E2-Wire

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that the U.S. hopes to aid development of natural gas from shale formations in other western hemisphere countries even as she acknowledged environmental concerns about the resource.

“The United States will promote the use of shale gas. I know in some places that is controversial,” Clinton said. She spoke at the Energy and Climate Ministerial of the Americas, a two-day meeting of energy ministers hosted by the U.S., the Inter-American Development Bank and the Organization of American States.

The oil-and-gas industry’s increasing ability to tap gas trapped in shale rock formations has helped boost U.S. supplies, but environmentalists and some lawmakers fear that drilling methods that break through the formations will contaminate water supplies.

Congressional Democrats proposed an overhaul of chemical laws intended to give federal regulators more power to restrict use of certain chemicals they deem hazardous.

Legislation introduced in the Senate and a discussion draft released in the House follows a year of talks among various stakeholder groups on how to update the often-criticized Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976.

One prominent special interest, chemical companies, called the legislation released Wednesday a good first step as they signaled opposition to some key provisions in the measure, a fight that could delay final approval despite efforts to get broad buy-in to the reform effort.

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President Obama on Thursday launched a new offensive against coal mine owners whom he accused of shirking safety rules.

The Inter-American Development Bank on Thursday pledged to increase financing for renewable energy and climate-related projects to $3 billion annually by 2012.

The bank's lending for sustainable energy projects will likely reach $1.5 billion this year, IDB said.

The announcement comes at the start of a two-day conference of western hemisphere energy ministers hosted by the bank, the Energy Department, the State Department and the Organization of American States.

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* Mine appeals delayed sanctions

From the Wall Street Journal: “Four dozen coal mines, including the Massey Energy Co. mine in West Virginia where 29 miners were killed this month, escaped tougher enforcement for months while safety citations were being appealed, according to Rep. George Miller (D., Calif.).”

"Mine operators who game the system to avoid tough scrutiny by federal safety officials must be held accountable," Miller said, according to the Journal.

The industry says it supports efforts by Miller, who is the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, to reduce a backlog of appeals at the Mine Safety and Health Administration. National Mining Association spokeswoman Carol Raulston called the backlog an “untenable situation.”

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Over the past several years, reports by the Government Accountability Office, the Interior Department’s inspector general and others have highlighted problems with Interior’s oil-and-gas royalty collection practices.

A major part of the system is still a mess, GAO said in its latest study made public Wednesday.

The report finds that regulators lack “reasonable assurance” that oil and natural gas produced on federal leases is being accurately measured. That’s important because such measurements are needed to ensure that producers are paying what they owe.

Rep. George Miller (D-CA) released a list of 48 mines that federal mine safety officials said last August warranted increased oversight but did not receive it because of unresolved appeals by mine operators. Here's the list.

The list includes the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia where 29 miners lost their lives in an explosion on April 5, Miller’s office said in a release. Miller is the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, which oversees the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The issue of mine companies appealing safety citations has gained greater prominence since the mine disaster, the deadliest in 40 years. Miller’s office said there is a backlog of 16,000 operator appeals.

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) campaign on Wednesday bashed the League of Conservation Voters in response to LCV’s decision to work against her in the 2010 election cycle.

Here’s a statement her campaign released:

The League of Conservation Voters further cements its status as an ultra-liberal group obsessed with arcane restrictions that do little to help the environment and a great deal to harm the economy.

As a member of the Energy Solutions Working Group in the House, Congresswoman Bachmann is dedicated to an ‘all of the above’ approach that will increase the supply of clean, affordable, American-made energy today and encourage investment for newer, more efficient energy technologies for the future. In fact, she has already introduced the Promoting New American Energy Act that would accelerate tax depreciation to 3 years for investments in newer, cleaner, more efficient energy technologies, including solar, wind, and geothermal investments. She will continue to fight against energy tax increases as proposed in the Democrat’s energy proposal and stand up for Minnesotan families and small businesses.

The League of Conservation Voters announced Wednesday that it will work to defeat Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) this year.

The group named Bachmann to its “Dirty Dozen” list of targets for the 2010 cycle, but with a twist – LCV said she won 60 percent in an online vote LCV hosted to select a “people’s choice” addition to the list.

“Representative Bachmann’s landslide win as the ‘People’s Choice’ clearly shows voters are fed up with her over-the-top, anti-science rhetoric in which she continually parrots the talking points of Big Oil and other corporate polluters,” said Tony Massaro, LCV’s senior vice president for political affairs, in a statement.

House Democrats pressured coal company executives Wednesday to drop opposition to climate legislation as the industry faces greater congressional scrutiny following the mine explosion last week that killed 29 miners.

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), the chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, urged executives from Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and Rio Tinto to, “cease efforts to deny the science of global warming” and stop “misleading the public as to the true science behind climate change.”

The focus of the select committee’s hearing Wednesday was on the future of coal, but Markey also asked the executives if the number of safety violations reported at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia prior to the blast was unusually high, in effect launching what is likely to be weeks of congressional inquiry into the industry's safety practices.