OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Lawmakers fire away on energy tax policy

They include: Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio); House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.); House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.); Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who is also a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee; and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

Click here for the full agenda.


ALSO ON TAP:


Ozone regulations explored

Anticipated ozone standards and their effects on businesses will be the subject of a Wednesday hearing for a subpanel of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

Industry groups worry that the expected standards will be too onerous, possibly stifling economic activity in communities across the country.

{mosads}But public health groups contend the standards are much needed, and will reduce national healthcare costs.

Witnesses for the 10 a.m. hearing include Jeff Holmstead, a partner at law firm Bracewell & Giuliani and the top Environmental Protection Agency air quality regulator under former President George W. Bush; and Amanda Smith, executive director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.

Click here for more on the hearing, which will be webcast.


Renewable energy confab hits Capitol Hill

The Congressional Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency EXPO and Forum will bring a number of lawmakers, regulators, federal officials and private-sector executives together Wednesday to discuss the future of renewables and energy efficiency in the U.S.

Speakers include Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Dave Reichert (R-Wash.), Tony Cardenas (D-Calif.) and Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.).

Click here for more info.


Sen. Murkowski discusses geopolitics of natural gas

A Wednesday forum will delve into the geopolitical and economic implications of the newfound abundance of shale oil and gas in the U.S.

The event comes on the heels of new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration that said the U.S. has the world’s second-most technically recoverable oil reserves and fourth-most technically recoverable natural-gas reserves.

Think tank the Bipartisan Policy Center is hosting the event. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), the top Republican on the Senate Energy Committee, will speak.

Other speakers at the event, which runs from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, include former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), now a Bipartisan Policy Center senior fellow, and Adam Sieminski, who leads the Energy Information Administration.

Click here for more on the event.


IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out these stories that ran on E2-Wire Tuesday …

— Groups square off over chemical reform bill

— White House plots climate strategy with Senate, House Democrats
— Obama to ramp up international climate action, adviser says
— GOP bill would boost weather forecasting, reduce climate research

— NRDC chief: Fracking ‘most complicated thing I’ve encountered’
— Gore laments scientists ‘won’t let us’ tie climate change to tornadoes

— Wildlife agency proposes endangered listing for chimps

— Green group sues State Department for access to Keystone pipeline files
— Sen. Whitehouse slams GOP on climate change
Actor Redford pushes Obama on power plant emissions


NEWS BITES:


Sens. Whitehouse, Warren blast GOP on climate

Liberal Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) lashed out at Republicans Tuesday for their views on climate change.

“We have to call out climate deniers. We have to call them out by name,” Warren said at an annual Rhode Island energy and environment event hosted by Whitehouse at the Capitol.

Whitehouse threw several jabs at the GOP throughout the daylong event.

He said GOP resistance to the scientific consensus that human activity contributes to global warming is untenable in the long run, predicting it could cost Republicans in the 2014 elections.

“Their position is eroding,” Whitehouse said.

Whitehouse also slammed several conservative groups that oppose action on climate change. He said they get a bulk of their funding from the fossil fuel industry, which has lobbied against efforts to reduce emissions.

“It’s like the Hydra,” Whitehouse said, referring to the mythological serpent. “Lot of heads — one creature.”


Salazar tiptoeing around ethical issues in new role

Former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar joined international law firm WilmerHale last week, and learning the ropes could prove quite the ethical exercise.

The Houston Chronicle reports that the law firm helped BP win concessions from the White House in the fallout over its 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. At the same time, Salazar was leading a forceful response by the Obama administration against the British oil giant.

From the Chronicle:

Three years later, Salazar has now joined the prominent firm, where he will focus on strategic counseling as well as energy, natural resources and North American issues in a brand new Denver office.

But Salazar won’t touch any of the law firm’s work with BP — and other energy clients may also be off limits.

“I’m permanently walled off from any BP work and money, now and forever,” Salazar said during an interview. “That’s an arrangement I made. That’s in place with the firm.”

Click here for the full story.


Please send tips and comments to Ben Geman, ben.geman@digital-staging.thehill.com, and Zack Colman, zcolman@digital-staging.thehill.com.


Follow E2 on Twitter: @E2Wire, @Ben_Geman, @zcolman

Tags Boehner Dave Reichert Elizabeth Warren John Boehner Lisa Murkowski Paul Ryan Rob Portman Ron Wyden Sheldon Whitehouse

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