Overnight Energy: Officials lash out at House EPA funding bill

by Timothy Cama and Devin Henry - 07/07/15 6:13 PM ET

‘SIGNIFICANT IMPACT’ ON EPA: Top Obama administration officials lashed out Tuesday at the House Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funding bill set for a vote this week.

EPA head Gina McCarthy told reporters that the bill would have a “significant impact” on the agency’s ability to carry on its core functions of protecting the country’s air and water.

“The appropriations bill currently under consideration by the House would have far-reaching consequences for the agency’s ability to ensure protections of public health and the environment,” McCarthy said.

{mosads}The House and Senate bills sponsored by Republicans to fund the EPA would cut its budget by 9 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan said it is part of a troubling pattern of congressional Republicans using appropriations to accomplish ideological policy goals.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that Republicans are attempting to hijack the appropriations process to accomplish unrelated ideological proposals,” he said. “We will not accept Republicans using it that way.”

Read more here and here.

ON TAP WEDNESDAY I: The House will continue debate on its appropriations bill to fund the EPA and the Interior Department, and will likely vote on it.

ON TAP WEDNESDAY II: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing on the United Nations climate talks and their impact on domestic environmental policy.

Rest of Wednesday’s agenda …

Continental Resources, Inc. Chairman and CEO Harold Hamm will be among those testifying at a House Agriculture hearing on exporting crude oil.

Two House Foreign Affairs subcommittees will hold a joint hearing on the nuclear power cooperation agreement between the U.S. and China. Witnesses include Thomas Countryman, assistant secretary for the State Department’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, and Frank G. Klotz, the under secretary for nuclear security and administrator of the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

The House Natural Resources Committee’s energy and mineral resources subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Helium Stewardship Act. Anne-Marie Fennell, the director of the Natural Resources and Environment Team at the Government Accountability Office, will testify.

The House Homeland Security Committee’s oversight and management efficiency subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Department of Homeland Security’s “misplaced focus on climate change.” Three DHS officials are scheduled to testify.

George Mason University Law School will hold an event on the Supreme Court’s environmental decisions.

AROUND THE WEB:

Operators of the Sendai nuclear power plant in Japan began loading fuel into the plant on Tuesday ahead of its August re-opening, AFP reports.

Britain’s largest energy suppliers overcharged households by 1.2 billion pounds each year between 2009 and 2013, Reuters reports.

Mississippi officials have ordered Southern Co. to refund customers after a 2013 rate hike that was meant to help recoup construction costs from the carbon-capture Kemper County Coal Plant, Mississippi Public Broadcasting reports.

Coal company Peabody Energy is upset about anti-mining lyrics in a 44-year-old folk song, the Associated Press reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

-Obama officials roast EPA spending bill
-Polls show support for top conservation priorities
-US oil output on track for 45-year high
-Michigan considering 15-cent gas tax hike
-EPA head slams GOP budget cuts
-Sanders seeks to boost poor’s access to solar power
-NRDC hits Illinois Republican over climate vote
-Supreme Court defeat won’t hinder climate push, says EPA chief
-Mountaintop removal coal output drops 62 percent
-White House seeks more solar power in poor areas