OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Senate sees end in sight for Keystone

by Laura Barron-Lopez - 01/28/15 6:56 PM ET

FINISH LINE: Senators are saying they can see the finish line to the Keystone XL debate, and are aiming for a final vote to approve the project on Thursday.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said she thinks everything can be wrapped up this week with a few more amendment votes on Thursday.

{mosads}The Senate voted Wednesday afternoon and into the evening on a series of 14 amendments after two were withdrawn. All but one failed. An amendment offered by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on energy retrofitting of schools passed by voice vote.

On Thursday, the Senate will vote on at least six more amendments to the bill and then likely hold the final vote.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said on the Senate floor late Wednesday that she expected final passage after the last amendments agreed to were voted on.

A Senate GOP aide also said the majority is looking to move to final passage on Thursday, ending a debate that lasted four weeks.

The bill is expected to pass with 63 senators indicating support for authorizing the $8 billion oil sands project.

It will be the first item sent to President Obama’s desk from the new Republican-controlled Senate. Obama is expected to veto it, sticking by his argument that the process must be allowed to finish.

LNG EXPORTS: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on a bill to expedite approvals for liquefied natural gas exports. The bills, sponsored by Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) would set a 45-day limit on the Energy Department’s national interest review process for exports. Witnesses will include the Energy Department’s Christopher Smith and representatives of various stakeholders, including industrial energy users, natural gas developers and manufacturers.

Rest of Thursday’s agenda…

EnergyNet is hosting its summit on the United States’s Power Africa initiative. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Overseas Private Investment Corporation President Elizabeth Littlefield will both speak, along with various company executives and energy ministers from multiple African countries.

National Council for Science and the Environment will host the last day of its National Conference and Global Forum on Science, Policy, and the Environment. Thursday’s events include speeches by White House science adviser John Holdren and French ambassador to the United States Gerard Araud, along with panels on sustainable energy and the United Nations climate meeting in Paris in December.

The Bipartisan Policy Center will host a forum to hear perspectives from many different stakeholders on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed carbon limits for power plants. It will include representatives of environment groups, states, utilities and outside groups, among others.

Sam Batkins, director of regulatory reform at the American Action Forum will speak at a National Economists Club event on the EPA’s power plant proposal.

NEWS BITE: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ruled that biodiesel from Argentina can be used toward fuel refiners’ obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard.

The National Biodiesel Board blasted the decision, saying it will harm the domestic biodiesel industry that is already suffering because of the EPA’s delays in setting volume mandates.

“This decision poses a tremendous threat to U.S. industry and jobs, not to mention the overriding goal of the RFS of developing clean, homegrown renewable fuels,” Anne Steckel, the group’s vice president of federal affairs, said in a statement.

AROUND THE WEB:

New York is going to allow liquefied natural gas storage sites in the state for the first time since the 1970s, the Journal News reports.

Chevron Corp., BP and ConocoPhillips Co. are partnering on a series of Gulf of Mexico offshore drilling leases, Reuters reports.

Scotland has put a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing while it carries out environmental and health studies on the practice, BBC News reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Wednesday’s stories…

– House panel agrees to prioritize climate change

– Feds seeking more information from oil exporters

– Longest streak of falling gas prices ends

– House passes bill to speed up liquefied natural gas exports

– McConnell plans vote-a-thon to finish Keystone XL

– Conservatives mobilize against gas hike