary John Porcari and National Transportation Safety Board Chairman
Deborah Hersman. Testimony was not available Tuesday but the committee
has provided a backgrounder.
A subject certain to be brought up will be a joint
investigation released Tuesday by the Center for Public Integrity and
CBS News which found that some of the victims of the spill unwittingly
signed waivers releasing pipeline operator Enbridge, Inc. of liability
in return for medical help, air cleaners or small cash reimbursement.
The Center has the full story
on its website. Enbridge President and CEO Patrick Daniel will be
testifying at the hearing.
Enbridge has been forced to shut down
three Midwestern pipelines this summer, which has been blamed for
causing spikes in gasoline prices.
Greens want broader probe
of pipeline oversight
Green groups want panelists at
Wednesday’s hearing to discuss broader fixes to federal pipeline
oversight. “This hearing presents a significant opportunity to discuss
and reconsider the current process for both approval and regulation of
all future oil and gas pipeline projects,” said Paula Chrin Dibley, a
spokeswoman for the No Tar Sands Oil Campaign, which includes major
environmental groups.
Green groups and their congressional
backers have
fought against a proposed TransCanada pipeline that would carry
tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to Texas and was a topic at a recent
meeting between Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Landrieu expects big debate on
drilling ban
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), meanwhile, is still
fighting those within her own party who support an Obama administration
hiatus on deepwater oil and gas drilling as investigations of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill continue.
“It looks like we’re
going to have a big debate,” Landrieu told reporters Tuesday. She was
referring to a now-delayed
markup initially scheduled for Thursday on an Interior and EPA
spending bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Landrieu said she
had not decided what amendments to offer at that markup – which has not
been rescheduled. But she said her concern is not limited to a halt in
projects in deeper waters but also extends to those in shallow waters as
well. “I’m going to be talking to leadership about that,” she said about
offering any riders to the spending bill. “It’s not my intention to
make headlines. It’s my intention to get this fixed.”
Dem
Appropriators want separate action on EPA delay
As
we noted Tuesday, another possible fight pitting Democrats
against themselves at any rescheduled Senate Appropriations
consideration of an Interior-EPA spending bill may also be avoided.
Sen.
Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said Democrats on the panel who have
supported his effort to delay EPA climate regulations would not do so
when the committee deliberates on the spending bill. They prefer to hold
a promised separate vote on the issue on the Senate floor. Panel
Republicans appear likely to try to offer an amendment to the spending
bill freezing the regulations, which would presumably pass if these
handful of Democrats were to vote in its favor.
Reid promises
vote this year
Reid Tuesday said he will keep a promise he
has given Rockefeller that he would allow a vote this year on delaying
the EPA regs. “Not before we leave here,” Reid told reporters, as
cited by the Huffington Post and referring to the upcoming
congressional break before the November election. “This year.”
The
plan to delay EPA climate rules is drawing
strong support from industry trade groups, while
environmentalists are lobbying against the measure.
Baucus:
Tax extenders a high priority before election
Senate Finance
Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) told reporters Tuesday a package of
so-called tax extenders may see Senate action before the election. “Hope
to. Trying to. Good policy,” he said. It is a key priority, he said.
“It’s high, it’s high,” he said. The Senate package would ramp up an
eight-cent-per-barrel tax oil and gas companies pay into an oil spill
liability trust fund up to 49 cents per barrel.
Unified
blue-green effort for renewable power standard
Green, labor
and renewable representatives hold a conference call this morning to
announce “unified support for a specific, viable [renewable electricity
standard] for the first time,” according to an advisory. This is being
billed as an unprecedented “shift for the enviros and a new
solidification for labor and renewables, potentially opening up room for
liberal Senators to get on board with a bipartisan proposal,” notes a
spokesman in an email, who was mum on the details of the agreed-upon
standard. Representatives from United Steelworkers International,
Iberdrola Renewables and Union of Concerned Scientists will be on the
actual call but an “action statement” from a wider range of companies
and organizations endorsing the same standard will also be released.
EPA
rules for boilers could cost 300,000 jobs, close businesses – industry
study
A study to be released Wednesday commissioned by an
industry trade group concludes that an EPA proposal to impose new Clean
Air Act requirements on industrial boilers would cost large numbers of
jobs and shutter some operations altogether.
The consulting firm
IHS Global Insight prepared the
study for the Council of Industrial Boiler Owners, which fears
that new “Maximum Achievable Control Technology Standards” for mercury,
dioxin and other pollutants could prove expensive enough to kill 300,000
jobs at affected companies and their suppliers.
The rules for
boilers and process heaters – which EPA floated in draft form in June –
would apply to a range of facilities, such as refineries and chemical
and manufacturing plants, as well as commercial sites and others. The
study finds that the billions of dollars in aggregate compliance costs
would create a ripple effect on jobs at the directly affected
facilities, suppliers and other related businesses.
“This study
offers an eye-opening look at the economic damage that could be caused
if EPA moves forward with this Boiler MACT rule without substantial
modifications. The study makes clear that it is important for EPA to
take great care in finalizing this rule to avoid significant
consequences for many boiler and process heater owners, the communities
surrounding affected facilities and the broader economy," said Robert
Bessette, the trade group’s president, in a prepared statement.
The
study finds that big companies can likely absorb the costs but would
pass them on to their customers, while smaller or struggling firms would
face big job cuts and could close down.
Country music singers
headline dueling coal rallies
There are competing coal
rallies Wednesday on Capitol Hill – one involving those representing
coal-state interests and the other rallying opposition to mountaintop
removal coal mining practices. Perhaps more importantly to some is each
has its own country music headliner. Stella Parton – Dolly’s sister –
headlines a rally at Capitol Hill’s Russell Park on the Senate side of
the Capitol Building at 9:30 am, featuring a bipartisan array of
coal-state lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Ky.), House Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and West
Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin. Country music singer Big Kenny, of the duo
Big & Rich, is headlining a separate rally to end mountaintop
mining. It’s being held at 1:30 pm at Sprit of Justice Park on the House
side of Capitol Hill.
In case you missed it
E2
posts Tuesday included:
EPA
chief slams industry lobbyists over ‘trumped-up’ climate rule claims
Senate
Interior Dept. spending bill to block West Coast drilling
Senate
defeats Nelson plan to limit Big Oil tax break
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