The Senate advanced the water infrastructure bill Tuesday by voting on three more amendments.

On Wednesday, the Senate will resume amendment votes on the bill — there will be six more before final passage.

Turkey has reportedly struck a deal to explore for oil in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region in a move that’s likely to rile the United States and Iraq.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday that its state-owned oil firm will work with U.S. giant ExxonMobil Corp. to develop oil in the Kurdish-run area, according to media reports. Erdogan said Turkey would pursue separate arrangements with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The news could make for a tense meeting between Erdogan and President Obama, who are scheduled to meet this week in Washington, D.C.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Tuesday that he’s hopeful a big energy efficiency bill that cleared his panel last week will reach the Senate floor before Memorial Day.

The bill, sponsored by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), sailed through the committee 19-3 on May 8. It contains an array of provisions save energy in buildings, industrial plants and the federal government.

“I am very hopeful that we can do it before the end of this work period. That is my goal,” he said of the Senate’s work period that ends before the Memorial Day recess.

An appeals court on Tuesday denied complaints from environmental groups that said federal regulators are ignoring the lessons from Japan’s Fukushima meltdown when approving the first U.S. nuclear construction project since 1978.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) will introduce legislation Wednesday calling for increased drilling on U.S. federal lands to displace Iranian oil on the world market, according to a copy of the bill obtained by The Hill.

The bill requires the president to establish enough “Iranian Oil Replacement Zones” on federal lands to produce 1.25 million barrels of oil per day — approximately the amount Iran exports every day.

An Inhofe aide told The Hill that would divert oil the U.S. imports from Saudi Arabia and elsewhere to nations that still buy Iranian crude, such as China, India and Japan. The goal is to give President Obama wiggle room to enforce full sanctions on Iranian oil by ending waivers awarded to some nations. 

Acting Energy Department (DOE) Secretary Daniel Poneman said the Obama administration is not backing down from requests that India eschew solar policies that it says might violate international trade rules.

At issue are Indian requirements that solar energy firms buy all inputs from domestic producers. The subcontinent says that will help grow its solar industry, but the U.S. contends local-content requirements are outlawed by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“At this point our view is, we are in a discussion with India. Our views on … local content are clear, and we’re hoping we can work through this,” Poneman told The Hill on Tuesday after speaking at the U.S.-India Energy Partnership Summit in Washington, D.C.

“I have to say that I regret that my own country ... needs to do more,” the secretary said.

An Associated Press investigation finds that the Obama administration is allowing the wind industry to kill golden eagles and other protected species “with impunity.”

The AP probe opens with a story of a Wyoming wind farm that has proven fatal to a golden eagle about once a month. Here’s AP:

Killing these iconic birds is not just an irreplaceable loss for a vulnerable species. It’s also a federal crime, a charge that the Obama administration has used to prosecute oil companies when birds drown in their waste pits, and power companies when birds are electrocuted by their power lines.

But the administration has never fined or prosecuted a wind-energy company, even those that flout the law repeatedly. Instead, the government is shielding the industry from liability and helping keep the scope of the deaths secret.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. says the Eagle Ford shale formation in Texas could hold 342 million barrels of oil, writes the Houston Chronicle.

Slate says the United States need to double down on carbon capture and sequestration technology.

Green groups said a Monday federal order allows for a more thorough review for restarting a controversial nuclear power plant in California, The Associated Press notes.

Amory Lovins, a much-cited energy expert, debunks arguments regarding the wealth of newfound U.S. oil for the The Atlantic.