E2-Wire

OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Obama, challengers jockey for position

by Ben Geman and Andrew Restuccia - 03/05/12 11:20 PM ET

Obama has been working aggressively to prevent pump prices from becoming a political liability, an effort that includes two major speeches over the last two weeks.

The president and aides have a multipronged message that warns there’s no silver bullet to lower prices and accuses the GOP of playing politics with gasoline.

{mosads}Obama is emphasizing support for expanded oil production and White House green-energy programs, and touting auto efficiency rules that are forecast to reduce demand and save drivers of efficient cars money over time.

NEWS BITES:

Begich confident on Arctic drilling this summer

Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) believes the Interior Department will give final approval for Royal Dutch Shell’s plan to begin developing leases Arctic waters off his state’s northern coast this summer.

“For the first time in a generation, I believe we’ll see exploration in the Arctic this summer. Let me repeat that: there will be oil development in Alaska’s [outer continental shelf] this summer,” Begich, an advocate of Shell’s long-delayed plans, said Monday in a speech to Alaska’s state legislature.

The oil giant has won some critical approvals but still must receive drilling permits from Interior’s offshore energy branch.

Begich used the speech to say that Democrats can advance Arctic drilling, too.

“The conventional wisdom — and many of you believed — that this new administration and my election meant Alaska would be locked up even tighter, with no new development on federal lands or waters,” Begich said, according to a copy of the remarks his office provided.

“You guys know me: I took this doubt over Alaska Arctic development as a personal challenge,” he said.

Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) in February approved Shell’s oil spill response plan for drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea, moving the company a step closer to drilling in the fragile seas. Environmentalists bitterly oppose the plan.

Groups slam Obama for ‘fracking’ support

More than 100 national and state environmental and public health groups wrote to President Obama Monday expressing “serious concern” over his support for natural-gas drilling.

“Your administration deserves credit for moving ahead with the essential scientific research and basic disclosure that can help hold the industry accountable,” the groups say in a letter.

“But endorsing shale gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing before we know whether these innovations can be deployed safely will make it more difficult to develop safeguards that will provide us with energy while protecting our drinking water, homes and health.”

The groups raised concerns about the potential risks from hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a drilling technique in which water, sand and chemicals are injected into the ground in order to gain access to valuable natural gas supplies.

Environmental groups and others have long criticized the practice, arguing it pollutes groundwater, while industry officials and backers on Capitol Hill maintain it’s a safe way to unlock vast U.S. gas supplies.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a draft report late last year that said fracking probably caused groundwater contamination in Wyoming, though EPA officials have warned against using the finding as a broader indictment of the practice.

Obama has endorsed natural-gas drilling with the proper safeguards. The Interior Department is crafting regulations for fracking on public lands.

EPA is also undertaking a broad study of fracking’s effect on groundwater, and the administration in February announced a planned $45 million multi-agency review of fracking as well.

Events marking one-year Fukushima anniversary

There are three separate events on U.S. nuclear power safety Tuesday nearly a year after the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

The Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry trade group, will outline the steps it has taken to better protect U.S. plants during a 9 a.m. briefing at the National Press Club.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is hosting an event all day Tuesday titled, “One year on: Assessing Fukushima’s Impact.” Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commissioner George Apostolakis will speak at 10:30 a.m.

At 1 p.m., the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nuclear watchdog group, will release a report called, “U.S. Nuclear Power Safety One Year After Fukushima.”

MIT study sees major problems as population grows

A new Massachusetts Institute of Technology report outlines the “immense environmental challenges” facing the planet as population increases.

“The 2012 Energy and Climate Outlook,” conducted by the school’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, finds that temperatures will increase by 6.7 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

“The unrelenting increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, concentrations and changes in climate — even assuming success at capping emissions in Europe, North America and Japan — is especially troubling, and it points to the need to redouble efforts to reduce emissions,” John Reilly, a lead author of the study, said in a statement.

Read the study here.

Enviros battle US Chamber over EPA greenhouse gas tally

Green groups are pressing the EPA to oppose the recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce petition that calls on the agency to reassess estimates of the potent greenhouse gas methane from oil-and-gas drilling sites.

Industry groups accuse EPA of overestimating the emissions, and the U.S. Chamber submitted — under a statute called the Information Quality Act — a formal request for correction in December.

But in a letter submitted to EPA last month and recently posted on its website, groups including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Clean Air Task Force, Earthjustice and others call the U.S. Chamber request “utterly without merit.”

“EPA’s emissions figures are well supported by a wide range of independent analyses and manifestly meet the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity standards of the IQA,” states the letter also signed by Earthworks, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and WildEarth Guardians.

“[A]lthough we strongly support the agency’s continuing efforts to better characterize the oil and gas industry’s emissions, and encourage further research in this general area, EPA must deny the Chamber’s request,” the letter states.

The U.S. Chamber request and the green groups’ letter to EPA are available here.

Energy Department ‘hub’ leaders pitch lawmakers on innovation

Energy Secretary Steven Chu will host an event Tuesday with the heads of his department’s “Energy Innovation Hubs,” which are research and development centers devoted to various advanced energy fields.

For instance, there’s the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, led by and headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the planned battery and energy storage hub, the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis in California, and others.

It’s part of an effort to emphasize the merits of continued — and expanded — federal efforts to help develop next-wave energy tech. “The directors will also visit lawmakers on Capitol Hill to update them on the progress and potential of the Hubs,” an advisory states.

Administration officials, GOP lawmakers square off on budget

Tuesday will bring a lot of Capitol Hill hearings about the Obama administration’s fiscal year 2013 budget plans.

Some highlights:

A House Appropriations Committee panel will hear from the Bob Abbey, the head of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, which oversees drilling on federal lands and is planning controversial new regulation hydraulic fracturing.

A House Natural Resources Committee panel will hear in the morning from officials including Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and has been on the front lines of battles with the GOP over climate change.

Later in the day, a House Science Committee panel will hear from Lubchenco and the head of EPA’s Office of Research and Development.

Whitfield, Doyle to talk energy

The Energy and Commerce Committee Republican playing a key role in efforts to delay and soften EPA rules on Tuesday will discuss what comes next for the powerful panel.

Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), who chairs the Energy and Power subcommittee, will join committee member Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) to discuss 2012 plans at a morning forum hosted by Politico.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…

Here’s a quick roundup of E2 stories from Monday and over the weekend:

— Energy Department expands ‘clean fleets’ program
— Amid GOP attacks, good news for Obama’s green-energy program
— Chevy Volt dubbed European car of the year
— The Wilderness Society announces new president
— In Ohio, Romney takes aim at Obama on energy
— Gingrich targets ad hitting Obama on gas prices to Southern primary states
— Dems blame Wall Street for high gas prices, urge CFTC action
— Gingrich says Romney’s ‘rich enough’ to not worry about rising gas prices
— The Hill Poll: Use reserves to cut gas prices, voters say
— Dem Sen. Casey calls on CFTC to act against oil speculators
— Newt Gingrich predicts high gas prices will ‘crater’ the economy
— BP, plaintiffs reach $7.8 billion settlement over Gulf oil spill
— GOP: Fight high gas prices with more oil drilling, Keystone
— Obama: Tell Congress to stop $4B ‘giveaway’ to oil companies