Overnight Energy: Senators want heads to roll over EPA mine spill

by Timothy Cama and Devin Henry - 09/16/15 6:00 PM ET

ANIMUS OVER THE ANIMAS: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Gina McCarthy faced hours of questioning by two Senate committees over last month’s mine waste spill in Colorado.

Senators at the two hearings focused heavily on the EPA’s preparations for trying to enter the abandoned Gold King Mine, as well as the hours and days following the spill of 3 million gallons of mine waste into the Animas River.

“It is clear EPA knew that there was likely to be a significant amount of water behind the collapsed Gold King Mine entrance and that there was a risk of a blowout,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee

{mosads}”Given these facts, it is unclear why EPA and the contractor did not exercise more care when working at the Gold King site.”

At the Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing later in the day, multiple lawmakers challenged McCarthy to identify specific EPA employees responsible for the incident and fire or punish them.

“Someone is responsible for disrupting and harming the lives and welfare and someone should be held responsible because it happened,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). “So far, no one has been held responsible, except ‘the agency.’ “

Before testifying at that hearing, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye, whose reservation is downstream from the spill, blamed President Obama and Democrats for an inadequate response to American Indians.

“We are asking the Democratic Party to have President Obama declare the river a disaster area — and we haven’t gotten anything. Nothing,” he said.

Read more here, here and here.

ON TAP THURSDAY I: The House Energy and Commerce Committee will vote on the chamber’s energy reform bill, and legislation to lift the ban on crude oil exports. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the latter is due on the floor within the next few weeks.

ON TAP THURSDAY II: Gina McCarthy returns to Capitol Hill to testify on the Animas River spill. She will face questions on the incident at a joint hearing between the House Oversight and Natural Resources Committees.

Rest of Thursday’s agenda …

Peggy O’Dell, the deputy director of the National Park Service, and Mary Wagner, associate chief of the U.S. Forest Service, will testify at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing on federal land recreation.

NEWS BITE:

The EPA sent its carbon rule for power plants for Federal Register publication on Sept. 4, Gina McCarthy told Inhofe.

That puts it on track to be published sometime next month, as the EPA told a federal court in a recent brief.

Inhofe brought up the topic because judicial and congressional challenges to the regulation cannot start until it is formally made final through publication, and he suspected that the EPA was deliberately delaying publication.

“Are you aware that delaying publication until the end of October interferers with the ability of Congress and the public to challenge the rules before the big show in Paris,” Inhofe asked, referring to the United Nations climate pledge meeting in December.

McCarthy assured Inhofe that she has no wish to push off publication of the regulation, which was unveiled publicly Aug. 3.

“Both you and I want this to get in the Federal Register as soon as possible,” she said.

AROUND THE WEB:

Saudi Arabia is pursuing a plan to build up to 16 new nuclear reactors over the next several decades, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Michigan lawmakers are closing in on an energy policy compromise, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Sir David Attenborough, the famed British naturalist, wants an “Apollo-style” research strategy for renewable energy, The Guardian reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Wednesday’s stories …

-Senators want EPA workers fired over mine spill
-Biden: Solar power will close the gap on Obama’s renewables goal
-Navajos slam Obama for inaction
-Fiorina: ‘Innovation’ will fix climate change
-Senators point fingers after EPA mine spill
-Report: Exxon knew of climate risks decades ago
-Obama pledges $120M toward solar power, clean energy