Energy/Environment

Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Gregory Jaczko was appointed Thursday to a new panel charged with monitoring the agency that oversees the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) tapped Jaczko — a former aide for the Nevada Democrat — for the position with the Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise.

The panel was created by the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act. Its purpose is to make recommendations for improving operations at the Energy Department’s (DOE) nuclear weapons agency.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) wants to grow its oversight of farmers and imports, but lawmakers are concerned about the burdens the agency already imposes on small and organic agriculture producers.

In a review of the USDA's requested 2014 budget for regulatory and marketing procedures on Thursday, legislators on the House Appropriations Committee's Agriculture subcommittee were skeptical about giving regulators more money to do their jobs. 

"While the subcommittee is keenly aware of the hard budget decisions made over the past few years and achievements made in budget savings across the mission area, it will likely be a real challenge to support these increased levels," said the subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) in his opening remarks. 

The head of a powerful oil industry lobbying group met with top White House officials and senior lawmakers Wednesday about stripping a federal biofuel rule.

“We’re talking about the renewable fuel standard (RFS). It’s a hot topic,” American Petroleum Institute (API) chief executive Jack Gerard told reporters at the Capitol. “We’re just making some visits, making people understand the importance of repealing the RFS.”

API wants to repeal the biofuel rule, which requires refiners to blend 36 billion gallons of biofuel into conventional petroleum by 2022.

A list of Gerard’s meetings obtained by The Hill showed the lobbyist met with a power group of Washington, D.C., figures, underscoring the intensifying lobbying and political battle surrounding the biofuel mandate.

Actions by the Obama administration and oil-and-gas companies have improved offshore drilling safety since the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but congressional gridlock still poses a threat, according to ex-members of a federal panel that investigated the incident.

Congress’ failure to adopt budgets and offset automatic spending cuts known as sequestration has dinted funding for offshore drilling programs, a report card released Wednesday by Oil Spill Commission Action (OSCA) said.

“This could well be expensive to both the companies, which may well have to wait longer to obtain needed permits, and to the nation if reduced resources diminish the quality and care of the government’s oversight activities,” the seven-member group said.

Emissions of greenhouse gases in the United States decreased slightly in 2011, a new analysis from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found.

From 2010 to 2011, the levels of climate change-causing greenhouse gas output dropped a mere 1.6 percent, but since 2005 levels have gone down nearly 7 percent, according to the agency's annual report.

Since 1990, greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. have risen by 8.4 percent overall.

The federal government extended a research program to develop biofuels for use in commercial airplanes by five years on Monday.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the agreement at a conference outside Washington, D.C.

"By continuing to work together to produce American made 'drop-in' aviation fuels from renewable feedstocks, we will create jobs and economic opportunity in rural America, lessen America's reliance on foreign oil and develop a thriving biofuels industry that will benefit commercial and military enterprises," Vilsack said in a statement.

Oxfam America says the E.U. deal undercuts the case that oil industry and business groups have brought against U.S. mandates.

Industry advocates on Friday showered praise on a Republican proposal to rein in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The House Energy and Commerce Committee's Energy and Power subcommittee met to debate the Energy Consumers Relief Act, a bill due to be introduced by Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.).

The five-page bill would require that the Environmental Protection Agency submit a report to Congress detailing the cost and job impacts before finalizing any energy-regulating rule estimated to cost more than $1 billion. The agency would also be prohibited from finalizing the rule if the secretary of Energy determined that "significant adverse effects to the economy will be caused."

"This bill is about letting the American people know if they may lose their jobs due to an EPA energy-related rule," Rep. Cassidy said in a statement. "Everyone wins with transparency, especially the American worker." Read more...

After pushback from outside groups, the federal government is proposing to relax its rules on tanks used to store liquids at oil and natural-gas production sites.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is having discussions with the chairman of the House Energy Committee about bringing forward legislation to gut a federal biofuel law.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), a bill co-sponsor, said his talks with House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) have left him “hopeful” about securing a hearing.

“There is growing support throughout the Congress,” Goodlatte said during a Wednesday news conference, with primary co-sponsors Reps. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Steve Womack (R-Ark.) and others.