Energy/Environment

"The time for the waiting game is over," Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said on the Senate floor late Thursday.

The Senate passed an amendment to the defense bill Thursday that would strike the prohibition on biofuel refinery construction.

The amendment allows the Department of Defense to invest in refineries for “advanced” biofuels through a joint Agriculture, Energy and Navy Departments agreement.

The Senate approved an amendment to the defense authorization bill Wednesday that would restore the military’s ability to invest in biofuels.

Sen. Mark Udall’s (D-Colo.) amendment, 2985, strikes Section 313 of the National Defense Authorization Act, S. 3254, which bars the military from purchasing biofuels that cost more than petroleum.

The Senate will vote Wednesday on Sen. Mark Udall’s (D-Colo.) plan to ensure that the Defense Department may purchase biofuels.

Udall’s amendment to defense policy legislaton would strike provisions that bar the military from buying alternative fuels that cost more than petroleum.

Udall said the military historically has boosted energy sectors with investment. He said that developing the domestic biofuels industry would also improve national security and mitigate energy-related price shocks by reducing dependence on foreign oil.

“We have always spent money on energy development. It has made us safer,” Udall said in a Wednesday floor speech.

Republicans stopped Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-Mont.) Sportsmen’s Act dead in its tracks Monday evening.

The Sportsmen’s Act, S. 3525, would have increased access to federal land for hunters and fishermen, while also supporting conservation measures, but Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) raised a budget point of order, saying Tester’s bill violated the Budget Control Act.

Montana Sens. Max Baucus (D) and Jon Tester (D) told Senate leadership that they don’t want programs reducing military use of foreign oil to be harmed in the National Defense Authorization Act.

"Smart investments in homegrown energy sources grow our economy and increase our energy independence," Tester said in a statement Monday. "Our military's leadership in alternative energy will strengthen our national security and create jobs here at home."

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on Friday vowed to fight against ethanol mandates during the next Congress after the Environmental Protection Agency refused to waive the regulations.

“I'm disappointed that the EPA chose to disregard the impact this growing mandate will have on Americans' food costs by denying the waiver request I supported,” Toomey said in a statement Friday. “It's time for Congress to put an end to ethanol mandates, and I look forward to working on this during the 113th Congress.”

Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) called on President Obama to meet with senators to discuss the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline “in the near future.”

In a letter to the president, sent Friday, a group of 18 senators urged Obama to create thousands of jobs by approving the pipeline, which would transport oil from Canada through the United States for processing at refineries in Texas and Louisiana.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said Thursday that she would ask the Department of Justice to probe this year’s gas price spikes.

Cantwell’s announcement came after a new report was released Thursday raising questions about whether artificial shortages were occurring in May and October while West Coast gas prices skyrocketed above $4 per gallon.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) threatened to bring a budget point of order against the Sportsmen’s Act Thursday, unless amendments are made to the bill.

Sessions said because the bill raises revenue to pay for itself, it’s a violation of the Budget Control Act, which set spending levels for the government.

“Generally I am supportive of the package. I think it has some good qualities to it ... but there’s a small problem that needs to be fixed,” Sessions said on the Senate floor Thursday morning. “The majority has brought forward a bill that violates the Budget Control Act.”

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