Overnight Energy: Senate blocks climate change education measure

by Timothy Cama and Devin Henry - 07/15/15 6:05 PM ET

COMMON CORE FOR CLIMATE? Senators rejected a measure to establish a climate change education fund on Wednesday.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) offered an amendment to the Senate’s No Child Left Behind reform bill that would have created a grant program for school districts to invest in new climate education programs and materials. The measure failed in a 44-53 vote.

{mosads}”The children of our country deserve the best scientific education they can get on this topic,” he said. “They are the future leaders of our country and our world. They must be equipped for this generational science.”

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the author of the education bill, compared the proposal to Common Core, the federal education standards despised by many conservatives.

He said the measure would lead to a lot of changing curriculum, depending on the party in control of the White House.

“Just imagine what the curriculum on climate change would be if we shifted from President Obama to President Cruz and then back to President Sanders and then to President Trump,” he said. “There would be a lot of wasted paper, writing and rewriting textbooks.”

Read more here.

ON TAP THURSDAY: The Senate Energy Committee’s subcommittee on public lands, forests and mining, will host a legislative hearing on three bills in its jurisdiction. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell and Bureau of Land Management Deputy Director Steve Ellis will be among the witnesses.

Rest of Thursday’s agenda…

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will participate in a department program on biofuels.

The National Ice Center and the Arctic Research Commission will wrap up their symposium on the impact of diminishing ice on Arctic naval and maritime operations.

Robert Bonnie, the Department of Agriculture’s undersecretary for natural resources and environment, will testify at a House Agriculture hearing on forestry bills.

The Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Africa and global health policy will hold a hearing on wildlife poaching in Africa.

NEWS BITE:

President Obama said Wednesday that he’ll nominate Jessie Roberson to fill the open spot on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Roberson is currently vice chairwoman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, where she’s been since 2010.

Before that, she worked in at the Energy Department and in senior positions at various energy companies, including CH2M Hill and Exelon Corp.

Roberson’s nomination is subject to Senate confirmation. Republicans on the Environment and Public Works Committee have expressed a desire recently to rein in the commission and make it more industry friendly.

AROUND THE WEB:

Some people in Portland are hanging sex toys on power and other utility lines, the Oregonian reports.

Areas in Pennsylvania with shale gas production are seeing increased hospitalizations, a study found, according to StateImpact Pennsylvania.

New research is blaming fracking and its jobs boom for a rise in high school dropout rates, Bloomberg News reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Wednesday’s stories:

-Senate rejects climate change education measure
-Official defends fracking rules for federal lands
-Former weather service employees refuse to speak about ethics allegations
-Chemical safety nominee receives praise
-Senate Dems say GOP budget exposes electric grid to hackers
-Iowa company to close country’s 200th coal plant
-Energy Dept gives $12M for offshore carbon storage research
-‘Kayaktivists‘ to protest offshore oil and gas drilling
-McCarthy: GOP drought bill better than ‘punitive’ conservation push
-Liberal group to Obama: Delay offshore drilling sale