Overnight Energy: Water rule lawsuits keep flowing

by Timothy Cama and Devin Henry - 07/13/15 6:00 PM ET

THE DELUGE CONTINUES: Two giant business groups joined the growing list of organizations and states suing the Obama administration over new water regulations.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers on Monday over the “Waters of the United States” rule. The groups argued the agencies overstepped their authority under the Clean Water Act to regulate waterways around the U.S.

{mosads}”This is another example of the EPA getting impatient with the American people and their elected representatives and simply assuming the power that it wants,” said Karen Harned, the executive director of the NFIB Small Business Legal Center.

“It doesn’t work that way under the Constitution.”

More than two dozen states have sued the Obama administration over the rule, which defines the bodies of water the government can regulate and protect from potential pollution. Private sector litigants include the U.S. Chamber, NFIB, and a coalition of interest groups like the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Farm Bureau Association.

Read more here.

ON TAP TUESDAY I: The House Energy and Commerce’s energy and power subcommittee will hold a hearing on pipeline safety. Stacy Cummings, the interim executive director of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, will testify.

ON TAP TUESDAY II: A House Natural Resources subcommittee will hear testimony on surveying techniques for offshore oil drilling. Abigail Ross Hopper, the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, is scheduled to testify.

Rest of Tuesday’s agenda:

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hear testimony on energy and infrastructure systems for the islands of Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S. territories.

The Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee will hold a hearing on economic issues facing energy development companies and manufacturers.

Melanie Kenderdine, the director of the Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis at the Department of Energy, will speak at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event on energy security and the Obama administration’s Quadrennial Energy Review.

David Wagner, the China counsellor for the State Department’s Office of the Special Envoy for Climate Change, will speak about Chinese climate change efforts at an Environmental and Energy Study Institute event.

AROUND THE WEB:

MLPLX, the master limited partnership of Marathon Petroleum Corp. will acquire natural gas processor MarkWest Energy partners for $15.63 billion, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

The south’s first utility-scale wind farm is coming to North Carolina, the News-Observer reports.

The damaged icebreaker that Shell Oil Co. plans to use for Arctic drilling has been sent to Oregon for repairs, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

-House passes Hurricane Sandy assistance bill
-Judge rejects greens’ intervention in Chris Christie’s Exxon settlement
-Feds move to protect sharks
-Obama officials: Power plant rule part of a ‘moral obligation’
-Business groups sue over Obama water rule
-Canada to fast-track oil pipeline permitting
-Australia blocks government funding for wind farms
-Week ahead: House to examine pipeline safety
-States consider defying Obama climate rule
-House GOP divided over next steps on Confederate flag