OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Time keeps tickin’ for energy efficiency bill

STATE OF PLAY: Lawmakers say the energy efficiency bill sponsored by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) still has a tentative date with the Senate floor next week — with an emphasis on “tentative.”

It’s unclear whether senators can strike an agreement on amendments ahead of a vote.

The bill’s backers are trying persuade their colleagues to withhold controversial measures, such as those on the Keystone XL pipeline and Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told reporters Thursday in the Capitol they are “talking to a lot of senators about a whole host of issues. We’re continuing discussions with leadership as well.”

Adam Jentleson, an aide for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told The Hill in an email that the bill is still scheduled to come to the floor after the Senate finishes voting on the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development spending bill.

Jentleson said that means it will most likely hit the floor next week.

But Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who wants to attach an amendment to block EPA emissions rules for power plants, said he doesn’t envision the bill will get called before Congress’s August recess.

“We’ll see if Sen. Reid brings that bill to the floor. It doesn’t sound like it’s coming next week,” Barrasso told The Hill. 

ON TAP FRIDAY: Energy data chief thinks globally, talks locally

{mosads}Adam Sieminski, head of the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA),
will be a Friday morning guest on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal.”

He’ll talk about the EIA’s new International Energy Outlook, a major
forecast of global energy consumption and supply trends through 2040.

Click here to see the report.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out these stories that ran on E2-Wire Thursday. . . 

— GOP launches fresh bid to block Interior mining rule

— Wyden floats fracking regs framework

— White House aides, utility reps huddle on power plant carbon regs

— Blown-out Gulf gas well no longer leaking, agencies say

— DOE official: Chinese natural gas could ‘wreak havoc’ on markets

— House votes to blunt EPA regs on coal ash

— A changed ‘social’ calendar for House carbon battle

— White House to focus comprehensive energy review on infrastructure

— Federal report: World energy consumption to grow 56 percent by 2040

— Heritage: Don’t put Keystone amendment on efficiency bill

— Senate bill shields Exxon pipeline spill payments from taxes

— Report: Lawmakers’ Keystone pipeline letters based on lobbyists’ text

NEWS BITES:

GOP lawmaker: China wants to ‘control’ energy supply chains

A senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee had tough words Thursday about China’s role in global energy markets.

“China is engaged in a very aggressive campaign to control global energy supply chains and to protect its monopoly in rare earth elements,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), the chairman of the Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats Subcommittee.

“This obviously indicates that Beijing is abandoning its ‘peaceful rise’ policy. This is not an unexpected turn of events given the brutal nature of the Communist regime,” he added at a hearing on the risk of “resource wars” Thursday.

Click here for a video replay of the hearing and witness testimony.

Senate panel not looking at biofuel rule — yet

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Thursday didn’t rule out possible oversight of the Renewable Fuel Standard.

“We really haven’t put it on our plate yet,” Boxer, whose committee has jurisdiction over the rule, told reporters in the Capitol.

Asked directly if she had any oversight planned, Boxer responded, “Not at the moment, we have such a full plate.”

The House is gearing up to make legislative changes to the federal biofuel-blending law.

While Boxer was noncommittal, some Senate Democrats — including those on her panel — say the rule should get a closer look.

BP ad says oil giant victim of trial lawyers

The Houston Chronicle reports:

BP published a new advertisement Thursday in The New York Times and Wall
Street Journal suggesting it’s a victim of trial lawyers seeking a big
windfall — an unfair one, in the company’s view.

Click here for the whole story.

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

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