OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Chevron chief in the spotlight

Watson, for his part, said at a September event hosted by The Hill that the supercommittee should raise money another way: with leasing and royalty revenues that expanded oil-and-gas development would provide.

NEWS BITES

McCain pokes fun at Grassley over ethanol support: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), soon after floating an amendment to appropriations legislation that would block federal funds for ethanol-fueling equipment like blender pumps, poked fun at Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a vocal proponent of ethanol.

“Drinking ethanol is also something that I’m opposed to because Sen. Grassley has drank way too much of it over the years,” McCain told reporters in the Capitol. “Every morning he has a glass.”

{mosads}“They’ve got to stop serving it in the Senate dining room,” he continued. “That is the first thing.”

Asked by a reporter if his amendment was similar to one attached to a House appropriations bill, McCain again joked with reporters.

“You know what a snob I am. Do you think I pay attention to what’s in a House bill? You know, when you cross over — I was a member of Congress — you have to have a lobotomy somewhere in the Capitol,” he said.

Here’s a statement from McCain spokesman Brian Rogers on the amendment, which could come up for a vote Wednesday: “In these tight economic times when we are asking families to do more with less, we should not be subsidizing gas pumps at retail gas stations. The ethanol industry needs to prove it can prosper on its own and quit asking for taxpayer handouts.”

Ethanol industry blasts McCain amendment: But the amendment is no laughing matter for the ethanol industry.

The Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol industry trade group, blasted the amendment in a statement, noting that a similar amendment by McCain failed in June.

“Sen. McCain’s amendment is little more than a jobs bill for OPEC nations and other oil interests dedicated to keeping Americans addicted to costly and dangerous imported oil,” the group said. “American ethanol producers are providing the nation with a domestic renewable alternative, creating jobs here at home, and reducing America’s vulnerability to the whims of petro-dictators.”

Waxman: Investigate whether Koch has stake in Keystone XL: Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) again called on Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to investigate whether Koch Industries has a financial interest in the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

Koch Industries has denied that it has any financial stake in the 1,700-mile project, which would carry Canadian oil sands from Alberta to refineries in Texas.

But Waxman says a subsidiary of Koch Industries filed documents with the Canadian government that said the subsidiary “has a direct and substantial interest” in the Keystone XL project.

“These issues are significant and timely given the pending approvals required for the Keystone XL pipeline, which has been the subject of legislation by our Committee,” Waxman said in a letter to Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) on Tuesday. “Charles and David Koch and Koch Industries should not be exempt from responsible oversight and normal accountability.”

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline has set off a firestorm in Washington, with Republicans and industry groups arguing it will boost the economy, and environmental and other groups arguing it will harm the environment.

The Obama administration hopes to make a final decision on the pipeline by the end of the year.

Update: Philip Ellender, Koch’s president of government and public affairs, said Koch has no stake in the Keystone project and that critics are misconstruing the subsidiary’s filing with Canada’s National Energy Board.

“We are not party to its design or construction, we are not an investor in the project, and we are not a proposed shipper or customer of oil delivered by this pipeline,” he said.

Ellender said people alleging that Koch has a stake in the project are missing the “clear difference between ‘intervening’ in an application in Canada’s National Energy Board hearings, and ‘having an interest’ in the pipeline.”

“By definition, an intervener is anyone who wants to learn more about a project. In this case, interveners included individuals, environmental groups, businesses and many others,” he said in a statement.

ON TAP WEDNESDAY:

• A subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s “brownfields” program. David Lloyd, director of EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization, will testify at the hearing

• Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will give a speech at an event sponsored by The Atlantic. The event, which is part of the magazine’s “Women of Washington” series, is called “Creating a Path Forward on a Rational National Energy Policy.”

• Tom Hicks, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, will speak at a New America Foundation event called “What Will Turn Us On in 2030? Competing With Fossil Fuels to Power the Future.” Michael Levi, director of the Council on Foreign Relations’ energy and climate program, will also speak at the event.

• Deputy Assistant Energy Secretary for Energy Efficiency Kathleen Hogan will appear at an event sponsored by the Alliance to Save Energy and others on energy-efficient light bulbs.

• Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) are slated to unveil legislation “that would enable better mortgage underwriting, encourage investments in residential energy improvements and reduce energy bills.”

• Exelon CEO John Rowe, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Assistant Energy Secretary for Policy and International Affairs David Sandalow are slated to take part in an event on the state of energy policy hosted by the Environmental Law Institute.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…

Here’s a quick roundup of Tuesday’s E2 stories:

— Murkowski, Salazar hold beer summit to mark Alaska Day

— Regulators impose limits on oil speculation

— Embargo will limit US oversight of planned oil drilling off Cuba coast

— Senate Dems add to calls for supercommittee to nix oil tax breaks

— Administration to inspect oil rig set to drill in Cuban waters

— Senate approves pipeline safety bill

— House GOP looks to make legal case in Solyndra loan debacle

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


Follow us on Twitter: @E2Wire, @AndrewRestuccia, @Ben_Geman

This post was updated at 8:44 p.m. on Oct. 18