OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Murkowski plans next steps on Solyndra

State of Play:  Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is looking ahead to a post-Solyndra world.

Murkowski said Monday that she hopes to work with Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) to improve the Energy Department loan guarantee program for advanced energy projects.

{mosads}“One of the things that I would like to have the committee consider is not necessarily picking apart Solyndra. Solyndra is yesterday’s bankruptcy. I am concerned about what this might portend for the loan guarantee program as a whole,” Murkowski said in the Capitol. “I think it is important that we have a strong loan guarantee program.”

The two lawmakers were slated to meet Monday afternoon to discuss the committee’s October agenda.

Murkowski’s in a different place than House Republicans, who are knee-deep in a probe of the Obama administration’s actions in approving the now-bankrupt company’s $535 million loan guarantee.

The Alaska Republican said she’s especially galled that the deal was restructured to put private investors in line to recoup losses ahead of Uncle Sam.

But Murkowski doesn’t want to get rid of Energy Department loan guarantees, a program first authorized in a 2005 energy law.

The Solyndra financing was provided through the 2009 stimulus law, which expanded the loan program.

“Some have suggested that because of what has happened to Solyndra we need to get rid of the loan guarantee program. I happen to believe that these loan guarantees are important,” Murkowski said. “I don’t want to get rid of the program, but I want to make sure we have a program that functions as we have intended, and I don’t want to ever see another situation the likes of what we are watching unfold with Solyndra.”

NEWS BITES:

More Solyndra: Waxman wants to hear from investors: Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is pressing Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to call two investment firms to testify on the bankruptcy of Solyndra, the politically connected solar firm that filed for bankruptcy in August.

Waxman, the top Democrat on the committee, said the panel’s Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, which is conducting an investigation into Solyndra, should hear from investors at Argonaut Private Equity and Madrone Capital Partners. The firms, along with others, invested more than $1 billion in Solyndra, Waxman said.

“One important question for the Committee to examine is whether there were sound reasons to make an investment in Solyndra,” Waxman said in a letter Monday to top Republicans on the panel. “Some sophisticated and experienced private venture capital investors thought the answer was yes, and they invested over $1 billion in Solyndra — twice the support provided by the federal government.”

“The Committee would benefit from hearing the views of these private investors as we assess the merits of federal decisions regarding the Solyndra loan guarantee.”

Top executives from Solyndra are slated to testify Friday in front of the Oversight panel.

Interior surprises Petrobras with spill-containment test: The Interior Department’s offshore drilling arm surprised Petrobras America last week with a test of its oil-spill containment capabilities.

The test, conducted by Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), was intended to measure how well Petrobras can cope with an undersea blowout at one of its deepwater wells.

BOEMRE said “the preliminary results of the drill were positive.” The agency will release a full report on the drill soon.

“We are using many diverse methods, techniques and tools to ensure that oil and gas operations on the Outer Continental Shelf are being conducted in the safest and most environmentally-responsible manner,” BOEMRE Director Michael Bromwich said in a statement. “Testing an operator’s ability to activate its sub-sea containment resources is one very important tool.”

NRDC running new ads opposing Keystone XL pipeline: The Natural Resources Defense Council is running new advertisements in The Washington Post and The New York Times calling on President Obama to reject a pending permit application for the Keystone XL pipeline.

The advertisements feature a letter in opposition to the proposed 1,700-mile pipeline that would carry oil sands from Alberta to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast signed by nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates. They include the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

You can see one of the ads here.

The Hill reported earlier this month on the Nobel Peace Prize winners’ objections to the controversial pipeline project.

EIA: World energy use to increase by 53 percent by 2035: World energy use will increase by 53 percent during the next 25 years, the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, projected Monday.

That increase will be driven in large part by economic growth in China and India, EIA said in its International Energy Outlook, which was released Monday.

The report also projects that renewable energy will grow faster than any other energy source. Consumption of renewables will go up 2.8 percent per year and will make up 15 percent of the world’s energy use by 2035. That’s up from 10 percent in 2008.

But fossil fuel will continue to dominate the energy sector, with 78 percent of total energy use by 2035.

Natural-gas consumption is expected to increase in the coming decades — by 1.6 percent per year until 2035, according to EIA.

Lastly, EIA says not to expect lower oil prices over the next 25 years, projecting they will reach $125 per barrel in 2035.

“Total world petroleum and other liquids fuel use increases by 26.9 million barrels per day between 2008 and 2035, but the growth in conventional crude oil production is less than half this amount at 11.5 million barrels per day, while production of natural gas plant liquids increase by 5.1 million barrels per day,” EIA says.

ON TAP TUESDAY:

House panel grooms EPA bill: The House Rules Committee will meet in the late afternoon to lay the groundwork for a bill coming to the floor this week that would require new interagency analyses of the economic effects of various EPA regulations. The panel will vet amendments that lawmakers hope to debate on the floor.

The deadline to submit the amendments was late Monday afternoon.

The White House is already threatening to veto the bill because it would delay a pair of EPA rules to curb power plant pollution — measures the White House and EPA call vital public health regulations.

Bromwich talks drilling: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) Director Michael Bromwich will talk offshore drilling at a briefing hosted by the energy news service Platts.

Bromwich will be the interim head of the new Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, one of two agencies that will formally replace BOEMRE when it subdivides next month. Bromwich has overseen the regulatory overhaul that followed the BP spill.

House energy panel begins markup of EPA, pipeline bills: The House Energy and Commerce Committee will open its markup of bills to delay and soften EPA air toxics rules for industrial boilers and cement plants, as well as pipeline safety legislation.

Tuesday will bring opening statements, the real nitty-gritty starts Wednesday.

Renewable energy conference gets rolling: The big RETECH 2011 conference gets under way with speakers including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the top Republican on Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…

— White House threatens veto over House attack on EPA pollution rules
— Environmental, industry groups push back against Gibson Guitar
— House Judiciary chairman urges Justice Department to probe Solyndra
— Waxman: Republicans rebuffed compromise offers on EPA rules
— Obama erases oil tax breaks in deficit plan
— Report: EPA chief almost resigned after Obama shelved smog rule

Please send tips and comments to Ben Geman, ben.geman@digital-staging.thehill.com, and Andrew Restuccia, arestuccia@digital-staging.thehill.com.

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This post was updated at 7:15 a.m. on Sept. 20