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OVERNIGHT ENERGY: SOTU and beyond
ALL EYES ON OBAMA: President Obama will give his State of the Union address in the Capitol at 9 p.m. Tuesday, a speech expected to describe the direction of Obama’s second-term climate change and energy agenda.
Follow The Hill's E2-Wire blog tonight for coverage of the speech and its aftermath.
After SOTU, the deluge: Environmentalists and the oil industry will rush to gain political momentum after the big speech.
The League of Conservation Voters will unveil new polling data Wednesday morning on climate change.
The League worked with Joel Benenson, president and CEO of Benenson Strategy Group, who has been a top pollster for Obama since his 2008 campaign.
The American Petroleum Institute, for its part, on Wednesday will roll out the next phase of its ongoing campaign for push for approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, a project green groups want Obama to scuttle.
API CEO Jack Gerard and Sean McGarvey, president of the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, will hold a call with reporters and discuss new ads and “mobilizing grassroots events across the country.”
They will also unveil new polling on Keystone.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
— Sen. Boxer’s ideal EPA candidate seems to describe Gina McCarthy
— US clears big Chinese oil deal
— Senate Energy Committee lawmakers search for 'sweet spot' on natural-gas exports
— Sen. Whitehouse: Majority Leader Reid happy with climate push
— Executive action expected on climate
THE REST OF WEDNESDAY’S AGENDA:
House panel explores energy trends
On Wednesday, a panel of the House Science, Space and Technology
Committee will hear from the Obama administration’s top energy analyst for a
hearing on “technology, market and policy drivers.”
Energy Information Administration chief Adam Sieminski will testify. Click here for more info.
Sens. Wyden, Murkowski talk natural gas
As if Tuesday’s three-hour-plus hearing wasn’t enough, the Senate Energy Committee’s top Democrat and Republican will discuss the role natural gas can play in U.S. energy policy during a Wednesday event.
Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and ranking member Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) will speak at the Center for Strategic and International Studies forum. The lawmakers will touch on U.S. energy topics other than natural gas as well.
For more on the event, which will be webcast, click here.
NEWS BITES:
Energy agency sees gas prices peaking in May
Reuters reports on the latest data from the federal Energy Information Administration. From their story:
World oil demand will grow faster than previously expected in 2013, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday, and rapid increases in the North American supply may not be enough to keep gasoline prices in check as spring approaches.
The story later adds:
"While EIA expects crude oil prices to come off their current high levels, pump prices will continue to rise over the next few months to peak at $3.73 per gallon in May 2013," said EIA Administrator Adam Sieminksi, citing higher demand and the switch to more expensive summer fuels.
Sen. Hatch open to wind credit oversight
The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee said he is interested in having hearings on the wind production tax credit.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the committee’s ranking member, said he hasn’t actively pushed such oversight because “we’ve got so many other things on our plate.” But he also didn’t close the door on the matter.
“I wouldn’t mind having hearings on that. You reach a point where everybody knows the issue — the question is should we be pouring money into that,” Hatch told reporters Tuesday.
Congress extended the wind power incentive last month for one more year. The wind industry and its congressional supporters are now trying to secure a long-term phase-out of the subsidy.
But some conservative lawmakers have raised concerns about the credit. They say a change to its language expanded the program that will in turn take a bigger slice out of the federal deficit.
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