E2-Wire

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is striking back at Democratic attempts to politically tether her resolution that blocks EPA climate change rules to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and support for “big oil.”

“I am flabbergasted that they would be jumping to this conclusion, to make this suggestion that somehow or other a vote in support of this resolution of disapproval is a vote that means that what has happened in the Gulf is something to be condoned,” Murkowski told reporters Wednesday at a press conference in the Capitol.

She argues that EPA regulation of greenhouse gases would have harmful effects across a broad swath of the economy. Murkowski’s plan is up for a Senate vote Thursday.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday threw his support behind a new energy bill sponsored by Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) even though it lacks mechanisms to create a cost for emitting greenhouse gases that Graham has called fundamental in the past.

The action comes weeks after Graham backed away from the climate change bill he had been crafting with Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).

Graham touted Lugar’s bill – which includes a suite of conservation and low-carbon energy programs but omits carbon limits – when the two Republicans appeared at a Capitol press conference Wednesday afternoon.

Actress Ashley Judd said the federal government is supporting “the rape of Appalachia" because it allows mountaintop removal mining.

Judd, in a speech at the National Press Club Wednesday, criticized the controversial practice.

Mountaintop removal mining (MTR) is a form of surface mining that involves the use of explosives on the summit or summit ridge of a mountain to expose underlying coal seams.

It’s a common form of mining in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky and West Virginia.

Judd, a Kentucky native, called it “strip mining on steroids” and choked up as she talked about its environmental damage in her home state.

She called for an end to the practice and singled out other politicians for criticism and praise.

She was critical of Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), saying “his policy stance about coal mining is destructive to the people of Appalachia.”

But she praised Rep. Ben Chandler (D-Ky.) for opposing MTR mining and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), who has become more critical of the mining process.

“If he can do it, anyone can do it,” she said of Byrd’s change in stance on the coal industry, one of the biggest employers in West Virginia.

Judd has worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups to help end the practice.

The EPA in April announced it was strengthening the environmental review and permitting process for mountaintop removal in Appalachia.

-- This post was updated at 5:34 p.m.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations put out a call Wednesday for Muslims to pray for an end to the BP Gulf oil spill.

CAIR asked imams across the country to use sermons this Friday to pray for a resolution to the oil crisis and ensuing environmental disaster.

Mosque officials are also being asked to rally community members to volunteer for Gulf Coast relief efforts as part of the group's "Muslims Care" initiative.

"Engineers, officials and residents of the Gulf Coast are doing their best to mitigate this environmental disaster, and people of faith must also do what they can to seek divine intervention when human efforts fall short," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad in a statement citing Quranic verse. "Along with the prayers, we ask American Muslims to volunteer their time and talents to assist in the massive clean up effort."

Awad said CAIR chapters also encourage other faiths to get involved in the prayer and relief efforts.

A woman who identified herself as a fisherwoman from Seadrift, Texas, stood up a few rows behind Salazar and doused herself with dark syrup.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday defended the six-month freeze on new deepwater oil drilling that has been criticized by some Gulf Coast officials, but also suggested it might end sooner than planned.

The ban is in place while a bipartisan presidential commission explores the root causes of the BP oil spill and needed reforms.

But the White House is under growing pressure from Gulf Coast politicians – including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), Rep. Charles Melancon (D-La.) and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) – who say the half-year ban will idle thousands of workers in the already suffering region.
Read more...

The bill could become a rallying point for GOP energy efforts, but it also is a blow to Democratic climate change legislation.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a Senate panel Wednesday that BP is capturing 15,000 barrels of oil a day from its blown-out Gulf of Mexico well but it's unknown how much more is escaping into open water.

Salazar said he and Energy Secretary Steven Chu spoke with BP executives Wednesday morning about the effort, which began late last week after the lowering of a containment structure that funnels oil to the surface for capture.

Salazar said an updated federal estimate of the oil flow is being prepared.

Sen. Rockefeller said he will support Murkowski's resolution, which would halt EPA regulation of greenhouse gases.

Oil collecting under the surface presents threats to marine ecosystems

“The government and university researchers confirmed Tuesday that plumes of dispersed oil were spreading far below the ocean surface from the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, raising fresh concern about the potential impact of the spill on sea life,” the New York Times reports.

Time magazine notes that BP has been skeptical of the subsea oil claims.