Energy/Environment

The House will vote next week to allow construction of the northern portion of the Keystone XL oilsands pipeline.

The Senate passed a bill Thursday that would stop the Army Corps of Engineers from restricting fishing waters.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) introduced the Right to Fish Act, S. 982, which was passed in a unanimous consent agreement.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) urged his colleagues Thursday to support a bill he introduced, which would eliminate oil exports from Iran by expanding U.S. production.

The Iran Sanctions Implementation Act, S. 965, would require President Obama to expand U.S. domestic oil production on federal lands to offset Iran’s oil exports to the international community.

The Senate voted 97-0 to approve President Obama’s nomination of Ernest Moniz to head the Department of Energy.

Republicans have threatened to block her nomination, raising questions about transparency at the EPA.

Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) on Wednesday accused the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of exempting left-leaning political groups and green energy producers from various fees and fines that it routinely assesses to right-learning groups.

Whitfield, who chairs the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Energy & Power, called the EPA's actions a "pattern of conduct in which this administration rewards its friends and punishes its opponents."

The bill faces an uncertain future in the House, were lawmakers are concerned about the discretion it would give Obama.

The Senate advanced the water infrastructure bill Tuesday by voting on three more amendments.

On Wednesday, the Senate will resume amendment votes on the bill — there will be six more before final passage.

The Senate reached an agreement Tuesday to hold the final passage vote on a water infrastructure bill.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and ranking member David Vitter (R-La.) introduced the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). S. 601 would authorize Army Corp of Engineer projects related to flood and storm risk reduction, coast and inland navigation, and ecosystem restoration.

The Senate is slated to vote next week on Ernest Moniz, President Obama’s nominee to run the Energy Department.

Lawmakers reached an agreement Thursday to proceed with the vote on Moniz, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist who served as undersecretary of Energy in the Clinton administration. It will occur as early as Tuesday.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) had been holding up a vote over his concerns about federal management of a program in his state to transform weapons-grade plutonium into fuel.

But the Senate’s “unanimous consent” agreement reached Thursday to allow the vote to proceed means Graham has lifted the procedural block on Moniz. Graham’s office did not comment Friday morning.