Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla) said Environment and Public Works Committee Republicans may seek to postpone Thursday morning’s committee vote on Gina McCarthy, the White House nominee to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Inhofe said several committee Republicans will meet at 5 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) also said the meeting was occurring Wednesday.

Asked in the Capitol if Republicans would ask the panel’s Democratic leadership to delay the vote, Inhofe replied, “I can’t tell you that. Ask me at 5 o’clock.”

The first GOP amendment voted on for the Senate’s water infrastructure bill was about gun rights.

The Senate is considering the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which would authorize projects related to flood and storm risk reduction, coast and inland navigation, and ecosystem restoration.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) introduced an amendment to the bill dealing with gun use on Army Corp of Engineer’s land.

Coburn’s amendment failed on a 56-43 vote Wednesday — 60 votes were needed for passage. It would have allowed individuals to carry guns at water resources development projects administered by the Secretary of the Army.

The confirmation process for Energy Department (DOE) Secretary nominee Ernest Moniz has gone on long enough, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told reporters Wednesday.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has stalled the confirmation through a procedural hold. He and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) have concerns about a DOE-managed nuclear fuel project in their state.

Wyden said he and the committee's ranking member, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), have "talked to both senators a number of times, and we’ll continue to do it. I think it’s time to vote.”

At a House Natural Resources Committee hearing, Republicans warned of executive overreach; Democrats accused Interior of caving to industry pressure.

A bill viewed as a bellwether of the Senate’s appetite for passing energy-efficiency legislation breezed through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday.

The bill (S.761), co-sponsored by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), passed the committee by a 19-3 vote. Republican Sens. Mike Lee (Utah), Tim Scott (S.C.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.) opposed the measure.

But even the bipartisan endorsement for the bill might not be enough to get it to the floor. A similar version last year fell victim to a disagreement between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) regarding amendments.

Former Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), who led the House subcommittee that oversaw Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department funding, has joined the prominent law firm and lobby shop Van Ness Feldman.

Van Ness Feldman focuses heavily on energy and natural resource clients, and Dicks will joint the firm as a senior policy counsel, working out of both Washington, D.C., and Seattle.

Dicks didn’t run for reelection last year after 36 years in Congress.

Electric utilities plan to ask President Obama to waive highway tolls for utility crews responding to extreme weather-related power outages, an industry source told The Hill.

Obama is meeting with utility chief executives and trade associations Wednesday at the White House to discuss improving response times to major weather disasters like Hurricane Sandy.

The industry source said it would ask Obama for some quick fixes — mostly on the logistics side of emergency response — to prevent a similar episode, with the toll issue being a good start.

The Washington Post’s editorial board is urging retiring Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to back carbon taxes in the wider tax code overhaul that the powerful Finance Committee chairman wants to achieve.

The Post’s new editorial calls a carbon tax “an elegant policy Congress could immediately take off the shelf.”

It’s not the first time the paper has backed the idea. But The Post’s latest push could buoy a loose collection of policy wonks and climate activists seeking any traction in their steep uphill climb in favor of carbon taxes.

E2-Wire looked at the against-the-odds push in detail here.

"There’s only dirty oil and dirtier oil,” Gore told Canada’s The Globe and Mail.