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OVERNIGHT ENERGY: US Chamber makes energy push in fiscal talks
CEO Tom Donohue is publicly addressing the group’s board tomorrow.
“The Chamber has been strongly promoting the idea that a long term fiscal solution rests not only on spending reductions and tax/entitlement reform, but on what we see as the third leg of a three-legged stool — developing our vast energy resources,” an advisory states.
The Chamber will play a key role in marshaling Republicans to back a compromise on the "fiscal cliff" of automatic spending cuts and tax increases set to hit in January.
The group is pushing to ease regulations and expand access to federal lands and waters for oil-and-gas producers, arguing this will drive growth and boost federal revenues.
THE REST OF THURSDAY’S AGENDA:
Lawmakers to describe Sandy’s ‘devastation’
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will convene a hearing Thursday to explore the “devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy.”
Clean-air group to release poll
The American Lung Association will release a poll aimed at bolstering support for establishment of stronger Environmental Protection Agency soot standards.
House Energy and Commerce to hold Clean Air Act forum
State and local regulators will detail their experiences with implementing federal air pollution laws in a Thursday House hearing.
The gathering is the third installment of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Energy and Power’s Clean Air Act forum. Seven regulators will speak at the event.
The hearing will discuss the possibility of using state-based plans for addressing air pollution instead of adding federal rules.
Speakers include Arturo Blanco, bureau chief of pollution control and prevention with the Houston Department of Health and Human Services; Seyed Sadredin, executive director of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District; and Michael Krancer, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
NEWS BITES:
BP employees arraigned on spill charges
The Associated Press has the latest on the federal criminal case against BP:
Two BP rig supervisors and a former BP executive have pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in the deadly Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and the company's response to the massive 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP well site leaders Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine and BP's vice president of exploration for the Gulf David Rainey remained free on bond following their arraignments Wednesday in federal court.
Click here for the whole story.
Report: Susan Rice owns stock in Keystone pipeline developer
OnEarth magazine reports that Susan Rice, whom President Obama could nominate for secretary of State, owns as much as $600,000 worth of stock in TransCanada Corp., the company seeking to build the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.
The State Department is in charge of the federal review of the controversial proposal for a pipeline to bring Canadian oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries.
The magazine, which is published by the Natural Resources Defense Council, reports that Rice — the current ambassador to the United Nations — also has holdings in a number of Canadian oil producers and related companies.
Check out their story here.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Check out these stories that ran on E2-Wire Wednesday ...
— Lawmaker from natural-gas district snags House Energy subcommittee gavel
— Senators question ban on contracts to BP
— Senate passes amendment keeping biofuel investments in defense bill
— Unions, green groups back Reid in filibuster fight
— Senate to vote on military biofuels purchases
— Sen. Landrieu says Congress might need to ‘step in’ on natural-gas exports
— EPA suspends BP from new government contracts
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