E2-Wire

OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Pipeline politics hang over Obama’s energy trip

by Andrew Restuccia and Ben Geman - 03/21/12 10:46 PM ET

The president will issue a memo Thursday calling on federal agencies to expedite their review of the Southern part of the pipeline. Read more about that here.

But Republicans are already dismissing Obama’s Cushing trip as a PR stunt. Expect to hear more of that after Obama’s speech — Senate Republicans will hold a press conference to call on the president to approve the entire Canada-to-Texas pipeline, arguing that approval of the Southern portion of the project is not enough.

{mosads}You can read more on Obama’s energy tour, including his speech later tonight in New Mexico, on E2 and in Thursday’s print edition.

NEWS BITES:

Green group spends six figures on ad supporting Sen. Sherrod Brown

The League of Conservation Voters is running television advertisements in Ohio in support of Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), who is in a tight reelection race in the state.

The ads, which LCV says cost “six-figures,” will run in Columbus, Ohio, for the next two weeks. They praise the senator for voting to extend renewable energy tax breaks, among other things.

“In a Congress full of do-nothing obstructionists, Senator Brown has shown that he’ll do whatever it takes to keep clean energy and manufacturing jobs in Ohio,” LCV President Gene Karpinski said in a statement. “Senator Brown’s continued leadership in the Senate is vital to getting Ohioans back on the job manufacturing the next generation of clean and renewable energy.”

Watch the ad here. And The Hill has more on the LCV effort here.

Inhofe, liberal pals to reunite

Conservative Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) will get to hang out with two of his three favorite liberals Thursday.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where he’s the top Republican, will host Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson for a hearing on the agency’s budget plan.

Inhofe said last week that Jackson and committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) are two of his three favorite liberals (the third is MSNBC host Rachel Maddow).

But don’t expect those kind feelings to stand in the way of a tussle over regulations.

Inhofe is on the attack over power plant air toxics rules he calls overly burdensome, and is famously no fan of EPA’s climate change regulations.

The hearing starts at 10 a.m. and will be webcast here.

Sec. Clinton to push clean water access

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday will announce a “U.S. Water Partnership.”

The Washington, D.C., event will include senior administration officials, corporate execs, environmentalists and others.

“The USWP is a public-private partnership formed to share U.S. knowledge, leverage and mobilize resources, and facilitate cross-sector partnerships to find solutions to global water accessibility challenges, especially in the developing world,” an advisory states.

“The USWP will answer some of the challenges outlined in the Global Water Security Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), which will be released on the same day with an announcement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence,” the State Department said.

House lawmakers unveil bipartisan energy-efficiency bill

Reps. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) unveiled bipartisan energy-efficiency legislation Wednesday.

The bill, known as the Home Owner Managing Energy Savings (HOMES) Act, gives rebates to consumers who improve their home energy efficiency.

“Homeowners who demonstrate a 20 percent energy savings will receive a $2,000 rebate. For every 5 percent in additional energy savings, they can receive another $1,000 — up to a total of $8,000 or 50 percent of the project’s cost,” according to a summary of the bill.

The legislation won support from an unlikely coalition of green and industry groups, including the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…

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

– Obama to order expedited review of Keystone pipeline’s southern piece
– Obama: ‘We will not walk away’ from clean-energy agenda
– CFTC head keys in on gas prices to justify budget boost
– Cantor says he has ‘full confidence’ in Stearns despite ‘birther’ flap
– Carney: Backers of Ryan budget ‘deliberately ignorant’ on clean energy
– Sanders bill would force CFTC’s hand in effort to lower gas prices
– Ad slams Obama energy policies as ‘playing politics’
– Oil execs to Obama: Partial Keystone pipeline approval isn’t enough