Overnight Energy: Hopes rise for Flint aid

FLINT AID COULD COME IN SPENDING BILL: Members are increasingly optimistic about including an aid package for Flint, Mich. in a short-term spending bill due on the floor before the end of the year.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said Thursday that funding for Flint and other cities dealing with water contamination problems is “guaranteed” by year’s end.

{mosads}

He predicted that a $170 million amendment adopted by the House earlier this year will be tacked on to a short-term spending bill due up before the end of session. That number is smaller than the $220 million senators hoped to spend on Flint, but it’s more difficult, procedurally, to move the Senate’s package.

“Flint’s going to get done, that’s the bottom line,” Upton told reporters Thursday. “It will either be in the [continuing resolution] or the omnibus.”

Funding in a final Flint package, Upton said Thursday, is “probably at the House level, but it will be there. It’s guaranteed.”

The House in September passed the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which included an amendment authorizing $170 million for Flint.

Lawmakers from both chambers are still working to reconcile their two different water bills. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), ranking member on the Environment and Public Works Committee, emphasized Wednesday that WDRA is not dead.

Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), who represents Flint, said it’s still a “question” of whether WRDA will ultimately be the vehicle that carries Flint aid over the finish line.

Kildee declined to say if Democrats would move to block a continuing resolution that didn’t have Flint funding, though he said that they would use “every tool” they have to get money for the city.

Read more here.  

SENATE REJECTS OFFSHORE REVENUE SHARING: The Senate on Thursday fell short of the votes needed to advance a bill to increase royalty revenue sharing with states for offshore oil and gas drilling.

The procedural vote for the American Energy and Conservation Act was 51-47, short of the 60-vote threshold needed to continue consideration in the Senate.

The bill, from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), would have expanded the revenue sharing currently in place for some wells in the Gulf of Mexico, with a 37.5 percent share for states.

“The American Energy and Conservation Act will benefit American families and small businesses by expanding opportunities for states, not just Gulf Coast but elsewhere, to support energy development,” Cassidy said on the Senate floor.

Democrats said it would have incentivized states to seek offshore drilling in areas like the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, while taking billions of dollars out of the federal coffers.

“This bill is about one thing and one thing only: another giveaway to big oil,” said Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a vocal opponent of the push to allow offshore drilling in the Atlantic.

“It’s about paving the way for oil drilling up and down the Atlantic coast. It’s about expanding drilling in the Gulf, even as those communities work to recover from the BP disaster.”

Read more here.

OPTIMISM RETURNS TO ENERGY BILL TALKS: Key lawmakers negotiating toward a wide-ranging energy reform bill were optimistic Thursday about getting it passed during the lame duck session.

Lawmakers met Thursday on the effort and agreed to keep working toward a resolution, though it might be a small bill.

Upton, the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was hopeful before the meeting, reversing his statement earlier this week that he didn’t think a bill could get done.

“I’m of the view that there are some things that we can do to get a bill,” Upton said.

“We’ll need to move quickly,” he said, “but I think there is an opportunity to move a bill.”

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said after the meeting that she’s optimistic as well.

“We’re working through Thanksgiving,” Murkowski said.

“I think that we’re going to get an energy bill signed,” she continued. “I’ve been working toward it for two years. I’m not going to give up in the last few weeks.”

Sen. Maria Cantwell (Wash.), the panel’s top Democrat, said the burden is on Senate Republicans to push the House GOP.

“I’m dedicated to solving these problems,” she said. “And I think leaving town when you’re this close to a resolution is foolhardy.”

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, was less cheery. He said “major sticking points” remain in the talks, and he isn’t sure they will be successful.

SHAREHOLDERS APPROVE TESLA, SOLARCITY DEAL: Tesla Motors and SolarCity shareholders voted Thursday to approve the automaker’s $2.23 billion acquisition of the rooftop solar company, the Los Angeles Times reports.

More than 85 percent of Tesla shareholders supported the deal, Tesla said.

The deal allows the electric car giant to integrate solar power generation into its business model.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is also chairman of SolarCity, has recently rolled out a plan to create home battery storage systems for solar-generated power. He is also aiming to sell solar cells that look like shingles, a move designed to make rooftop solar more attractive — literally — for consumers.

“Vote tally shows ~85% of unaffiliated shareholders in favor of the Tesla/SolarCity merger!” Musk tweeted Thursday. “Thanks for believing.”

AROUND THE WEB:

Commuters on the Staten Island Ferry in New York Harbor Thursday morning saw a whale swimming near the Statue of Liberty, the Staten Island Advance reports.

The West Bijou Site outside Denver is the Interior Department’s newest national natural monument thanks to its “rich fossil record,” ABC News Denver reports.

Michigan officials are challenging a federal court order requiring them to supply bottled water to people in Flint, Mich., who don’t have proper water filtering, the Detroit Free Press reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Thursday’s stories …

-US mines see safest year on record, feds say
-GOP chairman: Flint aid likely in spending bill
-Senate rejects bill to boost state revenue from offshore drilling
-Dakota Access CEO: ‘We’re building the pipeline’
–Coal industry looks to Trump for lifeline

Melanie Zanona contributed. Please send tips and comments to Timothy Cama, tcama@digital-stage.thehill.com; and Devin Henry, dhenry@digital-stage.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @Timothy_Cama, @dhenry, @thehill