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OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Energy security could be GOP debate theme
State of play: The Republican presidential hopefuls will gather in Washington, D.C., Tuesday night for a debate on national security.
E2 predicts that energy policy will surface, with the candidates arguing that expanded domestic oil-and-gas drilling will make the country more secure.
The debate will also offer the candidates an opportunity to revive long-standing criticisms of President Obama’s energy policies. Republicans have blasted the administration for opposing new drilling in parts of Alaska as well as the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
Watch the debate tonight at 8 p.m. on CNN. Check E2 for coverage of the candidate’s energy comments.
NEWS BITES:
House Dems push Clinton on climate agenda
More than 50 House Democrats are urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to stake out an “ambitious” position at upcoming United Nations climate talks in South Africa.
The letter from 53 members, which was also sent to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, calls for progress in standing up the “Green Climate Fund” established at last year’s summit in Mexico.
The fund should ensure “meaningful participation of women, affected communities and civil society, including on the Fund’s board,” they write.
“The fund should also subject financing, including through the private sector, to environmental and social safeguards and make substantial contributions to sustainable, vibrant local economies in developing countries,” states the letter from lawmakers including Reps. Donald Payne (D-N.J.), Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.).
Payne, who led the letter, is the top Democrat on the chamber's subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights; Waxman is the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee; Cleaver is chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus; and Berman is the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The letter also calls on U.S. officials to “support innovative approaches to generate new and additional public finance to help developing countries confront the climate crisis, including mechanisms in the shipping and aviation sectors,” among other goals.
The talks begin Nov. 28.
Markey: Intelligence agencies should probe climate email hacking
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) wants U.S. intelligence officials to probe the hacking of emails among climate scientists, a call that follows the release of a new batch of emails ahead of upcoming United Nations climate talks in South Africa.
Hacked emails made public Tuesday appear to be from the same batch stolen from the U.K.’s Climatic Research Institute in 2009, shortly before the U.N.’s fractious climate talks in Denmark.
“This is clearly an attempt to sabotage the international climate talks for a second time, and there has not been enough attention paid to who is responsible for these illegal acts,” said Markey, who co-authored the climate change bill that passed the House in 2009 but sputtered in the Senate.
Markey, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, added:
If this happened surrounding nuclear arms talks, we would have the full force of the Western world's intelligence community pursuing the perpetrators. And yet, with the stability of our climate hanging in the balance with these international climate treaty negotiations, these hackers and their supporters are still on the loose. It is time to bring them to justice.
Sierra Club sets sights on Upton in new ads
The Sierra Club is targeting House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) in new television advertisements that criticize the lawmakers’ environmental records.
The ads, which are running in Upton and Rehberg’s districts, blast the lawmakers for voting to slash funding for an Energy Department loan guarantee program that financed renewable energy projects.
“Clean energy is reviving American innovation and protecting our environment and health,” one ad says. “But Congressman Fred Upton is blocking the creation of clean energy jobs. He stands opposed to the majority of Americans who want clean energy investments.”
Republicans voted to cut funding to the program as part of a broader spending bill shortly after Solyndra, a California solar panel maker that received a $535 million loan guarantee, filed for bankruptcy. A Senate version of the bill dropped the language cutting the loan program’s funding.
The ads are the latest attempt by environmental groups to pummel House Republicans for voting in recent months to block or delay key Environmental Protection Agency clean-air rules and to slash funding for various energy programs.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
Here's a quick roundup of Tuesday's E2 stories:
— House energy panel to probe Keystone pipeline delay
— More hacked climate emails surface ahead of UN conference
— Solar companies to Fox News’s O’Reilly: We’ll help you go green
— Nebraska governor signs bills aimed at rerouting oil pipeline
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