E2-Wire

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Jon Wellinghoff is stepping down from his post as the nation’s top electric grid regulator.

"He has notified the White House of his intention to resign. The White House has indicated they would like him to stay until his replacement is nominated and confirmed by the Senate; he has agreed to do so,” an FERC official told The Hill in an email.

Wellinghoff’s term as chairman ends June 30, meaning his decision indicates he won’t seek a second four-year assignment.

Electric car firm Tesla Automotive's stock jumped 13 percent to roughly $110 on Tuesday, The Washington Post reports. Tesla repaid a hefty Energy Department loan last week — nine years ahead of schedule.

Apple CEO Tim Cook broke the news at the D11 Conference in Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) urged the Interior Department to preserve records belonging to a recently resigned official, citing ongoing investigations by the panel, according to a letter obtained by The Hill.

Hastings pressed Interior to maintain correspondence and hard drives associated with Steve Black, who was counselor to former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. He cast it as integral to the House panel’s ongoing oversight of the agency’s policies.

“[I]t is imperative that the Department take steps as necessary to protect Mr. Black’s documents from being destroyed and to ensure they remain available in response to Congressional requests,” Hastings wrote to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

The chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee thinks a Southern Californian electric company misled regulators about the safety of a nuclear power plant.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) wants the Justice Department to investigate whether Southern California Edison lied about the state of a closed Pendleton, Calif., facility to avoid a full safety review.

The Interior Department is coming under fresh pressure to slow down planned rules to govern oil-and-gas “fracking” on public lands.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday urged Interior to extend the public comment period on revised draft rules to regulate the process called hydraulic fracturing.

The industry group, which opposes the rules floated on May 16, wants the public comment period quadrupled to 120 days.

Interior is already under pressure from the bipartisan leadership of the House Natural Resources Committee to extend the comment period.

Prominent climate activist and Keystone XL oil sands pipeline opponent Bill McKibben has won a Norway-based prize awarded for environmental work.

McKibben received the Sophie Prize — which comes with a cash award of $100,000 — for his work with 350.org, the climate advocacy group he co-founded. McKibben said he would split the prize between his organization and his alma mater, Middlebury College, provided it divests from fossil fuels.

“This is really an award for the millions of people who make up the growing climate movement,” McKibben said Tuesday in a statement.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is extending the public comment period on draft gasoline and vehicle emissions rules that the refining industry alleges the EPA is ramming through without enough input.

The agency is extending the comment period by 18 days — from June 13 until July 1 — on draft rules that will force refiners to sharply cut the sulfur content of gasoline.

The EPA unveiled the rules in late March, but published them just last week in the Federal Register, a step that formally opened the comment period.

The extension announced Tuesday wasn't enough to satisfy the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group that opposes the rules and says the formal comment period should be 90 days.

A winter storm last December sent the Kulluk rig careening into an island, highlighting a series of Arctic drilling mishaps for Shell.

The Associated Press reports that Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) wants the Justice Department to probe whether power executives “deceived federal regulators” about what led to a radiation leak at a nuclear plant. Read more...