E2-Wire

OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Industry, green groups ready for 2014

by Laura Barron-Lopez - 12/12/13 7:29 PM ET

THE PIPELINE TO NOWHERE: Talk about the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline is heating up as Congress prepares to close up shop for the year and stakeholders ramp up their efforts for 2014.

The State Department’s environmental impact statement on the TransCanada pipeline was expected by the end of 2013, but as the clock winds down, green groups are not holding their breath.

{mosads}On a call with reporters Thursday the Natural Resources Defense Council ranked Keystone high on its list of priorities for 2014.

It sees January as a more realistic deadline for State’s environmental review of the pipeline, which would carry crude from oil sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.

Similarly, a top oil lobby, the American Petroleum Institute, is tracking the public on its views of the coming Keystone XL decision.

In a new poll conducted by Harris Interactive for the American Petroleum Institute, eight out of 10 people surveyed support expanding the nation’s energy infrastructure, including new pipelines and other facilities that would transport oil and gas across the United States.

The poll also found that a majority of people support the Keystone XL pipeline: seven out of 10 surveyed backed the project, while 17 percent opposed it.

Speaking of environment issues …

The Washington Post reports former Vice President Gore took to Capitol Hill today to urge Senate Democrats to move expeditiously on global warming.

Gore met with lawmakers in a closed-door lunch on Thursday, focusing much of his talk on energy developments in China.

ON TAP FRIDAY: The Center for Strategic and International Studies will look at nuclear energy development plans in China, India and South Korea.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
– Nuke industry to Obama: You need us
– Vehicle fuel economy hits record high
– House Dems press Obama to halt Keystone XL review
– Bipartisan push imperils ethanol mandate
– GOP gangs up on endangered species law
– Activists to White House: ‘Free John Podesta’ on Keystone XL
– Panel eyes endangered species, fishing bills
– List: Regs, exec action to dominate 2014 climate debate