OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Taxes, sequestration in focus

Bipartisan push for clean-energy tax bill

A bipartisan group of lawmakers will highlight a bill that would unlock a cost-saving tax structure for clean-energy investors during a Wednesday Capitol Hill press conference.

{mosads}Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), along with Reps. Ted Poe (R-Texas), Mike Thompson (R-Calif.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), will speak at the event.

The lawmakers plan to send a letter to President Obama advocating for the measure, which is known as a master limited partnership.

Those arrangements, which are currently open only to fossil fuels, are taxed like a partnership but traded like a stock. The lawmakers all have sponsored bills to extend the financing method to clean-energy projects, contending it would lower financing costs.

Energy trade controversies get airing

The Washington International Trade Association will hold an event Wednesday titled: “U.S. Trade and Energy Policy: Coherence or Conflict?”
 
A
range of experts will tackle two hot-button topics: whether the U.S.
should expand exports of natural gas, which is growing in abundance, and
trade in renewable energy-related goods, the subject of trade battles
between the U.S. and China.

Inglis to push carbon tax

Former Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) will bring his campaign for a carbon tax — offset by reductions in income taxes — to Johns Hopkins University for a
mid-day event.
 
Inglis heads the recently created Energy and Enterprise Initiative at George Mason University.

Nuclear group to offer 2013 outlook

The head of a nuclear energy trade group will detail the industry’s outlook for 2013 during a Wednesday media conference.

Marvin Fertel, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, will discuss the industry’s policy objectives, top regulatory concerns and the U.S. electricity sector.

Oil industry to attack soot rule

An oil industry group will hold a press call Wednesday to make the case against a looming EPA rule to tighten air quality standards for fine particulate matter, also known as soot.

American Petroleum Institute officials will discuss the rule’s “impact on job growth, our nation’s economic recovery, and air quality.”

EPA is under a court-ordered deadline to complete the rules by Dec. 14.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out what ran on E2-Wire Tuesday. . .

— Interior delays ‘fracking’ rules
— Sierra Club ranks best and worst transportation projects for the environment
— Sen. Boxer announces plans to form ‘climate change caucus’
— Energy groups to Obama: Change in wind credit would boost renewables investment
— Exxon isn’t pushing for carbon tax

NEWS BITES:

State plan to sue EPA over fracking emissions

Seven states intend to sue the EPA for failing to regulate methane emissions at oil-and-gas drilling sites.

The states allege EPA’s revised air pollution rules, completed earlier this year, violated the Clean Air Act by ignoring methane released during hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Fracking injects a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals into tight rock formations to tap fossil fuel deposits.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is leading the group, which includes Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Click here for more on the states’ plan and a copy of their formal notice of intent to sue EPA. 

Judge halts pipeline work

The Associated Press has the latest on TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone pipeline. From their story:

A Texas judge has ordered TransCanada to temporarily halt work on a private property where it is building part of an oil pipeline designed to carry tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast, the latest legal battle to plague a project that has encountered numerous obstacles nationwide.

Texas landowner Michael Bishop, who is defending himself in his legal battle against the oil giant, filed his lawsuit in the Nacogdoches County courthouse, arguing that TransCanada lied to Texans when it said it would be using the Keystone XL pipeline to transport crude oil.

Click here for the whole thing.

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