Energy Secretary Steven Chu used a Wall Street Journal op-ed Tuesday to tout the potential of small, modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) that the Energy Department is trying to get off the ground in the U.S.

“Small modular reactors would be less than one-third the size of current plants. They have compact designs and could be made in factories and transported to sites by truck or rail. SMRs would be ready to ‘plug and play’ upon arrival,” he writes.

The op-ed touts provisions in the fiscal year 2011 White House budget request aimed at helping get designs for these small units licensed for commercial use. Modular construction would help reduce the capital costs of bringing new nuclear power generation on-line, and the units would be suitable for electric grids that can't accommodate large nuclear plants, Chu noted.

Two farm state House members are seeking cosponsors for an upcoming bill to extend a major ethanol industry tax break for five years and boost other incentives as well.

Reps. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) and John Shimkus (R-Ill.) are circulating a “dear colleague” letter for a bill that would extend the 45 cents-per-gallon credit until the end of 2015.

The letter cites a Renewable Fuels Association study released last week that concludes allowing the incentive to die would cost 112,000 jobs. The credit boosts the ethanol market by paying refiners and gasoline blenders to mix ethanol into their product.

The Washington Post reports Tuesday on an EPA ranking of energy efficient buildings nationwide. The Washington, D.C. region ranks 2nd in the nation with 204 buildings that have earned the “Energy Star” rating.

The Post’s conclusion? “Perhaps Washington is an efficient place after all.”

The Denver Post reports that Colorado officials have enacted legislation that increases the state’s renewable electricity standard. Colorado now requires utilities to supply 30 percent of their power from wind or other renewables by 2030.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday that he remains committed to working on climate and energy legislation in the wake of the contentious health care debate, but warned that the effort now faces a tougher road.

“It is going to make it difficult to do anything complicated and controversial,” he told reporters in the Capitol.

Graham has been highly critical of Democrats’ tactics on health care, claiming that plans to use reconciliation to complete the bill will “poison the well” for subsequent initiatives – including the energy bill he’s crafting with Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he plans to meet with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) Tuesday to discuss energy and climate change legislation.

Kerry is working with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) on a compromise measure to impose limits on greenhouse gas emissions and boost domestic production of alternative and traditional energy sources.

Some centrist Democrats have been pushing for the Senate to instead take up the energy package that cleared the Energy and Natural Resources Committee last June, and Democratic leaders are keeping that option open.

Twenty-two Senate Democrats are pressing Majority Leader Harry Reid to bring a broad climate bill to the floor.

Growth Energy is growing. The ethanol group announced the following new hires on Monday:

Katy Ziegler Thomas is joining the group as chief of staff. She previously was the vice president for government relatoins at the National Farmers Union and is also a former aide to Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.). Roger Conway, formerly director of United States Department of Agriculture's Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, has been hired as chief economist at the ethanol group.

Houston Ruck joins as creative director. He had been a designer for U.S. News & World Report. Stephanie Dreyer has been hired as a public affairs associate. She previously worked as deputy press secretary for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Kelly Manning is Growth Energy's new vice president for development. He was the general manager for KSFY TV, the ABC affiliate in Sioux Falls, S.D.

The EPA plans to tighten drinking water standards for four chemicals linked to cancer and more broadly overhaul its strategy for protecting the public from water contaminants.

The agency announced Monday that it will begin writing rules under the Safe Drinking Water Act to lower allowed levels of the compounds tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, acrylamide and epichlorohydrin.

The first two are used in textiles and other industries, the others are introduced into drinking water at water treatment plants, according to EPA.

Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio) circulated draft legislation Monday that expands federal support for technology that traps and stores greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants.

It would also impose emissions standards on individual plants permitted in the decade after the bill’s enactment, but provides a long lead time -- as late as 2030 -- before they kick in.

The plan is another sign that senators are jockeying for position to protect home-state energy interests as broader climate and energy legislation takes shape in the Senate.