OVERNIGHT ENERGY: GOP pushes for more offshore drilling

by Timothy Cama and Devin Henry - 04/15/15 6:16 PM ET

GOP TO OBAMA: MORE OFFSHORE DRILLING: House Republicans told the Obama administration’s offshore drilling regulator Wednesday to open more areas in the ocean for drilling.

The GOP complained that the plan from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for lease sales from 2017 to 2022 is “restrictive.”

“This is not a demonstration of commitment to more oil and gas production,” Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) said at the House Natural Resources Committee hearing.

{mosads}”Industry’s expressed an interest in participating in more lease sales than you propose, including in the Atlantic,” said Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), asking BOEM Director Abigail Hopper to err on the side of more lease sales and let the market figure it out.

But Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) disagreed. He said that the oil and natural gas industry is always going to ask for more drilling and Congress should push back.

Lowenthal also urged BOEM to better account for the greenhouse gas emissions from drilling.

Read more here.

ON TAP THURSDAY I: Murray Energy Corp. will present its case Thursday to a federal appeals court in its bid to have the Obama administration’s climate rule for power plants overturned.

Murray and various energy companies will tell the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that since the proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule is in their view clearly illegal and already affecting their businesses, the court should overturn it, even though it has not been made final.

West Virginia and 14 other states will also argue their case against the regulation, and the Obama administration will defend the rule and tell the court that a proposed rule cannot be overturned.

ON TAP WEDNESDAY II: Adam Seiminski, the head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, testifies before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on the administration’s 2015 energy outlook. The administration predicts in the report that U.S. oil production will continue to rise through 2020 despite soft prices.

Rest of Thursday’s agenda …

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) will hold a press conference with environmental advocates to mark the fifth anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster and use it to push against allowing offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean.

National Park Service Jon Jarvis and Council on Environmental Quality Managing Director Christy Goldfuss will participate in an event to launch the Park Service’s Find Youk Park initiative, which is part of its upcoming centennial year.

The Environmental Law Institute holds an event analyzing the court argument from earlier Thursday against the EPA’s climate rule. EPA Deputy General Counsel Ethan Shenkman participates.

Douglas Hollett, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Renewable Power in the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, will speak at the Koshland Science Museum on solar, wind and natural gas.

NEWS BITE:

Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Norman Bay got a promotion Wednesday when his term as the commission’s chairman took effect.

Bay was a controversial choice to lead FERC last year when Congress took up his nomination, as well as that of then-chairwoman Cheryl LaFleur. While LaFleur easily cleared the Senate, Bay was confirmed on a narrow 52-45 vote over Republican objections about his experience and his opinions on fossil fuels. To get the confirmations through, the Obama administration agreed to keep LaFleur on as FERC chair for nine months, a term that ended Wednesday.

“This is a time of great change in the energy space, and it is more important than ever that the Commission use its authority with respect to infrastructure, markets, and reliability to further the public interest,” Bay said in a statement.

AROUND THE WEB:

The New York City Council is expected this week to pass the first major overhaul to the city’s air codes in 40 years, Capital New York reports.

Environmental activists protested in the lobby of BP’s American headquarters in Houston Wednesday to mark the fifth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Houston Chronicle reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Wednesday’s stories …

– GOP criticizes Obama’s ‘restrictive’ offshore drilling plan
– EPA: Greenhouse gas emissions rise 2 percent in 2013
– Clinton meets with ethanol representatives
– Lift US ban on oil exports, say GOP trio
– House panel approves $35B energy, water spending bill
– Coal company lays off hundreds, blames Obama policies
– Reid: GOP field a bunch of ‘losers’
– US oil production to rise through 2020, feds predict