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OVERNIGHT ENERGY: The wonk before the storm
STATE OF PLAY: Plenty of lawmakers are threatening to legislate on energy policy these days, ranging from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) reviving calls to nix oil industry tax breaks to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) unveiling a huge “blueprint” Monday.
On Tuesday, advocates and lawmakers of various stripes will marshal their rhetorical forces ahead of the battles to come. Here’s a roadmap to some of the reports, speeches and hearings tomorrow:
House Energy panel to weigh U.S. resources ...
A House Energy and Commerce Committee panel will hold a hearing Tuesday that explores the U.S. oil-and-gas production boom. The panel’s GOP leadership and other Republicans have consistently pushed to ease what they call federal barriers to even faster development.
The Energy and Power subcommittee hearing, with a focus on an “assessment of North America’s energy resources,” will include testimony from Pulitzer Prize-winning analyst Daniel Yergin and Adam Sieminski, the head of the federal Energy Information Administration.
“There is increasing concern that because policy makers in Washington, D.C. may be unaware of the vastness of the nation’s energy resources [...] energy policy is being developed with incomplete information, which has economic and geopolitical implications,” a GOP memo on the hearing states, noting increased estimates of domestic resources.
... as senior Republican talks energy with state regulators
Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), who leads the House Energy and Power subcommittee, will be among the speakers Tuesday at the big Washington, D.C., conference of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC).
He’s slated to outline the subcommittee’s agenda and “discuss how new federal regulations will impact the utilities sector,” an advisory states.
State, Energy Department officials on hand, too
Former Interior chief Babbitt to float new energy plan
Bruce Babbitt, who served as President Clinton’s Interior secretary, will appear at the National Press Club Tuesday armed with what organizers promise are new ideas about U.S. energy development.
Babbitt will “announce a new proposal to help translate the current energy boom into sustainable economic growth and improved stewardship of iconic landscapes for future generations,” an advisory states.
“Mr. Babbitt will discuss opportunities for the Obama administration and Congress to implement the type of bold agenda for energy and conservation that President Obama called for in his recent inaugural address,” it states.
BP looks into crystal ball
Mark Finley, oil giant BP’s general manager of global energy markets and U.S. economics, will offer the company’s “Energy Outlook 2030” Tuesday.
He will appear at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Groups make case for renewables
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute and the American Council On Renewable Energy will hold a Capitol Hill forum Tuesday on renewable energy “technology, trends and economics.”
Speakers include Steven Chalk, the Energy Department’s deputy assistant secretary for renewable energy. Click here for more info.
Conservative group to make revenue case for drilling
The conservative Institute for Energy Research (IER) will unveil a report Tuesday that will make the case that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has low-balled the revenues that opening more federal lands and waters to drilling would provide.
A report prepared for IER by a Louisiana State University professor will assess CBO estimates, which have forecast very modest federal leasing and royalty revenues.
“The report also offers contrasting projections of the potential revenue impacts, job creation, and overall GDP growth that energy resource development on federal lands would provide,” an advisory states.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Check out these stories that ran on E2-Wire Monday and over the weekend ...
– Outgoing EPA chief regrets lack of dialogue with rural America
– Sen. Murkowski backs calls to reevaluate biofuel mandate
– Biden vows climate change action in meeting with French president
– Gasoline costs take biggest share of household income in three decades
– Sen. Murkowski: Super Bowl blackout could ‘kick-start’ energy-policy debates
– Murkowski launches push for expanded drilling, green-energy policy revamp
– Gore presses Obama to ‘follow through’ on climate change promises
– Report: Top EPA air quality official in line to replace outgoing administrator
NEWS BITES:
Cyberattack at DOE affects ‘several hundred’ employees, contractors
The Department of Energy said Monday that it was the victim of a cyberattack last month that “resulted in the unauthorized disclosure of employee and contractor Personally Identifiable Information.”
DOE said no classified data was compromised. The department said it is working with federal law enforcement officials to assess the full impact of the attack, which it said might have affected “several hundred” employees and contractors.
Top natural-gas lobbyist resigns
America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) CEO Regina Hopper said Monday that she would step down on Feb. 28.
Hopper is leaving the association she has led since 2009 to return to litigation communications. Before heading ANGA, Hopper held senior positions with USTelecom and the American Trucking Associations.
“I was hired to build an effective and powerful advocacy organization with strong fiscal management,” Hopper said in a Monday statement. “By all accounts we have achieved these important objectives.”
ANGA has not yet named Hopper’s successor.
Weekly gas price increase hits two-year high
DOE said the 18-cent increase in gas prices between this week and last week represented the largest one-week jump in two years.
The national average for unleaded fuel hit $3.54 per gallon this week, ABC News reported Monday. Despite the spike, the AAA motor club said it does not expect gas prices to reach last year's highs.
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