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Feb 05, 2012
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OIL AND GAS: Dems shy away from repealing subsidies to fund payroll tax cut
With bipartisan talks on payroll tax cuts set to turn next week to paying for the massive package, the long-running Democratic push to repeal oil and gas tax breaks could play a supporting role. President Obama's party is looking to a surtax on millionaires as its top pitch to offset the cost of a payroll tax and unemployment insurance (UI) deal expected to carry a $100-billion-plus price tag. Rolling back oil and gas tax benefits -- while it makes for a politically potent message during a month of sky-high earnings reports from the industry -- occupies a lower rung on Democrats' list.

CAMPAIGN 2012: Enhanced by Solyndra probe, Stearns still faces uncertainty on homefront politically
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) is a 12-term veteran of Capitol Hill with a $2.4 million campaign war chest. As an Energy and Commerce subcommittee chairman, he has spent the past...

CAMPAIGN 2012: Dem money may blunt GOP advantage slightly in Senate battlegrounds
First of two parts. The battle for control of the Senate is, in every way, a numbers game. These numbers are indisputable: Republicans need to flip four seats held by...

CAMPAIGN 2012: Struggling incumbents cling to the power of money
All the money in the world may not save the most vulnerable House incumbents, but that hasn't stopped many from stockpiling campaign cash, according to newly released fundraising reports. The...

CAMPAIGN 2012: Shuler to retire in N.C., likely handing the GOP a win in November
North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler yesterday announced he will retire at the end of the 112th Congress, likely dashing Democrats' hopes for holding on to his seat. Shuler's decision echoes...

TRANSPORTATION: T&I panel slogs through 17-hour markup to approve reauthorization
After a markup that stretched until nearly 3 a.m. this morning, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a five-year, $260 billion reauthorization bill. The bill passed by a 29-24...

TRANSPORTATION: New transit account spurs controversy ahead of Ways and Means panel's vote
Transit backers are up in arms over a House financing decision that would remove an account for public transportation from the Highway Trust Fund and leave it under the General...

ENERGY POLICY: Conservative group slams GOP push for wind credit in tax cut bill
A show of support from two Midwestern GOP governors for a wind-industry tax credit yesterday drew fire from Washington conservatives, underscoring the hard road for renewables advocates pushing to extend...

FEDERAL AGENCIES: House close to voting on BRAC-style commission on government property
After almost a year of hearings -- and negotiations with the White House -- a bill to streamline federal property sales will soon hit the House floor. The Rules Committee...

ENERGY EFFICIENCY: With goal for federal buildings looking tougher to meet, lawmakers offer aid
Federal agencies are barely on track to meet Congress' goal for making the government 30 percent more energy efficient and might have fallen behind pace for the first time in...

MINING: GOP delays safety hearing pending more UBB reports
The House Education and the Workforce Committee is pushing back a mine safety hearing at least until the Mine Safety and Health Administration releases more information about its role in...

ELECTRIC GRID: Murkowski says EPA regs already triggering plant closures
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said yesterday that new federal air pollution standards are already triggering power plant closures...

PUBLIC LANDS: House Republicans close to marking up county timber bill
House Natural Resources Committee Republicans by next week hope to mark up a controversial bill that calls for vast increases in timber harvests on national forests to create jobs and...

TRADE: Sen. Paul introduces bill to amend wildlife, timber trafficking law
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced a bill yesterday that would weaken a law designed to combat trafficking in illegal wildlife, fish and plants. The Lacey Act, and particularly its provisions...

BUSINESS: Can 'gamification' make your life more sustainable?
A service provider for the green consumer says it is revolutionizing the way people approach sustainability, and the key to that revolution, it says, is games. Recyclebank, a Philadelphia-based startup-turned international service provider, has spent the last five years developing programs that incentivize green activities through an emerging science called "gamification," or the use of game mechanics to modify behavior.

STATES: Texas drought finally weakens as winter rains drench state's northeast
HOUSTON -- Severe drought conditions continue to ease over large parts of Texas, though officials remain concerned that the trend may not last. West and central Texas are still reeling...

RENEWABLE ENERGY: South African firm taps BrightSource for study of solar options
California-based BrightSource Energy will lead a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for a commercial solar plant to be built by the South African energy giant Sasol. The plant would...

POLICY: Keystone XL faces fireworks at congressional hearing today
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official will testify to the House today that a bill to fast-track the Keystone XL pipeline would prohibit the agency from conducting environmental reviews...

ELECTRICITY: Panel says the U.S. military needs an improved grid
Hackers, terrorists and other adversaries can shut down the United States' electrical infrastructure, hampering military readiness. However, according to officials, the government lacks the authority in some instances to protect...

EMISSIONS: China set to top U.S. greenhouse gas output by almost 50%
By 2015, China will emit nearly 50 percent more greenhouse gases than the United States, a top Chinese energy researcher said yesterday. Ye Qi, a professor of environmental policy at...

FORESTS: Bark beetle to be a focus of restoration efforts
The Forest Service will commit $100 million this year to address the bark beetle infestation that has devastated about 18 million acres of U.S. forests. This will complement the acceleration...

COAL: W.Va. thermal coal complex will idle production for lack of demand
Patriot Coal Corp. will idle one of its thermal coal complexes in Boone County, W.Va., due to a lack of demand. Shares of the St. Louis-based company saw a jump...

NATIONS: A stronger role for renewables in Poland
Poland plans to revise its renewable energy strategy, shifting funds from wind and hydro power projects to solar and biogas. The move is seen as an effort by the nation...

DROUGHT: Experts predict dry conditions in Texas will worsen
This century's droughts in Texas have been the continent's most serious, and they are predicted to intensify, according to a panel of Columbia University climate experts who spoke in Washington...

SOCIETY: Australian billionaire names climate skeptic to key business posts
Gina Rinehart, a mining magnate and, by some estimates, Australia's wealthiest person, has appointed a prominent climate skeptic to the boards of several family-owned companies. Rinehart's appointee is Ian Plimer,...

OIL: Obama proposes rollback of shale plans for Rocky Mountain West
The Interior Department today announced plans to significantly downsize a George W. Bush administration plan to develop oil shale in the West, a move likely to spark fury among Capitol Hill Republicans. The proposal -- which is backed by conservationists, agricultural groups, some local officials and Democrats -- would scale back research and development of a fuel that has tantalized industry and policymakers for more than a century in the West.

POLITICS: Sierra Club disavows gas industry donations amid mounting criticism
Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune is trying to explain more than $25 million in donations connected to natural gas giant Chesapeake Energy Corp. for the club's anti-coal efforts. The...

NUCLEAR POLICY: 2 N.M. counties roll out red carpet for nuclear waste
New Mexico's Eddy and Lea counties want America to send them its nuclear waste. County officials are offering to turn 1,000 acres in the state's southeast corner into a parking...

SUPREME COURT: States pressure Obama admin over logging runoff case
State resource management officials and 29 attorneys general are trying to convince the Obama administration to take their side in a dispute now before the Supreme Court over whether stormwater...

TRANSPORTATION: Ways and Means OKs transit account move
The House Ways and Means Committee this morning passed its portion of the five-year, $260 billion transportation and energy bill in the House, approving a tweak to a transit account...

FEDERAL AGENCIES: Bill to create commission on government property headed to House floor
A bill to streamline federal property sales received bipartisan kudos at a hearing this morning of the House Rules Committee, which sent the bill to the floor under a structured...

KEYSTONE XL: Bill from House Dems would force disclosure of pipeline exports
Partisan tensions over the Keystone XL pipeline today hit another high in the House, as Democrats offered a bill aimed at forcing the GOP to acknowledge that some of the...

EPA: House panel scrutinizes agency's peer reviews
A House subcommittee put U.S. EPA's science under a microscope again today, asking whether the scientific underpinnings for controversial rules from climate change to smog are the products of a...

CHEMICAL SECURITY: House lawmakers give DHS a bipartisan spanking
The Department of Homeland Security today faced pointed questions from a congressional panel about the effectiveness of its program to secure chemical facilities from terrorist attacks and thefts, including calls...

CAMPAIGN 2012: Roseanne Barr jumps into presidential race with eye on Green Party nomination
Actress and comedian Roseanne Barr, who won an Emmy for her sitcom "Roseanne" about a blue-collar family, is running for president and hopes to become the Green Party's candidate. "I...

LITIGATION: Court lets city try again to halt sale of historic rail site
A federal appeals court today ruled that Jersey City, N.J., should get another shot at preventing the sale of a historic railroad embankment to a developer. The U.S. Court of...

AUTOS: Calif. court rules Honda overstated fuel savings
A California Small Claims Court commissioner this week ruled in a high-profile case over fuel economy claims that American Honda Co. negligently misled Civic owner Heather Peters when it claimed...

WILDLIFE: Marine biologist pleads not guilty in killer whale case
A marine biologist who has been charged with a misdemeanor for feeding killer whales in Monterey Bay, Calif., was released without bail yesterday after pleading not guilty in U.S. district...

DEFENSE: Worried about grid outages, Pentagon launches industry partnership
With concerns rising among military officials that severe power outages could take down key national security facilities, the Defense Department yesterday announced a new program aimed at bringing the utility...

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING: Vt. House OKs 3-year fracking ban
The Vermont House of Representatives this week passed legislation that would ban hydraulic fracturing for three years. The final vote, taken Wednesday, was a formality following what's known as preliminary...

NUCLEAR POWER: Unusual wear on Calif. reactor tubes alarms officials
Officials are questioning the integrity of equipment at California's San Onofre Unit 2 nuclear power plant after finding unusual wear on reactor tubes that carry heated radioactive water. The discovery...

OIL SANDS: Canada, Alberta plan monitoring collaboration
The Canadian government today will announce a new oil sands-monitoring strategy in collaboration with the government of Alberta. Expert reports from the past two years have called for a more...

NATURAL GAS: Federal fracking regs could be model for states
Federal rules for hydraulic fracturing on public lands could serve as a model for states to get companies to disclose chemicals used in the oil and gas production process, an...

NUCLEAR POWER: NRC says only minor release of tritium at Ill. plant
The radioactive tritium that was released from an Illinois nuclear power plant during a shutdown earlier this week was not enough to endanger the public, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said...

NATIONAL PARKS: Who are those guys? Butch Cassidy vandals brought to justice
Just because Butch Cassidy and his notorious gang occasionally dabbled in graffiti doesn't mean that today's visitors to the famous outlaw's old hideout on National Park Service land in southern...

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