E2-Wire

Chief investigator Fred Bartlit said the spill commission had not seen a case where companies favored "dollars over safety."

The folks at FBR Capital Markets believe the looming shift of power in the House will encourage the Obama administration to issue offshore oil-and-gas drilling permits now that the formal deepwater ban has been lifted.

“Election offers an additional source of pressure,” FBR states in a research note Monday morning. “Administration is also interested in resuming drilling before Republicans assume control of Congress in January and promise to use the committee hearing[s] spotlight to pressure the Administration.”

Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), presumptive chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee next year, has already signaled plans to attack the White House over the pace of permit awards.

On Tap Monday: Spill commission puts BP, Halliburton under microscope

The White House-created panel probing the BP oil spill will issue preliminary findings on what caused the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig.

The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling opens a two-day hearing Monday. The bipartisan panel will hear from witnesses including its chief counsel Fred Bartlit — the investigator who said Halliburton knew its cement job on BP’s ill-fated Macondo well was unstable before the accident.

But Haliburton has pushed back against the conclusions. The oil services company will get a chance to defend itself in public on Monday — witnesses include Halliburton’s Gulf of Mexico regional manager for cementing.

On Tap Tuesday: Industry heavyweights, Interior officials at spill panel hearing

The second day of the Washington, D.C., hearings is slated to include ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson and Marvin Odum, who heads Royal Dutch Shell’s U.S. operations. They'll discuss industry safety practices. Michael Bromwich, head of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, will also testify.

Offshore drilling chief hopes ‘consensus’ on agency resources will ‘survive’ elections
 
Bromwich hopes the election that swept Republicans into power in the House won’t jeopardize resources for the offshore drilling regulators.

The Obama administration is seeking an additional $100 million for beefed-up oversight, including more rig inspectors.

“What is important to us is that we have the resources that we need to carry out our mission and to do our job. I think what everyone has agreed on in the wake of Deepwater Horizon, and the reviews of our agency that have been ongoing, is that our agency has never had the adequate resources to do its job,” Bromwich said in a C-SPAN interview broadcast Sunday.

“I am very hopeful that even with what has happened in the election this past week, and even with the emphasis on deficit reduction and budget cutting, that that kind of consensus on the need for us to have additional resources will survive, and we will continue to have that pushed through the Congress,” Bromwich added.

He said pro-drilling advocates should want to ensure the agency gets the cash it wants, because that will enable faster review of drilling permit applications. “It is a lose-lose if we don’t get the resources,” Bromwich said.

Interior, chemical board at odds over blowout preventer autopsy

Interior and a separate federal body — the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board — are trying to resolve an interagency spat over the formal investigation of the blowout preventer, the emergency device that failed to deploy when BP’s Macondo well ruptured.

“It is far from clear as to whether they [the Chemical Safety Board] have a strong claim to make to do an investigation here,” Bromwich said on C-SPAN. “They acknowledged in correspondence with the Department [of Interior] a number of months ago that they weren’t sure that they had jurisdiction to do this investigation. That’s one of the reasons that I find it surprising and somewhat disappointing that they are being so aggressive about pushing their positions and risking a delay in the completion of the most comprehensive investigation that we have going right now.”

The two agencies met Friday to try and smooth things over. “We are hopeful this discussion will lead to arrangements under which the CSB can conduct the independent investigation it is authorized and required to do under federal statutes," the Chemical Safety Board said in a statement to the Houston Chronicle, while a spokeswoman for Bromwich’s agency “described the conference call as cordial and said the agency looked forward ‘to continuing to work together toward a common solution,’” the Chronicle reported.

Obama, Singh vow increased clean-energy collaboration

President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — meeting in India — have agreed to boost bilateral energy collaboration, the White House announced early Monday.

“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama reaffirmed their countries’ strong commitment to taking vigorous action to address climate change, ensure mutual energy security, and build a clean energy economy that will drive investment, job creation, and economic growth throughout the 21st century,” the White House said in a statement.

Here’s a summary of the agreement, which focuses on natural gas, energy efficiency in commercial buildings and other areas.

Clinton hopes for progress at Cancun climate meeting, goes solar down under

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Australia over the weekend, said she’s hopeful for “progress” (nobody’s talking treaty these days) at the next big United Nations climate meeting in Cancun late this year.

But, at a Melbourne press conference Sunday with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Clinton touted steps the two countries are taking even without a global emissions-cutting deal — including a new joint solar-power-research agreement.

“I am one who believed strongly that we accomplished less than what we should have at Copenhagen, but we did come out with an agreement, and we are committed to working with our partners around the world, particularly the Government of Australia, to ensure that we make progress again at Cancun,” Clinton said, referring to last year’s Copenhagen U.N. summit that produced only a weak, voluntary agreement.

“And so, rather than just waiting for global agreements, we have decided, between our two governments, to take steps on our own. First, we are launching, as the prime minister said, a new solar energy research collaboration. We have a common goal of making solar energy competitive with conventional sources by the middle of this decade, 2015. The good news is that the price of photovoltaic modules have dropped about 50 percent in the past 3 years. But to meet our goal we have to drive the price down even more,” Clinton added.

Clinton: Obama ‘very committed’ to tackling climate change

She warned against reading Obama’s admission that cap-and-trade legislation is dead as evidence of a wavering U.S. commitment to battling climate change.

State officials want Interior to give Royal Dutch Shell a green light to conduct exploratory drilling in the Beaufort Sea.

More evidence the natural-gas industry is rushing to capitalize on President Obama’s praise for their product this week: A quartet of trade groups wrote to Obama Friday noting, “Like you, we agree that natural gas represents an opportunity for common ground between Republicans and Democrats.”

Obama, in his remarks after the Nov. 2 elections that handed the GOP House control and shrank the Democrats’ Senate majority, cited gas production as an area ripe for bipartisan cooperation.

An Exxon Mobil Corp. official is applauding President Obama for listing natural gas development as an area ripe for bipartisan cooperation on energy.

“I hope that lawmakers from both sides are listening to the president’s words, so that the U.S. can reap the benefits of natural gas for decades to come,” wrote Exxon executive Ken Cohen on the oil-and-gas giant’s blog Friday.

Obama on Wednesday listed natural gas, nuclear energy and electric cars among the areas where the parties could come together on energy.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) believes the death of greenhouse gas caps could give new life to energy legislation in the next Congress.

“I think energy is an area where there is potential for a bipartisan accomplishment of some consequence,” McConnell told The Wall Street Journal in a video interview posted Friday.

McConnell cited President Obama’s post-election acknowledgment Wednesday that cap-and-trade bills will remain on ice.

House Democrats are angling for top positions on two panels in the next Congress that could have a big impact on energy and environment issues.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Jim Oberstar’s (D-Minn.) unexpected re-election loss has led to rampant speculation over who will be the committee’s top Democrat next year.

Most of the buzz centers on Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) — currently top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee — and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.). Rahall is next in line in seniority on the transportation panel, followed by DeFazio.

“Either of those two would be people to watch,” said Janet Kavinoky, head of the transportation program at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Senate Republican fight over energy panel may be looming.

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) will seek the Energy and Commerce Committee chairmanship if Rep. Joe Barton (Texas) — the panel’s senior Republican — is denied the role when the GOP takes control of the House next year, an aide said.

“Yes, he [Shimkus] will pursue the chairmanship if Mr. Barton does not receive a waiver,” said Shimkus spokesman Steve Tomaszewski on Thursday. “He has started reaching out to members of the Steering Committee and he will be contacting his colleagues shortly.”

Barton’s bid is complicated by House GOP caucus rules that prevent members from serving more than three consecutive terms — or six years — in a top committee slot.