Automobiles

Your morning transportation speed read:

A House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpanel is planning an April 24 hearing on Fisker Automotive, the financially distressed, Obama administration-backed electric carmaker.

The hearing will revive criticisms of Energy Department clean technology loan and loan guarantee programs that have come under intense GOP attacks in recent years.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who leads the Economic Growth, Job Creation, and Regulatory Affairs subcommittee that will hold the event, on Tuesday sent letters to Fisker executives, founder and former executive chairman Henrik Fisker, and DOE officials overseeing the loan program requesting their attendance at the hearing.

The company announced last week that it was shedding 75 percent of its staff and may file bankruptcy soon.

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.

Oil giant ConocoPhillips is scuttling plans to explore for oil off Alaska’s coast in 2014, blaming “the uncertainties of evolving federal regulatory requirements.”

“While we are confident in our own expertise and ability to safely conduct offshore Arctic operations, we believe that more time is needed to ensure that all regulatory stakeholders are aligned,” said Trond-Erik Johansen, president of ConocoPhillips Alaska.

The company noted Interior Department plans to create Arctic-specific standards for operating in federal waters off Alaska’s coast.

“Once those requirements are understood, we will re-evaluate our Chukchi Sea drilling plans. We believe this is a reasonable and responsible approach given the huge investments required to operate offshore in the Arctic,” Johansen said.

Drivers will pay over a nickel-per-gallon less for gasoline during their summer travels this year, according to a new federal forecast.

Regular gas is expected to average $3.63 per gallon in the April-September summer driving season, compared to $3.69 in 2012, the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday.

A switch from coal to natural gas in electricity production helped drive down energy-related U.S. carbon dioxide emissions in 2012 to their lowest level since 1994, the federal Energy Information Administration said Friday.

The carbon emissions have fallen every year since 2007, with the exception of 2010, according to the agency.

Various forms of energy production and use — including power plants, refineries and tailpipes — create the vast majority of U.S. carbon emissions that are linked to global warming.

A major oil industry trade group and the American Lung Association are out with dueling reports about planned federal rules that will force refiners to cut the sulfur content of gasoline.

The reports signal an intensifying political and PR battle over the so-called Tier 3 vehicle emissions and low-sulfur gasoline rules, which the Environmental Protection Agency floated in draft form last week.

The American Lung Association has long called for the rules, and their study concludes they will bring major gains in public health. That includes prevention of more than 2,500 premature deaths annually by 2030 due to reductions in fine particulate pollution and smog, the group said.

The Interior Department issued rules Thursday that expand workplace safety requirements for offshore oil-and-gas drillers, the latest of several mandates that have followed BP’s big 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The final regulation gives offshore rig workers new powers to decline or halt risky or dangerous work “without fear of reprisal,” among other provisions.

Outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar overhauled Interior’s long-troubled offshore branch after the spill, and toughened workplace and drilling standards.

He has urged Congress to codify the changes. But Salazar expressed optimism Thursday that future administrations will maintain the changes even without legislation.

Your morning transportation speed-read: 

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee leaders aren’t rushing to move bills on natural gas policy – instead they’re soliciting a lot more information.

The committee will hold a trio of “forums” about natural gas in May, a plan that Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and ranking member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) jointly announced Wednesday.

“The forums will be open to the public and will include input from members and a variety of stakeholders. They will be held in a roundtable format to encourage discussion and allow flexibility to find areas of agreement. The Energy Committee and others have used this format in the past on issues such as healthcare, tax reform and even natural gas, in 2005,” the committee said.