|
 |
 |
|
OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Round two in Nuclear Regulatory Commission brawl
State of play: Thursday marks round two in the fight among Nuclear Regulatory Commission members over the leadership of Chairman Gregory Jaczko.
Jaczko and the other four NRC commissioners, who sparred publicly Wednesday, will appear before a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee panel Thursday morning.
The hearing is supposed to be a review of safety recommendations that a federal task force issued in the aftermath of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
But expect the hearing to veer off course at times, as lawmakers press the NRC commissioners about their newly revealed allegations that Jaczko has overstepped his authority, verbally abused staff and withheld key information from colleagues.
"Until we have a hearing ... where I can talk to all five commissioners I wouldn’t want to say that I am calling for his resignation until I hear both sides," he said. "That is the reason for the hearing."
Read more about that here.
The hearing came several days after Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) released a mid-October letter from the commissioners to the White House arguing that Jaczko’s behavior is causing “serious damage” that could prevent the agency from protecting public health and safety.
The debacle has already led some Republican lawmakers to call for Jaczko’s ouster. But Jaczko told lawmakers Wednesday that he’s not going anywhere.
NEWS BITES:
Gulf lease sale brings in more than $337 million in winning bids ...
The Interior Department’s auction of western Gulf of Mexico oil-and-gas leases brought in $337.7 million in winning bids for tracts off the Texas coast.
The totals unveiled Wednesday included $27 million worth of leases auctioned to BP in the first offshore lease sale since the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
The spill prompted Interior to overhaul its offshore energy branch and beef up drilling safety rules.
“Offshore drilling will never be risk free, but over the last 19 months we have moved quickly and aggressively with the most significant oil and gas reforms in U.S. history to make it safer and more environmentally responsible. Today’s sale is another step in ensuring the safe and responsible development of the nation’s offshore energy resources,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement.
Companies competing for the leases submitted 241 bids on 191 tracts spanning more than a million acres.
Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, said the lease sale showed that industry interest in securing new parcels is high given the leasing delay that followed the BP disaster.
“Clearly interest in the deepwater areas remains high, with nearly 85% of bids on deepwater tracts. This reflects not only the expectation for the resource potential in these areas, but also demonstrates a level of confidence moving forward that lessons learned from last year’s spill have been internalized,” he said in a statement.
But several environmental groups say Interior’s analysis underpinning the sale failed to heed the lessons of the BP spill. A coalition of groups filed a lawsuit challenging the sale Tuesday.
ConocoPhillips was the big winner at the auction, submitting nearly $158 million in high bids, while ExxonMobil had $63 million worth of winning bids.
... as latest report calls for better drilling safeguards
The National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council unveiled an Interior-commissioned report Wednesday on the causes of the BP blowout and recommendations for boosting drilling safety going forward.
The new report echoes previous studies in showing industry mistakes that led to the Macondo well blowout and noting that federal regulation at the time was inadequate.
It’s the latest major report on the BP spill following the joint Interior Department-U.S. Coast Guard investigative report earlier this year, and separate findings by the White House-created National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.
The various recommendations include the latest call for better design of blowout preventers on deepwater rigs; better testing of well cement barriers at deepwater wells; expanded industry R&D on offshore safety; better education and training by both industry and federal regulators; and several ways to improve oversight.
Interior, in response to the report, noted the steps it has taken since the spill to overhaul and enhance offshore regulation.
“This independent, science-based analysis of what went wrong in the lead up to the blowout has helped to affirm the tremendous efforts we have made in the last 18 months to raise the bar for safety and oversight of offshore oil and gas operations,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.
“The work we have done to implement rigorous new offshore drilling and safety rules and reform offshore regulation and oversight is in line with the recommendations of the Committee and with our goals moving forward,” he said.
Pro-Keystone union: Separate pipeline from unemployment insurance
A major union that supports the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline is calling on lawmakers not to tether the pipeline to an extension of unemployment insurance, a top priority for the union.
Wednesday’s statement from the Laborers’ International Union of North America effectively rebukes the GOP strategy of expediting the pipeline through wider legislation to extend unemployment insurance and the payroll tax cut.
The GOP plan passed the House Tuesday but faces huge Senate hurdles due to the Keystone language — which requires a federal permit decision within 60 days — and other provisions, as well as a White House veto threat.
The union is also upset with GOP provisions it alleges will “gut” the unemployment insurance program. From the group's statement Wednesday:
While addressing both of these issues would help ease the burden of unemployment, they should be resolved based on their individual merit. With unemployment levels among construction workers far outpacing other sectors of the economy and our national economy dependent on oil from unfriendly foreign regimes, it is time for the Keystone XL pipeline to be approved. And with so many Americans still struggling to stay afloat financially, Republicans in Congress should pass a clean unemployment insurance extension before they go home to celebrate the holidays with their loved ones.
Senate panel to vote on Energy Department nominee
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will gather Thursday to vote on Arun Majumdar, the White House nominee for under secretary of Energy.
The committee will also mark up bills dealing with promotion of geothermal energy and other matters. More info here.
Senate committee approves Wodder nomination
Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the nomination of Rebecca Wodder to be assistant secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks at the Department of the Interior Wednesday.
The committee approved the nomination amid opposition from Republicans on the panel, who criticized Wodder for working at American Rivers, an conservation group that promotes clean waterways.
"The last thing our economy needs is another member of Obama's 'green team,' who actively works to shut down domestic energy development,” Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), the top Republican on the committee, said in a statement Wednesday.
“We know about Ms. Wodder's disdain for natural gas due to her work as the CEO of the far-left environmental organization, American Rivers, and because of the many statements she has made in opposition to the practice of hydraulic fracturing, which is critical to natural gas development.”
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee still needs to confirm the Wodder nomination.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
Here's a quick roundup of Wednesday's E2 stories:
— Republicans float bill to limit NRC chairman's authority
— Thune: White House forcing ‘blood oath’ from Dems on Keystone pipeline
— Nuke chief Jaczko: I won’t resign
— Nuke commissioners accuse chairman of abusing staff, withholding information
— Romney’s new attack on Gingrich brings in Pelosi
— Ozone rule, pipeline, oil tax breaks headline 2011 lobbying victories
Please send tips and comments to Ben Geman,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, and Andrew Restuccia,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Follow us on Twitter: @E2Wire, @AndrewRestuccia, @Ben_Geman
