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OVERNIGHT ENERGY: GOP, US Chamber seek energy traction
STATE OF PLAY: Senate Republicans and a powerful business group will push a pro-drilling agenda with separate events on Thursday.
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) will roll out energy legislation that’s backed by Senate GOP leaders. The plan will require increased onshore oil-and-gas leasing and authorize the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, among other provisions.
Click here for more on the bill, which Hoeven will tout at a midday press conference with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and others.
Speaking of drilling, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) unveiled a separate plan Wednesday that would mandate a major expansion of offshore oil-and-gas leasing, going far beyond the narrower White House plans.
Murkowski attracted a trio of centrist Democrats on her bill, but neither her plan nor Hoeven’s (which Murkowski supports) will move this year. They are, however, at least a partial roadmap for the GOP energy agenda if Republicans re-take the Senate.
Off Capitol Hill, the energy arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday will launch what it calls a major campaign to “highlight the vast potential of shale energy.”
The Chamber’s Institute for 21st Century Energy will hold a press conference with industry and business representatives from Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
“Tomorrow, the Chamber will hold a national launch for a new campaign that will bring the voice of the broader business community to the shale energy debate,” a spokesman said.
Use of hydraulic fracturing to tap big supplies of natural gas and oil from shale formations is fueling a U.S. production boom, but bringing pollution fears along with it.
DEMOCRATS HIT BACK WITH OIL-ROMNEY LINK . . .
Democrats won’t be silent on energy Thursday.
Two lawmakers and a liberal advocacy group will use major oil company profit reports to try and politically tether Mitt Romney to “big oil.”
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and the Center for American Progress Action Fund will hold a press call to “discuss Romney’s tax giveaway to Big Oil and ways that taxpayer subsidies could be put to better use for the benefit of consumers and working families.”
Oil giants Exxon and Shell will report their second quarter profits on Thursday and Chevron reports on Friday, among other company tallies this week.
Democrats are pushing plans to repeal billions of dollars worth of industry tax breaks. But they will face competition as they try to put a politically favorable stamp on the earnings reports.
The American Petroleum Institute, a major industry trade group, will hold a call with reporters on topics including “job creation and economic investment as companies announce second quarter earnings.”
Quote of the Day: "What isn't DOA in the Senate?" – Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), on Democrats who criticized the House GOP for taking up an offshore drilling bill that's unlikely to pass the upper chamber.
Coming Thursday morning in The Hill: Our profile of James Watson, the head of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Check it out in print and online.
NEWS BITES:
Sen. Cardin enters ethanol fray
Momentum may be building for legislation that would let the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lower biofuels quotas, but supporters will nonetheless have a tough time securing a vote.
Cardin’s and Goodlatte’s offices have been working together on the effort, which would allow a reduction in the amount of ethanol that's required to be blended into the nation's motor fuel supply.
“I think there is probably the support to do something to help the impact that corn-based ethanol is having on the food chain,” Cardin told The Hill on Wednesday. “Whether we can find a vehicle and find a process to get it done is going to be extremely challenging because of the calendar.”
Cardin said that poultry and agriculture interests have contacted his office with concerns about the rising cost of corn. Those groups say biofuels production during the current drought is depleting corn stocks used as feed for livestock and poultry. That pricier input will also increase consumer costs for food, such as beef and chicken.
The House and the Senate bills both would let EPA reduce corn-based ethanol requirements in the Renewable Fuel Standard by as much as 50 percent, depending on the amount of available corn relative to use.
The EPA’s renewable fuel standard, which is the rule both bills would impact, requires domestic use of 15 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol by 2022.
The only significant difference between the two bills is the House version would permit production changes twice per year based on a pair of biannual reports. The Senate version would allow just one yearly revision.
EPA calls water safe in ‘fracking’ town
The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that the water in a rural Pennsylvania town famous for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, activity is safe enough to drink, Reuters reports.
Fracking injects a combination of water, chemicals and sand into tight rock formations to unlock natural gas.
Dimock, Pa., residents had long complained that fracking yielded clouded, odd-smelling water. The EPA will stop giving four homes alternative drinking water as a result of its finding.
Alt-fueled vehicles under House microscope
A House subcommittee will take a look at the Obama administration’s efforts to support alternative fuel vehicles in a Thursday morning hearing.
The House Science, Space and Technology Committee Energy and Environment Subcommittee will hear from two Energy Department (DOE) officials and Brian Wynne, president of the Electric Drive Transportation Association.
The hearing will discuss whether taxpayer dollars are used efficiently in the administration’s alternative fuel vehicle efforts.
The federal government offers an array of incentives for developing alternative fuel vehicles. The Departments of Energy, Treasury, Transportation and Agriculture as well as the Environmental Protection Agency all administer some of those incentives.
Kathleen Hogan, deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency with DOE, and Rickey Hass, deputy inspector general for audits and inspections with DOE, will represent the administration at the hearing.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Check out these stories that ran on E2-Wire on Wednesday ...
- Oil lobby sues EPA for biofuels requirement
- Senate committee moves chemicals bill without GOP support
- Obama backers promote wind energy in Iowa
- House panel approves 'No More Solyndras' bill
- Dems accuse GOP of playing politics with offshore leasing bill
- House votes to replace Obama administration's offshore drilling plan
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