E2-Wire

Top Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Monday pressed four of the biggest U.S. oil companies to better explain whether they have adequate plans to respond to oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico. 

While BP has been the main target of criticism since the Deepwater Horizon rig it leased exploded April 20 and created the biggest oil spill in U.S. history, other major drilling companies have also begun to face heated scrutiny.

In letters to the heads of ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell, the Democrats demand to know by Friday whether they have plans to protect the Gulf area from a similar blowout, and how they reached that judgment.

The death Monday of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) could create new hurdles for climate advocates who are already struggling to win political traction this year for Senate legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III (D) — who will appoint a successor until an election to fill the seat — has been a strong opponent of cap-and-trade bills and also opposes allowing EPA to regulate greenhouse gases under its current powers.

Byrd, while a longstanding defender of his state’s coal industry, has in recent years moved to the left on climate and had been viewed as a swing vote on a global warming bill.

President Barack Obama will have his hands full when he sits down at the White House on Tuesday with a bipartisan group of senators to talk energy and climate legislation: Not only will he be trying to corral a particularly partisan Senate, he’ll also have to unite a divided Democratic caucus on how best to move a bill this election year.

The conversation may be pivotal in shaping the strategy Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) follows to get a climate bill to the floor in July.
 
"When we get back from that meeting I also think we'll have some sense ... of what might be achievable and then we'll move from there," Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said.

A big environmental group is using Tuesday evening's annual congressional baseball game to highlight Rep. Joe Barton’s (R-Texas) apology to oil giant BP earlier this month.

The National Wildlife Federation has printed 1,000 mock baseball cards with a photo of Barton — a longtime ally of oil-and-gas producers — that labels him a “Big Oil All Star.”

The group plans to hand out the cards outside Nationals Park, site of the annual charity baseball game between lawmakers that benefits the Washington Literacy Council and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington.

The card highlights Barton's votes against climate change legislation and other Democratic energy bills, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the oil-and-gas industry over the past several election cycles.

Vice President Biden will travel to Louisiana and Florida on Tuesday to survey the impact of the oil spill.

The House-Senate deal on overhauling Wall Street financial rules includes a little-noticed provision that forces oil and mining companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments in connection with energy projects in their countries.

The inclusion is a victory for Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), who had failed to force a vote on the provision when the Wall Street bill was on the Senate floor last month.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) offered the provision as an amendment during a marathon House-Senate negotiation that produced a final bill late last week. Democrats hope to hold final votes and send the Wall Street bill to President Barack Obama’s desk before the July 4 recess, though the death of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) leaves Democrats with one fewer vote.

BP’s oil spill response costs have risen to about $2.65 billion, the company reported Monday.

That amount includes the cost of containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs.

Nearly 80,000 claims have been filed by individuals and businesses affected along the Gulf Coast. More than 41,000 payments have been made, totaling about $128 million, $2 million more than BP reported Friday.

Oil is hitting the shores in more Gulf of Mexico states

“Thick oil from BP Plc's Gulf of Mexico spill washed ashore in Mississippi for the first time on Sunday while Russia's president suggested a special levy on oil companies to bankroll a fund to help clean up environmental disasters like this one,” Reuters reports.

“On Sunday, oil was found in at least two areas of Jackson County, and emergency management director Donald Langham said tar balls and a patch of oil were spotted at the St. Andrews beach and at the Lake Mars pier in Gulf Park Estates. The state had been mostly spared the oily mess from the a blown-out undersea well that has spewed anywhere between 69 million and 131 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico the past 10 weeks,” AP notes.

Environmentalists and lawmakers backing greenhouse gas curbs are fighting to keep some form of carbon limits in the mix.

"You asked for the job, Mr. President, so buck up," the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate said.