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OVERNIGHT ENERGY: EPA chief to face Congress, Interior completes drilling plan
On tap Thursday: Environmental Protection Agnecy (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson returns to Capitol Hill to chat with the House Science, Space and Technology Committee at a hearing on the agency’s science activities.
“Specifically, the hearing will review Agency-wide policies and practices related to the development and use of science in regulatory decisions; the role of independent scientific advisory bodies such as the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC); and the importance of transparency, integrity, peer review, prioritization, accountability, and sustainability in the Agency’s science activities,” a committee memo about Thursday's hearing states.
Meanwhile, a House Energy and Commerce Committee panel will cast a critical eye toward EPA’s recent proposal to toughen air quality standards for fine particulate matter, or soot. More on that hearing here.
Drilling down ...
The other big happening Thursday will be the Interior Department rolling out its final 2012-2017 offshore drilling plan.
But look for industry and GOP criticism of the decision not to offer areas off the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts for leasing, while green groups will bash the Arctic leasing despite Interior vows of strong environmental protections.
Driving forward ...
The House and Senate are on the cusp of finalizing a deal on the sweeping transportation bill that does not include provisions authorizing the Keystone oil pipeline or blocking EPA coal ash rules.
Keep tabs on The Hill’s Transportation Report and E2-Wire blogs, and our main website, for the latest as the deal moves ahead.
NEWS BITES:
On highway bill, Keystone pipeline postmortems begin
Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.), a top backer of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, suggested Wednesday that the measure might have stood a better chance of surviving in the highway bill talks if he had been appointed to the formal House-Senate conference committee that hashed out the deal.
Terry, in the Capitol Tuesday afternoon, said he was awaiting word from GOP leadership about why provisions mandating a permit for the project were jettisoned from the final compromise transportation bill.
He reminded reporters he was not on the formal negotiating team when asked about Keystone's demise in the talks.
“It goes back to beginning of the conference, when there wasn’t a real Keystone person put on the conference,” Terry said, referring to himself. “You can draw your conclusions from there.”
He stressed that he was still waiting to hear from GOP leadership about what happened. “I want to find out what the circumstances were. Maybe it was sacrificed for the greater good, as opposed to just pulled out,” he said.
Terry said he's not sure whether he will vote for the final transportation package.
Next steps ...
Terry is also vowing to keep looking for other legislative vehicles to push for a federal permit for TransCanada Corp.’s proposed pipeline that would bring oil sands crude to Gulf Coast refineries.
“We will keep pushing and find other vehicles and other opportunities to push it,” he said. “We are poised and ready to pounce when it occurs.”
Dems to oil companies: Show us the (political) money
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and several other House Democrats say that if oil companies want new federal drilling leases, they should have to increase their transparency of their political giving.
They floated a new bill Wednesday on the matter.
“The American people are being asked to lease more and more public lands to the oil companies, but we can’t see what kind of campaign contributions those oil companies are now making to potentially influence the political process in ways that might influence that process,” said Markey, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, who floated the bill with Reps. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) and Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.).
Under the measure, oil companies could only receive new leases for drilling on federal lands or offshore if they submit information to the Interior Department about “any payments consisting of a contribution, expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication that is made by the [lease] bidder with respect to any election for Federal office.”
The measure is aimed at forcing companies to reveal payments to groups that spend heavily to influence elections to but are not required to disclose their contributors.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Check out these stories that ran on E2-Wire on Wednesday ...
- Lawmakers expected to reach transportation bill deal by late Wednesday
- GOP claiming victory on transportation bill compromise despite Keystone omission
- Senators press Burma nominee on energy sanctions
- Exxon CEO: Global warming is 'manageable'
- Rep. Sullivan's vanquisher: Global warming needs 'clearer evidence'
- US trade officials seek dispute panel on rare earths
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