E2-Wire

House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) has dispatched two committee investigators to the scene of the deadly mine explosion in West Virginia that killed 25 workers and left four missing.

The accident Monday at Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch South mine is the worst mining disaster in the U.S. in over two decades.

One investigator left yesterday and another is en route to the scene today, a committee spokesman said. The committee has jurisdiction over the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller on Tuesday issued a statement memorializing the victims of the worst U.S. mining disaster in 20 years.

At least 25 workers have died in the worst mine explosion in over two decades. Four coal miners were still missing as of Tuesday morning and thought dead.

From the Associated Press: “Rescuers began drilling three deep holes to vent methane and carbon monoxide from the mine so that search teams can go back in. But it will take until evening to get the first hole done and see if the mine air will allow re-entry, Gov. Joe Manchin said.”

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration will investigate this blast “and take action."

“Miners should never have to sacrifice their lives for their livelihood,” Solis said, according to the AP.

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Energy Department spokeswoman Jenni Lee provides the following comment about the lawsuit that utilities filed against DoE Monday over federal nuclear waste fees:

“President Obama is taking action to restart the nuclear industry as part of a broad approach to cut carbon pollution and create new clean energy jobs, including an $8 billion loan guarantee for a nuclear power plant in Georgia. The Administration is fully committed to keeping the nation’s commitment to safely store and manage spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. The fees collected from the nuclear industry are legally mandated and reviewed every year, and will pay the cost of the eventual, long-term disposition of the materials. Secretary Chu has appointed a Blue Ribbon Commission of respected, bipartisan experts to make recommendations on these issues, including how the fees should be handled moving forward.”

Nuclear power companies and state utility regulators are suing the Energy Department.

The big Senate climate and energy bill hasn’t arrived yet, but the battles over money have already begun.

Over at our Hillicon Valley tech blog, my colleague Kim Hart has a post about Google, the major venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, environmentalists and others urging the White House to make household access to energy use data a top priority. The more consumers and businesses know, the more they'll make changes that reduce power use and greenhouse gas emissions, the companies and groups say in a new letter to the White House.

The very early moves in what will probably become a legal battle over expanded offshore drilling began Friday with the Interior Department’s first formal request for public comments on its new plan to allow increased development in federal waters.

Interior’s Minerals Management Service – the agency that regulates oil-and-gas development in federal waters – published a “notice of intent” to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for its planned 2012-2017 leasing plan.

The administration has broadly proposed expanding oil-and-gas exploration to include the large swaths of the mid-Atlantic and southeastern coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and more Arctic waters off Alaska’s northern coast.

The New York Times surveyed the lay of the land for Senate climate and energy legislation Sunday. White House climate czar Carol Browner says it doesn’t resemble the health care terrain.

The Democrats passed health care with no GOP votes (and in the Senate, before their majority went from 60 to 59 seats with the election of Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts).

On climate, Browner sees a chance for several GOP votes beyond Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a co-author of the upcoming Senate bill.

Activists are questioning whether Obama is giving up bargaining chips too early, and risking the support of coastal Democrats.