Overnight Energy: Senate energy reform bill set for final vote Wednesday

ENERGY BILL AT THE FINISH LINE: After months of behind the scenes wrangling and more than a year of work, the Senate will vote on its bipartisan energy reform package on Wednesday morning.

The legislation, which would be the first broad energy law since 2007, aims to update federal energy policies. It would modernize the electric grid, expand natural gas exports and increase energy efficiency, though it avoids more controversial and partisan proposals.

{mosads}Leadership originally hoped to pass the bill in January, but a fight over attaching a Flint aid package to the legislation delayed it for months.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and bill author, called it a “broad, bipartisan and, some would suggest, long-stalled energy bill.”

Democrats had long hoped to use the legislation to pass an aid package for Flint, Mich., blocking consideration of the bill earlier this year until a deal was in place.

Members spent months trying to come to an agreement, but couldn’t overcome a hold from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). Last week they said they would drop the proposal and find another vehicle for Flint aid, clearing way for the energy bill.

On Tuesday, members voted on a host of amendments, including a slate of non-controversial measures passed by voice vote. A vote on final passage will come on Wednesday morning, Murkowski announced.

“We have had important compromises on clean energy technology, energy efficiency, infrastructure and truly bipartisan support,” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the Energy committee’s ranking member, said. “So we need to pass this bill. That’s why we’ve been so persistent. It’s been since 2007 that we passed an energy bill.”

Read more here.

INTERIOR SECRETARY LOOKS TO THE FUTURE: Interior Secretary Sally Jewell called Tuesday for major changes to how the country handles conservation in an effort to modernize efforts to protect public land.

Marking the 100th anniversary of the National Parks Service, Jewell said federal lands face a host of natural, manmade and political problems, and that lawmakers need to step up and do more to protect them in the future.

“If we stay on this trajectory, 100 years from now, national parks and wildlife refuges will be like postage stamps of nature on a map, isolated islands of conservation with run-down facilities that crowds of Americans visit like zoos to catch a glimpse of our nation’s remaining wildlife and undeveloped patches of land,” Jewell said.

“That can’t and won’t happen. But as a country, we need to make a major course correction in how we approach conservation to ensure a bright future for our public lands and waters.”

Jewell’s speech comes at a time of renewed debate over the future of public lands, an issued highlighted by a violent wildlife refuge occupation in Oregon that ended in February.

Republicans in Congress, too, have looked to harness public lands for other uses, including a Puerto Rico bankruptcy bill in the House that allows for the sale of a wildlife refuge in the territory.

Read more here.

YET ANOTHER RECORD WARM MONTH: March 2016 was the hottest March on record for the globe as a whole, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported Tuesday.

It’s the 11th consecutive month in a row that reached a new heat record, NOAA said.

March’s average surface temperature was 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average of 54.9 for that month, according to NOAA.

Last month also set a new record for the farthest departure from a previous record, going 0.2 degrees above the previous highest departure, which was February.

ON TAP WEDNESDAY I: The Senate will vote on final passage of its energy reform bill.

ON TAP WEDNESDAY II:  The Senate Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee with authority over the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a hearing on that agency’s budget request for fiscal 2017. EPA head Gina McCarthy will testify, and David Bloom, the agency’s chief financial officer, will also be a witness.

Rest of Wednesday’s agenda…

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will vote on its proposed bill to reauthorize the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s pipeline safety programs.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s energy and environment subcommittees will hold a hearing on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 2017 budget request. The commission’s four current members will testify.

The House Oversight Committee’s Interior subcommittee will hold the first of a two-part hearing on delisting species under the Endangered Species Act. It will feature numerous experts and stakeholders.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing on innovative techniques and technologies to increase water supply. James Dalton from the Army Corps of Engineers will testify, along with other stakeholders.

The House Natural Resources Committee’s water subpanel will hold a hearing on three bills within its jurisdiction.

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will be a keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the National Coal Council.

The House Science Committee’s energy subcommittee will hold a hearing on fusion energy science, featuring the leaders of three major laboratories.

AROUND THE WEB:

Lawmakers in San Francisco are considering a ban on Styrofoam, though industry opposition is already taking shape, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Climate change is likely to increase the acidity of water, raising concerns about the viability of the fishing industry, the Los Angeles Times reports.

A pipeline in southern Illinois has spilled more than 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel, the Chicago Tribune reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Tuesday’s stories…

-Interior secretary calls for ‘major course correction’ on conservation
-Senate revives its energy reform bill
-Supreme Court rules against state power plant subsidies
-Senators hit Obama’s EPA budget request

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