NDN Blog

Top Democrats Weigh in on Rising Gas Prices, Senate Energy Committee to Hold Hearing on DOE Loan Guarantee Program

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said unscrupulous Wall Street investors have artificially inflated prices at the pump, which are climbing toward $4 per gallon.  Pelosi states that that "wall street profiteering, not oil shortages, is the cause of the price spike" and called on Congress to take "strong action" to rein in the allegedly excessive speculation.

President Obama will address this very issue today at a high-stakes address at the University of Miami.  The speech will tout his Administration's efforts to expand oil and gas production while also speaking to the need for fuel-efficiency and investments in alternative energy. President will  also concede that there's little to nothing he can do right now to stem the current rise. 

NDN President Simon Rosenberg has an interesting take on the rising gas prices by linking this to the larger issue of middle eastern policy and the economy.  

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the Energy Department's Loan Guarantee Program. Republican Lisa Murkowsk stated  "I believe there is a role for the federal government in developing new energy technologies, but I've come to believe that there are clearly implementation flaws in the loan program that must be addressed." The hearing is scheduled for March 13.

Boehner Politicizes Rising Gas Prices, Gridwise Releases Report on Grid, Obama Heads to Florida to Tout Energy Plan

Republicans are using the rising gas prices and their threat to economic momentum to hound President Obama for his energy policies and to build support for their proposals to force open more areas to oil and gas development. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, flagged the issue Tuesday on Twitter.  "Economists warn rising gas prices threaten economy; Senate Dems must act on House-passed #americanenergy bills," he said in t reference to the energy piece (HR 3408) of the House highway bill (HR 7) that the chamber passed last week. The House energy provisions would open more offshore areas and part of an Alaskan wildlife refuge to drilling, and speed up approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The GridWise® Alliance, released a report detailing the current state of the nation's power grid and quantifying the benefits of a modernized electric system. The report is designed to provide federal and state regulators with concrete examples of demonstrated benefits of grid modernization projects as they contemplate their own optimization initiatives. "Realizing the Value of an Optimized Electric Grid", is written by Quanta Technology identifies direct benefits to grid operations in five separate categories including:  Grid Reliability and Security;   Customer Energy Management Opportunity;  Asset and Resource Optimization;  Health, Safety, and Environment; and   Productivity and Economic Growth.

President Obama heads to Florida on Thursday to tout his energy plan, building off his State of the Union message to push the elimination of oil and gas subsidies, the adoption of a federal clean energy standard and an "all of the above" approach to energy development.

Majority Leader Reid pushes Administration for Recess Appts, Energy Budget Dissected in CQ, Apples Plans Huge Solar Facility

With Senate Republicans bottling up scores of President Obama's nominees for federal office, including some in the Energy Department, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., says he may ask the president to simply use his recess power to appoint all of them. The DOE slots are held up in a dispute between Rand Paul, R-Ky., and the Energy Department over enriching uranium at a Paducah, Ky., facility that he says is in danger of losing 1,200 jobs. Reid wants the Senate to move the nominees soon. 

Geof Koss in CQ Weekly looks at how President Obama's 2013 budget request aims for bigger investments in energy conservation and efficiency programs, to try to get the country saving more and wasting less of the coal, nuclear, natural gas and alternative-power sources it already taps. Energy Secretary Steven Chu says this is "in the sweet spot of how we can help the U.S. economy create jobs and make us much more competitive," without always trying to just build more power plants and power lines. While much of the budget saw cuts or small gains, Obama proposed a 3.2 percent overall hike for the DOE. 

Apple plans to build to America's largest privately owned solar facility, according to the company's 2012 facilities report.  Improvements to the massive data center in Maiden, N.C., which was commissioned by Apple in 2011, will include the 100 acre solar farm, green building design and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

House Approves Energy Bill, Groups Oppose NRC Approval of Nuke Plant, AWEA Continues Push for PTC

 

On a party line vote of 237 - 187, the Republican controlled House voted Thursday to pass an energy bill that seeks to encourage oil shale development, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and offshore drilling in the Atlantic, Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as force approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and other groups that oppose nuclear power are asking a federal court to overturn the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s recent decision to approve utility giant Southern Co.’s plan to build two new reactors at a nuclear plant in Georgia.  Activists, in the challenges filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, are also asking the court to review the NRC’s approval of the design for the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor that will be used in the project.  Opponents of the project say the NRC issued a license to build and operate the new reactors — the first time the NRC has approved construction of a new reactor since 1978 — without considering lessons learned from the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan.

The wind industry was disappointed that the production tax credit didn't land an extension in the payroll package. The payroll compromise is a good sign that the PTC could find reprieve soon, American Wind Energy Association CEO Denise Bode said. "The broad base of support for wind energy positions us well to get the PTC extended at the next possible opportunity," she said. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) added that "not having the extenders in here means we have another must-pass" bill.

Happy Birthday to the Energy and Commerce's Solyndra Investigation which is one year old today.  

 

Secy Chu Testifies before Senate, Secy Clinton Unveils Pollution Requirements, Rare Coalition Opposes Pipeline

Secretary Chu will appear before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this morning.  This hearing is certain to be more friendly than Chu’s last appearance before Congress, where the secretary spent more than five hours in front of a House panel defending his decision to grant a $535 million loan guarantee to failed solar panel firm Solyndra. This time, Chu will appear before a more friendly, Democrat-controlled committee. He’ll defend the Energy Department’s budget blueprint, which seeks to boost renewable energy funding and repeals billions of dollars in oil industry tax breaks, among other things.  He can expect some questions about Solyndra and the Energy Department’s loan program. The Energy Department loan guarantee program would not receive any expanded funding authority under President Obama’s budget request. The plan instead calls for continued oversight of the existing loan portfolio.

Today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will unveil an effort to target reductions in pollutants that are shorter-lived than carbon but have powerful effects on heating up the planet. She'll be joined in her announcement by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson plus officials from Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico, Sweden and the U.N. Environment Programme. The plan will focus on education efforts and projects to cut emissions of short-lived pollutants including methane (like from landfills or fossil fuel mining), black carbon (in soot from diesel exhaust) and hydrofluorocarbons. State say such materials cause about a third of current global warming, and "have significant impacts on public health, the environment and world food productivity."

The Roll Call has an interesting story that shows how a rare coalition of Tea Party conservatives and liberal environmental activists has formed in some states to fight Keystone on the ground. Conservatives don't like the idea that pipeline builder TransCanada could use eminent domain powers to build on their land and lay a pipe that could threaten their water if it leaked at some point. Environmentalists say while they can mobilize lots of email from across the country to try slowing House and Senate efforts to approve Keystone quickly, land rights activists in the pipeline's path could have more impact in places such as Texas and Nebraska.

Transportation Bill Vote Postponed, Business Coalition wants GHG Standards, Secy Chu to tout Nuclear Power

Speaker Boehner postponed a vote on the Transportation bill, which has also become a semi energy bill. Sensing that the bill would have a tough road ahead - the House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) warned lawmakers in a closed-door meeting that the highway bill has less GOP support than last summer's debt-limit package - the Speaker said "it is more important that we do it right".

A coalition of business groups wants the Obama Administration to get moving on greenhouse gas standards for new power plants. "Derailing or delaying such standards leads to increased uncertainty and undermines the potential for capital investment and economic growth, weakening the opportunity presented to U.S. businesses by the growing $243 billion global clean energy market," the American Sustainable Business Council, Ceres, Main Street Alliance, environmental Entrepreuners and Small Business Alliance stated in a letter to the White House Office of Management and Budget. 

Energy Secretary Steven Chu will tout the Obama administration’s support for nuclear energy Wednesday at a Georgia power plant whose owner recently won approval to build the first new U.S. reactors in more than 30 years.  Chu will tour the Vogtle nuclear power plant near Waynesboro, Ga., and “highlight steps the Obama Administration is taking to restart America’s nuclear energy industry,” according to the Energy Department. The visit comes a week after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a license allowing for the construction and conditional operation of two new nuclear reactors at the site. It’s the first time the commission greenlighted construction for a new reactor since 1978.  Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Co won conditional approval in 2010 for an $8.3 billion Energy Department loan guarantee to help build the new reactors. Chu signaled Monday that he expects the department to soon finalize the loan guarantee.

Administration Boosts Renewable Spending, Defense Dept Invests in Energy Conservation, BLM Asks Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracking

The Obama Administration  wants to boost spending sharply for renewable and clean energy programs, which are tagged for a 29 percent hike in an overall Energy Department budget increase of 3.2 percent. A $527 million increase for energy efficiency and renewables is second only to a $536 million proposed hike in DOE's nuclear weapons management. On the tax side, Obama wants to strip away $4 billion a year in oil, gas and coal subsidies — opponents say that's a tax hike that consumers will feel — while restoring clean energy and conservation credits.

Perhaps the single-largest new investment in an energy program would come from the Defense Department. Deep in its weapons and force structure documents Defense says it wants to boost energy conservation spending to $1 billion next year from $400 million this year.  That $600 million boost could help build more solar, wind and geothermal facilities on bases to cut dependence on area electrical power, and increase research on how to power deployed units so they don't rely as much on fuel truck resupply convoys. It could aid the current testing of biodiesel fuels to displace some oil fuels used by military ships and planes. 

The Houston Chronicle obtained a Leaked Draft of BLM Proposal to Require Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids Used on Federal Lands.  The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which is responsible for administering Federal lands spanning approximately one-eighth of the country’s land area, is preparing a proposed rule that would establish certain disclosure and well testing requirements for hydraulic fracturing operations taking place on BLM lands.  Among other things, the current draft of the proposed rule would require operators of hydraulically fractured wells to disclose all chemical constituents of drilling fluid used for hydraulic fracturing; perform mechanical integrity tests of all well casings; and submit plans for handling and disposing of drilling fluids recovered from wells.   

President's Budget Dominates the Week, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will visit the U.S. this week

The President's Budget dominates the news this week.  President Obama is not going to  back off his green energy agenda despite constant Republican attacks. DOE's total resources would grow by about $1.4 billion, a 5.6 percent increase.  This increase  reflects a $522 million, or 29 percent, increase for renewable energy sources and an additional $174 million for a revamped industrial technology-advanced manufacturing program.  This includes research areas of hydraulic fracturing safety in conjunction with the EPA and the U.S. Geological Survey.  Interior stays the same as last year, but last year Interior saw significant increases for its new organization and permit processing that was supported by both parties.  Both EPA and USDA farm subsidies will see significant cuts.  EPA gets hit by 1.2% dropping to $8.3B with once again seeing most of the cut in the state water revolving fund.  Hearings begin on Wednesday and will continue for two months. 

Interior at House Resources - Secretary Salazar Wednesday at 10am

DOE at Senate Energy – Secretary  Chu, Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

Interior at House Approps panel on Interior and Environment - Secretary Salazar ,Thursday at 1:30

OSTP at House Science – White House OSTP Director John Holdren, Friday at 9:30 a.m.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will visit the U.S. this week.  The timing of this visit is somewhat volatile as the two countries sit on the verge of a clean-tech trade war. Officials say the visit is intended to help Xi build relationships - not conduct business on behalf of China - The Department of Commerce's decision on imposing tariffs on Chinese solar panels could be an elephant in the room.

NRC to Approve Southern Co. Nuclear Plant in GA, Lisa Jackson Signs 2 Rules on State Emissions, Oil/ Economy Interdependence

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today will in all probability approve the first nuclear reactor construction permit in almost 35 years. The permit will allow Southern Company to kick its construction of two AP1000 reactors at its Vogtle site, southeast of Augusta, Ga., into high gear. NRC's thumbs up also means that Southern, as it also moves the utility a critical step closer to closing the deal on an $8.33 billion conditional loan guarantee from the Energy Department that has been pending since February 2010.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on Tuesday signed a pair of rules revising some allocations of state emissions budgets in the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule. Taken together, the two rules increase emission budgets in 17 states and ease limits on market-based compliance options. The rules' fates are tied to EPA's broader cross-state rule, which is designed to limit emissions that blow across state lines but is currently stayed during review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. 

This commentary by Murray and King in the magazine, Nature, is a concise, lucid explanation of the link between energy use and the size of the economy, together with compelling evidence that supply constraints seriously impacted oil prices starting in about 2005. The conclusion is that economic growth appears to depend on historically inexpensive energy, and energy supplies are both more expensive and becoming less available. 

FERC/Keystone Bill Passes Energy Committee, Senator Baucus Favors Keystone, Re-vitalized Waste Heat and Power Association

Legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline is headed to the House floor after the Energy and Commerce Committee cleared the measure Tuesday by a 33-20 margin. John Barrow of Georgia joined the two Democrats mentioned yesterday, Jim Matheson of Utah and Mike Ross of Arkansas to vote for the bill while Republican Charlie Bass of New Hampshire voted against it. The panel allowed just one amendment: a Republican addition clarifying that FERC must grant a permit for the pipeline "without additional conditions".

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Tuesday that he “strongly” supports Keystone Pipeline, but not in the Transportation bill during his committee’s markup of the highway bill. 

A coalition dedicated to wide-scale development of a new market based on converting waste heat to power has 're-launched' in an effort to educate decision makers and the public about the benefits of using waste heat generated in industrial applications.  The coalition will focus on the unique characteristic of Waste Heat to Power (WH2P) as both a resource for emissions free electricity  as well as a means to improve overall industrial energy efficiency and competiveness makes it a natural and integral part of all clean energy and jobs discussions.  American industry generates vast amounts of waste heat in various processes.  Capturing this resource could result in the investment $20-40 billion for new facilities, 160,000 new American jobs, and generate enough emission-free electricity annually to power 10 million American homes. 

Syndicate content