Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson is making her first official trip to China next week as the two economic powerhouses remain largely at odds over curbing global emissions of greenhouse gases. 
 
Jackson will be in China from Oct. 9 to Oct. 14, EPA announced Tuesday. While there, she will renew a memorandum of understanding with China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection regarding technology and scientific cooperation that expired last year.
 
Jackson is also attending the opening of a regional air quality meeting in Beijing, visiting the world’s largest electronic waste site and hosting a town hall meeting with university students.
 
Her trip comes as representatives from about 200 countries are meeting in China this week to try to narrow differences on climate change ahead of the next U.N. climate summit in Cancun, Mexico this December. Few are expecting much breakthrough at the talks this week or in Cancun as the U.S. remains largely at odds with developing nations like China and India in mandating reductions in heat-trapping emissions.

Senior Democrats want Hillary Clinton to press the United Nations for a "global climate fund" to help developing countries.

The slowdown in shallow-water drilling permits following the BP oil spill could cost tens of thousands of jobs and impose a tougher economic blow than the formal moratorium on deepwater projects, according to an upcoming industry-backed report.

Drilling companies and their Capitol Hill allies will likely use the report to criticize the Interior Department, which is coming under strong political pressure from Gulf Coast lawmakers to accelerate permitting.

The report, which will be widely released Wednesday, is written by the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University. The Shallow Water Energy Security Coalition, a recently formed industry group, commissioned the report. It surveys various analyses to date of the drilling restrictions that have followed the oil spill.

Texas lawmakers in both parties are seeking legal protection for oil refiners and others that fear exposure to costly lawsuits if EPA allows an increase in the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline. 
 
As early as next week, EPA is expected to back a request from the pro-ethanol group Growth Energy and say that E-15 — a blend of 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline — is safe for cars as old as model year 2007. By year’s end, the agency will likely announce the same holds true for model years 2001 through 2006.
 
The Texas lawmakers fear the higher ethanol blend could lead to a host of lawsuits against the fuel industry, reminiscent of when the additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) was found to contaminate groundwater.
 
And with the help of petroleum refiners, the lawmakers have drafted bills that would protect not just that industry but others down the production and supply chain.

Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.), who is challenging incumbent Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), has launched a statewide TV ad accusing Vitter of trying to protect BP from liability for the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

But Vitter’s campaign quickly called the spot – which began airing Tuesday – a blatant mischaracterization of Vitter’s legislation.

“After the spill, they had a choice,” the ad begins amid images of oily Gulf waters.

The League of Conservation Voters is targeting candidates, such as Delaware's Christine O’Donnell, who have questioned the science behind climate change.

My colleague J. Taylor Rushing has a good piece that unwraps Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-La.) decision to block Jacob Lew’s confirmation as White House budget chief until the deepwater oil drilling ban is removed or scaled-back. 

Here’s a blurb:

If Sen. Mary Landrieu has irked the White House by blocking the nomination of a key economic adviser, the Louisiana Democrat likely only stands to gain in another corner: her home state.

Although she isn’t up for reelection until 2014, the centrist senator has positioned herself as someone willing to buck her party in the name of homegrown interests.

President Jimmy Carter first installed solar panels, but they were removed during the Reagan administration.

The nation’s biggest green group is locking horns with Tea Party favorites in Nevada and Colorado while defending a hard-won California House seat as part of a broader campaign battle plan unveiled Monday.

The Sierra Club announced new grassroots effort to help 29 vulnerable House and Senate members – including several lawmakers who have come under attack for supporting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) signature climate change bill. 

The group is helping incumbents and challengers who have “strong records” on climate, air and water quality policies, are in competitive races where there is a “clear difference between them and their opponents,” Ken Brame, co-chair of Sierra Club’s political action committee, tells E2.
 
The group is promising to use direct mail, email and phone calls to mobilize its members.
 
The full list of those receiving their targeted grassroots help:
 
House Reps. Gabrielle Giffords (Ariz-8), Jerry McNerney (Calif.-11), Betsy Markey (Colo.-4), Alan Grayson (Fla.-8), Ben Chandler (Ky.-6), Mark Schauer (Mich.-7), Heath Shuler (N.C.-11), Carol Shea-Porter (N.H.-1), Martin Heinrich (N.M.-1), Harry Teague (N.M.-2), Dina Titus (Nev.-3), Mary Jo Kilroy (Ohio-15), John Boccieri (Ohio-16), John Spratt (S.C.-5), Gerry Connolly (Va.-11), Tom Perriello (Va.-5) and Rick Larsen (Wash.-2)
 
House challengers Stephanie Moore (Kan.-3), Bryan Lentz (Pa.-7) and Denny Heck (Wash.-3)
 
Sens. Harry Reid (Nev.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.); Michael Bennet (Colo.), Patty Murray (Wash.) and Russ Feingold (Wisc.)
 
Senate challengers Alexi Giannoulias (Ill.), Robin Carnahan (Mo.), Paul Hodes (N.H.) and Joe Sestak (Pa.)
 
That’s not all, folks
 
Brame promises future independent expenditures for ads and other means as well in those and other races as part of a “substantial investment” Sierra Club is making in the weeks leading up to the November votes.