E2-Wire

Royal Dutch Shell CEO Peter Voser heads the only oil company that’s still with the U.S. Climate Action Partnership after BP and ConocoPhillips said they were abandoning the industry-enviro coalition last month.

The coalition, which formed in 2007, is a mix of green groups, power companies, automakers and other corporations pushing for cap-and-trade legislation.

“We have a belief that we need a market-based energy legislation in this country. And by the way, in all the other countries as well. We feel that we can do more by being inside U.S. CAP together with the other stakeholders represented there in order to actually achieve the right outcome,” Voser tells the Wall Street Journal in a wide-ranging interview published Monday.

Here’s the whole thing.

EPA had a cautious response (or non-response) last week when Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) introduced his bill that would block regulation of greenhouse gases from power plants and other industrial facilities for two years.

But EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson reacted more boldly on Monday to the bill, which has also been introduced in the House.

“I am not in a position where I am going to stand here and support the idea of EPA not being able to use the Clean Air Act,” Jackson told reporters after a speech at the National Press Club.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Monday that moving away from a broad “economy-wide” climate bill could hinder private sector investment in low-carbon technologies.

A trio of senators hoping to salvage climate legislation are mulling a plan that breaks with the sweeping cap-and-trade bill the House approved last year.

Instead the senators – John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) – are considering a more fragmented plan that could impose a cap-and-trade system on electric utilities only, at least initially.

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is asking the Government Accountability Office to review the permitting process for nuclear plants as others in his party appear poised to offer lucrative incentives to revive the industry. Among his questions is whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has adequately weighed the risks earthquakes and severe weather may pose to nuclear power plants.

Markey, who co-sponsored climate change legislation that passed the House last June, notes that nuclear power generation, “has been offered by some as one answer to the escalating crisis of global warming as the operation of nuclear power plants results in lower carbon dioxide output than burring carbon-based fossil fuels.”

Markey has a number of concerns about nuclear power, despite its low emissions. A “catastrophic accident” poses a greater safety risk than “many orders of magnitude more severe than any other type of power plant,” the letter states.

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EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson suggested Monday that the smash movie Avatar's eco-tint has something to do with its record-breaking haul.

"I ask you to remember that the movie with the environmental message made a lot of money," Jackson noted at a National Press Club appearance.

The film tells the tale of a close-to-nature alien race fighting a mining company from Earth that's seeking to ravage their planet in pursuit of mineral wealth.

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The Senate approved a new grant program Friday aimed at boosting U.S. manufacturing of energy efficient dishwashers, refrigerators and clothes washers.

The amendment to the tax extenders bill on the Senate floor allows manufacturers to receive grants in lieu of existing tax credits for increasing production of the products in the U.S.

The amendment – accepted without debate or vote – was sponsored by Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio).

The New York Times looks deeply into a much-heralded Everglades restoration deal – and finds a clear win for big sugar while the eco-payoff is uncertain.

Gov. Charlie Crist (R) announced plans in 2008 for a massive buyout of United States Sugar in order to restore the unique but badly damaged ecosystem.

“Nearly two years later, the governor’s ambitious plan to reclaim the river of grass, as the famed wetlands are known, is instead on track to rescue the fortunes of United States Sugar,” the story finds. It says the company was in the driver’s seat from the start, and that state officials made deals that ran counter to the immediate needs of the Everglades.

The three senators writing compromise climate legislation are lobbying business groups in hopes of winning their support for the effort.

The unified group will carry the Alliance for Climate Protection name and will be headquartered in Washington.

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Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) isn’t backing colleague Jay Rockefeller’s (D-W.Va.) new bill to force a two-year timeout before EPA can implement rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other industrial facilities.

Both are advocates of their home state’s coal industry. But Byrd doesn’t think Rockefeller’s plan is needed because EPA has already pledged to move cautiously on the rules and will not begin implementing them this year.

“I do not plan to cosponsor Senator Rockefeller’s legislation at this time.  I was encouraged by the response last week from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to a letter that I signed along with other Senators that would delay into next year the application of stronger standards regarding increased efficiency or reduced pollution at large power plants and factories. Following up on my previous conversations with her in my office, I take her at her word,” Byrd said in a prepared statement.

Byrd suggested that trying to block EPA outright isn’t the best strategy for coal.

“As I have pointed out in my op-ed of December 3, 2009 entitled ‘Coal Must Embrace the Future,’ West Virginia needs to have a seat at the negotiating table. I am continuing to have significant discussions about how to ensure the future of coal as a long-term energy resource. I am reluctant to give up on talks that might produce benefits for West Virginia’s coal interests by seeming to turn away from on-going negotiations.  I will continue to negotiate with all who are earnestly engaged in the pursuit of a proper balance between saving jobs, protecting the environment and ensuring the health of our communities,” Byrd said.