OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Senate dives into ocean research — a James Cameron production

Other witnesses for Tuesday’s hearing include Susan Avery, director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Ed Page, executive director of the Alaska Marine Exchange.

Click here for more.

ALSO ON TAP TUESDAY:

Gore, lawmakers, administration officials address energy and environment event

Former Vice President Al Gore will deliver the keynote speech Tuesday at Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-R.I.) annual Rhode Island Energy and Environmental Leaders Day.

{mosads}“Gore has long been regarded as one of the foremost environmental leaders in America, and is a forceful advocate for action to address the effects of climate change. He will speak about the challenges and opportunities facing our nation’s energy and environmental leaders,” an advisory states.

Other speakers at the 10:30 a.m. Capitol Hill event include Whitehouse; Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.); Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee; Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz; and Heather Zichal, President Obama’s chief climate adviser.

The event will be webcast here.

House Natural Resources Dems explore offshore drilling

Democrats on a subpanel of the House Natural Resources Committee are exercising committee rules to hold a Tuesday hearing on offshore drilling.

The committee’s Democrats argued Republicans are moving too quickly on legislation that would expand drilling to zones off the coasts of California, South Carolina and Virginia.

Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), the ranking member for the Energy and Mineral Resources subcommittee, wrote to subpanel Chairman Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) that last week’s hearing on the legislation “continues a troubling pattern of hastily called hearings.”

Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the full committee chairman, had not yet formally introduced his offshore drilling bill when the subpanel announced it would hold a hearing on the proposal.

Michael Tadeo, a committee spokesman, told The Hill that Hastings will attend the hearing.

Witnesses for the 11 a.m. hearing include Michael Levine, Pacific senior counsel with OCEANA; Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense; and Sean Dixon, coastal policy attorney with Clean Ocean Action.

Sen. Sanders to prod Secretary of State Kerry on Keystone XL

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and green groups will discuss the potential impact of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline at a Tuesday news conference.

Sanders opposes the proposed Canada-to-Texas project, saying it will ramp up greenhouse gas emissions that spur climate change. On Tuesday, he will push former Senate colleague Secretary of State John Kerry to reject the pipeline.

The pipeline is currently under federal review at the State Department. Its builder, TransCanada Corp., requires a cross-border permit from the Obama administration to complete the northern portion.

Keystone’s supporters argue oil sands will come out of the ground with or without Keystone, pointing to a draft State Department analysis that said much of the same.

Other speakers at the 10 a.m. Capitol Hill event include Robin Mann, a former Sierra Club president; Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth; and Steve Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change International.

Electric vehicle conference rolls into day two

The Electric Drive Transportation Association’s annual conference heads into its second day at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park.

Click here for more.

Biofuel supporters hit the Hill

The National Biodiesel Board is organizing a fly-in Tuesday aimed at securing congressional support for the renewable fuel standard.

More than 100 people will visit Capitol Hill offices, where they will push lawmakers to back the biofuel-blending mandate.

The rule, which requires refiners to blend 36 billion gallons of biofuel into conventional fuel by 2022, is the subject of an intense lobbying and political fight.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out these stories that ran on E2-Wire Monday and over the weekend …

— DOE official violated nepotism policy, internal watchdog finds

— FAA wants to wean private airlines off leaded fuel

— Energy agency: US oil-and-gas reserves up 35 percent, thanks to shale boom

— Alaska mine developer battles EPA with lobby visit

— IEA report: Global energy emissions hit record high in 2012

— The week ahead: Moniz testifies; senators dive deep

— US and China working to reduce potent heat-trapping pollutant 

NEWS BITES:

Ex-DOE chief Chu talks energy loans, Keystone

Former Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in an interview that the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline is “not where I would draw the line on climate.”

Green and liberal groups have waged an intense lobbying effort against the pipeline based on its potential climate impact. 

Asked whether he thinks Keystone will get built, Chu responded, “Let me put it this way: I do think that oil in Canada, tar sands oil, will get out and be used.”

The ex-DOE chief, who is now teaching at Stanford University, made the comments in a wide-ranging Q&A with The San Francisco Chronicle.

Chu also touched on federal energy loan and loan guarantee programs.

Chu’s tenure at the department was dealt a blow when Solyndra, a California-based solar panel maker, went belly-up in 2011. The firm had received a $535 million federal loan guarantee as part of Obama’s federal stimulus effort.

Chu remarked that the program might hit $2 billion in losses, which he noted would still fall below the $10 billion in losses Congress set aside for the program.

States hitting fracking with fees, regulations, says study

Proposals to impose bans, moratoriums, enhanced disclosure rules and fees on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, are piling up in state legislatures across the country, according to a study released Monday.

The Colorado State University study found that 50 such bills exist in state capitals. Most of the bans, the study found, have occurred on the East Coast.

From the Houston Chronicle:

Much of the new legislation tries to address issues such as water use, air and water quality monitoring and fluids disclosure, as many non-industrial communities grapple with the impacts of hydraulic fracturing and the changes it brings.

Click here for the full story.

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