Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) has officially launched his bid to take hold of the Energy and Commerce Committee in the next Congress, laying out a conservative agenda that includes spending cuts and blocking federal funds for abortions.
 
Upton — who is trying to defy conservative critics who argue he is too moderate to head the panel — said in a letter to House Republican colleagues Monday that his “vision” for the committee “is a conservative agenda.”
 
This includes a pledge to “aggressively cut spending by adopting new Committee rules to foster spending cuts and eliminate government programs,” he wrote. He is also pledging to “protect the sanctity of human life by rigorous oversight and passing legislation to permanently ensure that no federal funds go toward abortion.” He specifically cited abortion funding bills offered by Reps. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) and Chris Smith (R-N.J.).

The Environmental Defense Fund, a group known for playing an inside game that seeks compromise with industry groups, signaled Tuesday it’s taking the gloves off after the collapse of climate-change legislation.

Well, one glove anyway.

EDF President Fred Krupp laid out the group’s new posture in a Huffington Post column that calls the Senate’s failure to pass sweeping climate and energy legislation a “serious setback for America, and for the world.”

The Alaska senator said she expects to win reelection and serve as the senior Republican on the Energy committee.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) was noncommittal Tuesday when asked whether he would challenge Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to lead Republicans on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress.
 
“I don’t speculate on what might happen … we’ve got five openings on the committee,” Burr said.
 
Burr said he has not received any assurances yet from Senate GOP leaders that he would receive the leadership post.
 
“I think, one, you gotta wait for Alaska to be settled; two, you gotta wait for our conference to caucus,” Burr said. “We don’t know which new members are going to be on the committee and all of that can influence the potential outcome.”

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — who ran away from the White House climate agenda on the campaign trail — hopes to sit on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Manchin told Environment & Energy Daily that energy policy is one of his strengths.

“I understand it. I want to make sure the nation is secure,” he said Monday, according to the piece. “You have to be energy independent to be secure, and you got to use everything you got.”

On Tap Tuesday: Green finance group unveils energy agenda

Tuesday will bring a major new addition to proposals for advancing clean-power projects now that sweeping climate legislation is on ice.

The nonprofit Coalition for Green Capital will present a broad blueprint for expanding renewable energy and transmission deployment at a Washington, D.C., conference dubbed “The Future of Energy Reform.”

The Coalition — headed by Clinton-era Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt — is hosting the event with the Center for American Progress and the American Council on Renewable Energy.

The proposal comes as a suite of groups and lawmakers are seeking to define the energy agenda in the upcoming Congress.

“The framework is very much designed to think about how you could drive private capital into investments focused on deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy on a national basis, at scale,” said Bracken Hendricks, a director of the Coalition for Green Capital.

An ‘investment agenda’ with roots in telecom law

Hendricks said the group crafted the "investment agenda" with an eye toward the big 1996 telecommunications law — a statute crafted under a Democratic president and a GOP Congress.

“It [the telecom legislation] moved because it was driving capital investment and it was about the growth of industry, and there were very significant economic development dimensions to it that were able to get bipartisan consensus,” he said in an interview Monday.

A major element is expanding the availability of low-cost financing for clean-energy projects. The group suggests a new nonprofit, public-private entity called the “Energy Independence Partnership.”

It would not be a government agency, but would be able to borrow at Treasury rates, Hendricks said.

Clean-energy standard in the mix

The plan is not devoid of mandates — it picks up the idea of a renewable electricity standard, which would require utilities to supply escalating percentages of their power from low-carbon sources.

But it also would allow non-renewable low-carbon sources, like new nuclear power plants, to qualify, Hendricks said. He quickly added that the overall standard would be higher in regions where these sources count toward the requirement.

A wider “clean” energy standard — as opposed to a renewables-only mandate — is favored by some Republicans, such as Sen. Lindsey Grahan (R-S.C.).

“We talk about the possibility that we could allow more of a clean-energy standard on a state-by-state basis, and in exchange for that you would have a higher bar,” Hendricks said. “We feel that some level of regional flexibility in the standard can actually get a much more robust overall national commitment to clean-energy deployment.”

Other aspects of the plan include new federal powers to site transmission lines for renewable energy, although Hendricks stressed that the proposal is highly deferential to state planning up front.

Various proposals for clean-energy standards and so-called backstop transmission siting power have been kicking around for years.

But Hendricks said the new plan — which he called a “springboard” for discussion — is crafted to find a political sweet spot.

“The debate around clean-energy deployment presents an opportunity ... for utilities, for the renewable energy industry, for the environmental community, for pro-business Republicans and pro-growth Democrats to come together,” said Hendricks, who is also a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress.

The plan also includes several other elements, including tax incentives and changes to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rules aimed at accelerating deployment of renewable power projects.

Stearns highlights business experience in bid for Energy and Commerce gavel

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) is touting his experience on the Energy and Commerce Committee, as a businessman, and in the military in his long-shot bid to head the panel in the next Congress.

“In the name itself is commerce, which is business, and I had built a business from scratch and met a payroll and actually was successful in dealing with all the things that you have to deal with on Energy and Commerce,” the former Air Force aerospace engineer told reporters in the Capitol Monday evening. "I think the leadership that I’ve shown in those three careers, particularly dealing with the outside commerce, is very important."

Voters, he added, “want to change the direction of this country. It’s all about jobs and I think with my voting record, together with my experience in the private sector, is what this change is all about.”

Stearns may have been subtly picking on Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who is the favorite to lead Republicans on the panel despite an effort by some conservatives to paint him as too centrist. When asked about Upton, Stearns took the high road: “I’m just running a positive race and I’m very respectful for anybody that’s running for this position.”

Upton has more seniority than Stearns — though only by one term, as Stearns has emphasized.

Stearns said he is running for the job if Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton (R-Texas) does not receive a term-limit waiver. “Joe Barton, I think, has done a very good job. It’s not up to me, it’s up to the steering committee,” he said. “If Barton does not get the waiver, then I’ll put my hat in the ring.”

Stearns is not considered a top contender for the job, though he said he should be vetted and is meeting with House GOP leaders and others on the still-forming steering committee.

“I’m getting nothing but positive feedback and I think we’ve been a team player,” he said. “And we’ve recognized the success I’ve done on the committee when we’re in the majority, together with my seniority, I think puts me in an able position to do the job.”

And finally ... ‘spillcam’ rising

The Global Language Monitor has named ‘spillcam’ — the video feed that captured BP’s underwater oil gusher in real time — among the top words of 2010, CNN reports.

In case you missed E2 Wire yesterday

Check out these Monday posts:

Upton presses Browner for details on oil spill report edits

Waxman expects stalemate under GOP-ruled Energy and Commerce

Issa downplays prospect of Oversight Committee ‘climate-gate’ probe

Rockefeller, Reid set to meet Tuesday on vote delaying EPA climate regs

Murkowski wants to keep top GOP slot on Natural Resources

Markey, Dorgan call electric cars a political sweet spot in split Congress

Jindal mum on 2012 White House bid; criticizes Obama on response to oil spill

Green, labor groups offer lame-duck wish list

Waiver may be Barton's only shot at chairing E&C, Walden suggests

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A Michigan Republican seeking to chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee is pressing White House energy czar Carol Browner for information about controversial changes her office made to a May Interior Department report on offshore drilling safety.

In a letter to Browner Monday, Rep. Fred Upton asked about recent findings by Interior’s inspector general, who concluded that the White House edits left the impression that outside experts consulted on the report had endorsed a six-month ban on deepwater drilling. 

They hadn’t. And now Upton – who had already signaled that Browner is in his crosshairs – wants to know more about the rationale for the edits.

Interior Department officials are emphasizing the inspector general’s conclusion that they did not intentionally seek to mislead.

Top Energy and Commerce Committee Democrat Henry Waxman Monday said he expects a stalemate on the panel in the next Congress under Republican rule.



“I have a sense, and I hope to be disappointed, that the Republicans in the House are going to roll over the Democrats on committee and in the House,” said the California Democrat, who will continue to lead his party on the panel during the next two years.


“Right now, my expectations are the Republican leadership will find it hard to reach compromises in the House because they have a lot of pretty hard-lined Republicans in their ranks who didn’t come here to compromise.”

Waxman said any GOP attempts to stonewall Democrats in the House will face resistance in a tight Democratic majority in the Senate.



“They will find that that will not get them a change in the law because those efforts will be stopped in the Senate,” Waxman told reporters in the Capitol Monday evening. “If we wanted to try to work together in the House, perhaps we could find ways to encourage the Senate to get the votes they’ll need to pass something, and as well to encourage the president to sign a bill. But otherwise I can see two years of a lot of stalemate.”

Global warming skeptics eager to see ascendant House Republicans put climate science under the microscope might be disappointed in Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).

Issa – the likely chairman the Oversight and Government Reform Committee in the next Congress – signaled to reporters Monday that his interest in probing “climate-gate” has waned.

“I will have limited resources and limited time. I am looking at things that fall between the cracks, but also I am looking for the largest dollars of waste, and although this is a significant issue, it may not be the issue that first comes to my committee, and we are willing to realize that I only have so many resources and so much time,” he told reporters in the Capitol Monday evening.