OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Energy Secretary Chu, Sen. Mark Udall to make case for wind credit

State of Play: The battle over renewal of tax credits for wind energy projects is reaching a critical phase as advocates work in public and behind the scenes to prevent the incentive from lapsing.

On the public side, look for Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) to make the case for the production tax credit, which expires Dec. 31, at a joint event Wednesday.

Chu and Udall will hold a webcast chat Wednesday afternoon about wind power’s future and take questions from in-person and social-media audiences.



“During the event, Secretary Chu and Sen. Udall will discuss the progress of wind energy and the importance of robust policy support to ensure continued American leadership in the sector,” the Energy Department said in an advisory about the 4 p.m. event.

Meanwhile, Udall and other wind advocates are trying to find a place for the credit in the year-end deal-making to avoid the “fiscal cliff.”

“There are a lot of quiet conversations,” Udall told reporters in the Capitol on Tuesday, while Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said “the situation is very fluid.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out these stories that ran on E2-Wire Tuesday. . .

— Defense bill preserves military biofuels program

— Wyden open to moving nuclear waste to interim storage sites

— Sen. Boxer firms up plans for weekly ‘climate change clearinghouse'

— Offshore drilling regulator calls agency 'powerhouse' enforcer

— TransCanada CEO says Kerry pick shouldn't change Keystone pipeline's status

— Sen. Manchin: Ad shooting cap-and-trade bill showed ‘responsible’ gun use

NEWS BITES:

Commerce affirms tariffs on Chinese, Vietnamese wind towers

The Commerce Department on Tuesday finalized tariffs on Chinese and Vietnamese utility-scale wind-tower producers.

Chinese firms will get hit with an anti-dumping duty for as much as 70.63 percent for selling the towers below fair value. Commerce also slapped those companies with countervailing duties of up to 34.81 percent in retaliation for Chinese government subsidies.

Commerce also issued anti-dumping duties of up to 58.49 percent on imports from Vietnamese manufacturers.

From Reuters:

The action was the latest clash between the two countries over U.S. imports of green technology from China. It came as a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Wang Qishan was in Washington for the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meeting, a high-level bilateral forum to address barriers to trade and investment.

Sheen near BP well stumps investigators

The Associated Press reports from New Orleans:

Officials say underwater inspections at the site of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig disaster have failed to identify the source of a persistent sheen on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

The Coast Guard said Tuesday that the recent inspections confirmed BP’s Macondo well remains secure and isn’t leaking any oil. The well blew out in April 2010 and spawned the nation’s worst offshore oil spill.

Click here for the whole thing.

Oil industry group sues over ‘fracking’ ban

Bloomberg reports on battles over oil-and-gas "fracking" in Colorado:

The Colorado Oil & Gas Association sued the City of Longmont to overturn a voter-approved ban on the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract oil and gas from sand and shale formations.

The industry group, in a complaint filed yesterday in state court in Greeley, Colorado, claims the resolution deprives land owners of property-development rights and conflicts with state law allowing the practice. 

Click here to read the whole story.

Study: Air pollution deaths hit record in 2010

A record 3.2 million people died from the effects of air pollution in 2010, according to a study in the British medical journal The Lancet.

The culprit was largely emissions from cars, The Guardian reported.

A majority of the deaths — 2.1 million — occurred in Asia.

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 Zack Colman, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Follow E2 on Twitter: @E2Wire, @Ben_Geman, @zcolman