OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Senate Dems seek tougher oil train regs

A VOLATILE PROPOSAL: Four Senate Democrats are faulting the Obama administration’s focus on railcar design to make oil trains safer, saying the focus should be on the oil itself.

The senators introduced a bill Wednesday that would require the Department of Transportation (DOT) to regulate the volatility of oil being transported by train.

It would also require an immediate phase-out of old railcars for oil transportation and impose stricter design standards than DOT has proposed.

{mosads}”Our legislation requires that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration regulate the volatility of oil inside these tank cars,” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) told reporters. “It ensures that oil volatility is monitored and regulated.”

She blamed volatility and the gases in crude oil for several high-profile explosions that have followed oil train crashes and derailments.

Read more here.

COURT SPLIT ON EPA AIR RULE: The Supreme Court’s nine justices appeared split Wednesday over whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) followed the law in issuing its standards for mercury and other air toxins from power plants.

During oral arguments over the rule, Chief Justice John Roberts was alarmed at the high cost of the rule to industry compared with its health benefits, saying the comparison “raises a red flag.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor defended the EPA, saying the law did not allow the agency to consider costs in how it addressed power plants’ pollution.

Read more here.

ON TAP THURSDAY I: Two subcommittees of the House Science Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on the EPA’s record retention policies and allegations that the agency illegally deleted thousands of text messages. Lawmakers will hear from leaders in the National Archives and Records Administration, the EPA’s Office of Inspector General and David Schnare, a former EPA attorney who now works for free-market think tanks.

ON TAP THURSDAY II: The House Natural Resources Committee’s energy and mineral resources subcommittee will hold a hearing Thursday on the 2016 budget requests from the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service’s energy and mineral program.

Rest of Thursday’s agenda …

American University’s Center for Environmental Policy will present its annual William K. Reilly Awards for Environmental Leadership Thursday. This year’s awards will go to Maryland Secretary of Environment Ben Grumbles and Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp.

The George Washington University Law School will host the first day of its environmental law symposium Thursday, featuring various government, academic and private sector officials.

The District of Columbia Bar and the Environmental Law Institute will host a discussion Thursday on Wednesday’s Supreme Court arguments in Michigan v. EPA, challenging the agency’s air pollution rules for power plants.

NEWS BITE: Vermont’s governor was short and sweet with his response to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) suggestion that states ignore the EPA’s climate rule.

“I disagree. Climate change is real. It’s a threat to humanity,” Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) wrote Wednesday.

“We should be working harder to address it, not rolling back efforts to do so. I fully support the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan,” he continued.

Vermont is the only state that has no carbon reduction requirement under the EPA’s rule. That’s because Vermont, along with Washington, D.C., has no fossil fuel-fired power plants.

AROUND THE WEB:

Duke Energy Corp. said it will appeal a $25.1 million fine from North Carolina over coal ash pollution at one of its plants in the state, the News & Record reports.

Japan is using money earmarked for fighting climate change to build coal plants in places like India and Bangladesh, the Associated Press reports.

Mississippi’s Senate passed a resolution Tuesday urging the EPA to withdraw its climate rule for power plants, the Clarion-Ledger reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Wednesday’s stories …

– GOP chairman subpoenas EPA on texts
– High court appears split over EPA air quality rule
– House panel passes GOP coal ash bill
– Lawmakers seek $2M for US-Israel energy projects
– Senate Dems seek stronger oil train safety rules
– Maryland lawmakers pass fracking moratorium
– Environmental concerns dip in US

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