West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) has labored to distance himself from President Obama during his Senate campaign, but Manchin’s GOP foe, John Raese (R), says they’re joined at the hip.

“As soon as he gets to Washington he will vote lockstep with Barack Obama,” Raese said on Fox News on Wednesday. “And certainly when we look at cap-and-trade here in West Virginia, and certainly when we look at ObamaCare, you know what's coming if Gov. Manchin goes to Washington, and so do West Virginians.”

Manchin has attacked White House climate and energy policies during his campaign to represent a state that Obama lost handily in 2008. He even fired a bullet through cap-and-trade legislation in a TV ad.


Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina is back on the campaign 
trail Thursday in California, but it is unclear whether her two-day
 stint in the hospital will hurt her chances to pull off a victory on 
Election Day.



Fiorina’s hospitalization earlier this week — the result of an infection 
stemming from reconstructive surgery related to a bout with breast cancer — comes as she
 remains behind Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) in public polls.



Now, she has to assuage any concerns about her health and has to make up for
 valuable campaign time.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will seek a clearer picture from China about its exports of rare earth minerals that are vital to several low-carbon energy technologies.

Clinton indicated in Honolulu that she will “press China this week to clarify its policy on the exports of rare earth minerals amid fears Beijing could use them as a political weapon,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

“Mrs. Clinton, en route to Asia for a key regional summit, stressed following a meeting with her Japanese counterpart in Hawaii that recent Chinese restrictions on sales of the important commercial inputs must serve as a ‘wake-up call’ for the U.S. and its allies to diversify their sourcing,” the article says about her remarks late Wednesday.

Companies seeking federal help to produce the next generation of renewable fuels took their case directly to the White House on Wednesday.



Representatives from three groups — the Advanced Biofuels Association (ABFA), the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and Algal Biomass Organization — met for about an hour with Dan Utech, a senior climate and energy adviser in the administration, and others.


Trade groups for the advanced biofuels industry want to ensure that White House initiatives to boost gasoline alternatives do not benefit only corn-based ethanol.

Analysis: Texas stands alone in dissing climate permitting

Texas is the only state that will not be ready to issue greenhouse-gas permits once landmark Environmental Protection Agency heat-trapping emission controls kick in early next year and will not allow EPA to do it for them, according to a new analysis.

Nearly every state is poised to issue permits when — or soon after — EPA starts its highly contentious restrictions of greenhouse-gas emissions from major polluters, according to the National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA).

All other states — except for Texas — will at least allow EPA to oversee that permitting for them temporarily if they are not able to do it themselves, according to NACAA.

Texas challenged EPA climate oversight

Texas this summer joined other court challenges to EPA’s “tailoring”
 rule — which was finalized in June and is intended to limit greenhouse
-gas limits to larger facilities.

EPA in August said changes were needed in permitting programs in 13 states to cover greenhouse-gas emissions, while other states must
 review their existing permitting authority and tell the agency if such 
emissions are not covered. The agency proposed a federal plan to implement a permitting program temporarily in those states needing time to revise their own 
plans and assume permitting oversight.

NACAA reviewed where things stand in programs in 14 states that do not yet have a proven permitting program to cover greenhouse-gas emissions. Programs in seven states indicated they will soon be able to do this themselves, and six programs indicated they will allow EPA to take over temporarily, the NACAA analysis found.

Obama names energy as 2011 priority

President Obama defended the policy platforms he adopted in his first two years on the job — namely pushing through broad healthcare overhaul — while acknowledging that energy is one job left unfinished.

"We have made a lot of progress over the last 18 months that from a historical perspective ranks up there with any legislative session we've seen in history," Obama said at the tail end of his appearance Wednesday on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart. "And we're going to have to continue to make some progress on things like energy, which didn't get done; on immigration reform, that did not get done."

He added, "And most importantly we've just got to do a lot of more work in generating the kind of jobs that ensure we've got a growing middle class ... because right now I think there are a lot of folks that are worried that if we don't make serious investments in education, in energy, in infrastructure, in research and development, that we're going to start falling behind."

Battle over smog rules escalates



The National Association of Manufacturers is briefing Capitol Hill staff Thursday about EPA’s plan to tighten ozone pollution standards — a proposal that industry groups call too strict and economically harmful.



The briefing is part of a stepped-up campaign against the standards, which are already in the crosshairs of Republicans that hope to lead the Energy and Commerce Committee if the GOP reclaims the House.



The American Petroleum Institute attacked the standards on a conference call with reporters Wednesday, and wants EPA to reconsider. But Howard Feldman, API’s head of regulatory and scientific affairs, acknowledged legislation to block the upcoming smog rules has low odds of passage.

A bit more on the new Pew climate poll: It finds that Republicans who identify with the Tea Party movement are more skeptical about global warming than other GOP-ers.

“Republicans who agree with the Tea Party movement are much more likely than other Republicans to say that there is no solid evidence that the earth’s temperature has been rising,” Pew finds in the poll conducted this month.

“Among Republican registered voters who agree with the Tea Party, fully 70% do not think there is solid evidence that the average temperature on earth is warming. By comparison, only 38% of Republican voters who disagree with the Tea Party or who have never heard of the movement express this view. Half (50%) of Tea Party Republican voters also say global warming is not a problem at all; 24% say it is not too serious, and just 8% think it is a problem that requires immediate government action,” Pew adds in a summary of the findings.

A little-noticed California ballot initiative would “erect significant barriers” to funding state environmental and public health laws, according to a new study.
 
Proposition 26 “could have substantial and wide-ranging impacts on implementation of the state’s health, safety and environmental laws,” according to a Tuesday analysis by the UCLA School of Law.
 
Prop 26 would expand the definition of “tax” under state law to include certain state and local fees and require them to receive two-thirds backing in the state legislature instead of just majority support.

A majority of adults (59 percent) believe there is solid evidence of global warming but only a third attribute it to human activity, according to a poll that mirrors 2009 results yet shows a significant drop from 2006-2008 surveys.

The Pew Research Center poll also shows a sharp partisan divide on climate change, reflecting Capitol Hill divisions that have scuttled legislation to cap greenhouse gases.

The poll of 2,251 adults taken in mid-October shows that 59 percent “say there is solid evidence that the earth’s average temperature has been getting warmer over the past few decades.” The figure a year ago was 57 percent, well below the 79 percent who held this view in July of 2006 and 71 percent in April of 2008.

The former vice president has pounced on global warming skepticism — and denial — in the upstart Tea Party movement.