E2-Wire

Steven Chu is no longer the secretary of Energy.

Monday was the final day of Chu’s four-year-plus tenure at the Energy Department (DOE).

He's heading back to California to teach at Stanford University, where he was a professor from 1987-2004.

Fisker Automotive, which received $192 million in federal loans, has been a target of GOP criticism.

Bloomberg looks at growing efforts to pare back or scuttle state renewable power standards.

The Washington Post explores a wealth of recent data about public views on climate change.

Reuters reports that European governments are easing sanctions on Syria to allow purchases of oil from rebels. The goal is to throw a “financial lifeline” to rebels fighting President Bashar Assad, the news service reports.

The CBC reports that Canadian officials have launched a Web portal to provide access to environmental data about oil sands.

The International Monetary Fund is urging the government of Sudan to use a $3 billion oil payment from South Sudan to support economic reforms, Bloomberg reports.

The bill would authorize a state-based private financing program to encourage energy efficiency upgrades.

The environmental agency said State officials failed to fully consider alternative routes for the Canada-to-Texas pipeline.

The Federal Trade Commission is moving to eliminate duplicative fuel economy stickers for vehicles that run on alternative fuels.

On Monday, the agency issued a final rule to scrap labels that describe fuel economy, deferring to the labels that are required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Requiring manufacturers to have stickers from two different regulators created undue burdens, the FTC said.

Newly minted Interior Department Secretary Sally Jewell gave a nod Monday to oil-and-gas industry concerns about pending federal rules on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

In speaking about those rules, which she said would come “fairly soon,” the former chief executive for outdoor gear retailer noted, “One thing that’s clear to me from my own experiences is that one size doesn’t fit all.”

That comment — made during a video chat hosted by Interior, which amounted to some of Jewell's first public comments since taking over the department earlier this month — might please the oil-and-gas industry.

Thirty-two Republican senators on Monday warned President Obama that he does not have the authority to require that federal agencies consider the impact of their actions on climate change. 

Led by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, the senators cautioned the administration against including greenhouse gas emissions in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews.

If Obama instructs federal agencies to regulate greenhouse gas emissions through NEPA, it would amount to “a backdoor method to pursue a policy preference that cannot be passed through Congress,” the Republican senators said in a letter sent Monday.

“We think that escalation is critical at this point,” said Becky Bond, an opponent of the project.

A bipartisan group of senators will introduce legislation this week that aims to boost renewable energy development by making the federal tax code friendlier to investors.

Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) will unveil the Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act during a Wednesday news conference, said Ian Koski, a spokesman for Coons.

It would allow investors in renewable energy projects to take advantage of master limited partnerships, which currently are available only to oil and gas endeavors.