Overnight Energy: GOP chairman threatens subpoena in Exxon fight

HOUSE THREATENS SUBPOENA IN EXXON FIGHT: A Republican House chairman is threatening to subpoena state attorneys general and green groups for information on their probes into Exxon Mobil Corp. in an escalation in the ongoing fight over their climate change-related investigations.

In Wednesday letters to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and a handful of environmental groups, Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said his panel “will consider use of compulsory process to obtain responsive documents in the possession, custody, or control of your office” should they not respond to the letter.

{mosads}”If you continue to refuse to provide information responsive to the Committee’s requests on a voluntary basis, I will be left with no alternative but to utilize the tools delegated to the Committee by the Rules of the House of Representatives,” Smith added in the letters.

Smith has twice asked Schneiderman, Healey and other state or territory attorneys general to turn over documents related to their investigations into claims Exxon lied to the public and shareholders about what it knew about climate change decades ago.

His request — originally sent in May — asks for copies of communications between their offices and several green groups, among other things. Smith’s Wednesday letters are the first to raise the possibility of a congressional subpoena related to the probe.

Read more here.

IS THE EPA ‘UN-AMERICAN’? A House Republican on Wednesday accused the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of pushing “un-American” regulations, leading to a tense shouting match at a committee hearing.

Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) told a top EPA official that her agency is “draining the lifeblood out of our businesses” through regulations, saying, “I think it’s absurd, I think it’s irresponsible, I think honestly it’s un-American. Your department doesn’t have a concern for the very people who create jobs in this country.”

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) replied that he was “a little taken back by the hostility I hear in this room,” a charge that prompted Johnson to say he was trying to “hold the EPA accountable.”

“If we’re not going to do it, then who is going to do it?” he asked.

Janet McCabe, an acting assistant administrator at the EPA, was peppered with questions from Republicans about the impact regulations have on jobs in the energy sector around the country during Wednesday’s hearing. Democrats pulled their punches, and defended McCabe and the EPA after the “un-American” charge.

“My side has sat here very patiently and calmly while this witness, who by every indication has worked tirelessly on behalf of the American people — to be called un-American, that’s absurd,” said Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), the ranking member of the subcommittee.

Read more here.

SENATE MOVES FORWARD WITH GMO BILL: A bill to block states from issuing mandatory labeling laws for products that contain genetically modified ingredients overcame a key hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday.

Supporters have hailed the legislation, which advanced 65-32, as a bipartisan compromise in the national fight over the labeling of foods that contain genetically modified organisms, better known as GMOs.

The bill allows food producers to use QR codes that consumers scan with a smartphone to find out if a product contains GMOs instead of stating on the label that the product was “produced with genetic engineering” — now required by laws in states like Vermont, Maine, Connecticut and Alaska.

Democrats slammed the agreement as an industry backed bill to deny Americans the right to know what’s in their food.

“Here is a so-called labeling bill, but in fact it does the opposite,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) “This so-called mandatory labeling bill isn’t mandatory, doesn’t label and it excludes most GMO foods.”

Read more here.

Cash rains from the gallery: Members of the Organic Consumers Association threw money from the Senate gallery onto the floor on Wednesday to protest the GMO vote.

The protesters yelled “Monsanto Money” and “Sen. Stabenow, listen to the people, not Monsanto” while $2,000 fell to the floor.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), cosponsored the GMO bill. Monsanto is an agribusiness firm that supports the Senate bill.

The protest came during a procedural vote to advance the bill in the Senate.

In an email to The Hill, U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki said four people were arrested for the disturbance in the Senate gallery and are being charged with unlawfully demonstrating, a misdemeanor.

Read more here.

ON TAP THURSDAY I: Jim Lyons, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Land and Minerals Management, at the Department of Interior, will testify before a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on a Bureau of Land Management planning strategy.

ON TAP THURSDAY II: A House Energy and Commerce Committee panel will meet to discuss the disposal of nuclear waste.

Rest of Thursday’s agenda …

A House Science Committee panel will hold a hearing on weather satellite technologies.  

AROUND THE WEB:

The journal Nature interviews top Obama science adviser John Holdren.

Scientists have pinpointed exactly how much carbon dioxide Redwood National Forest sucks out of the atmosphere, and it’s a lot, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has approved a plan to expand coal mining near the Rio Grande, the Texas Tribune reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Wednesday’s stories…

-Senators looking to clear the way for energy bill vote
-GMO labeling bill advances in the Senate over Dem objections
-Group drops $2,000 on Senate floor to protest GMO bill
-Former GOP congressman lobbying for electric cars
-‘Un-American’ charge ignites hearing on EPA rules
-House members, staff offered blood testing after lead found in water

 Please send tips and comments to Timothy Cama, tcama@digital-staging.thehill.com; and Devin Henry, dhenry@digital-staging.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @Timothy_Cama, @dhenry, @thehill