Overnight Energy: GOP chairman ramps up fight with states over Exxon

GOP CHAIRMAN FIRES BACK IN EXXON FIGHT: House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) is standing strong in his call for documents from states investigating Exxon Mobil Corp.’s climate science.

In letters to 17 state or territory attorneys general, Smith said Congress has the power and the “duty” to oversee the state investigations into Exxon. The states are looking into allegations the company mislead the public about its research into the impact of burning fossil fuels on climate change.

{mosads}Opponents of the investigation say it amounts to a violation of the company’s First Amendment rights. In his letter, Smith said the investigation involves climate science that is “simply … not at the unimpeachable level.”

“Not only does the possibility exist that such action could have a chilling effect on scientists performing federally funded research, but it could also infringe on the civil rights of scientists who become targets of these inquiries,” he wrote in his letter.

Smith wants the attorneys general to turn over documents related to their investigations, something the whole group declined to do earlier this month.

Read more here.

ENERGY BILL REPUBLICANS OPEN TO A DEAL: Two of the top Republicans set to negotiate an energy reform package with the Senate said Monday they are ready to go to conference with senators and craft a bill President Obama could support.

In a statement, Reps. Fred Upton (Mich.) and Rob Bishop (Utah) said they want to “get something to the President that he will sign into law” when it comes to an energy policy package.

“From our perspective, a bill that the president will veto is a waste of time and effort and casts aside the hard work we’ve put in up to this point,” Upton and Bishop said in a statement. “We remain committed to working in a bicameral, bipartisan manner and remain hopeful we can set aside our differences and move ahead with a formal conference between the two chambers.”

Upton, the Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, and Bishop, the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, are both slated to be members of the joint House and Senate committee that writes a compromise energy reform bill.

That committee won’t meet until the Senate votes to join the House, however, something Democrats have resisted because of the conservative proposals included in the House’s bill.

The statement from Upton and Bishop indicates the two might be willing to deal with the Senate in order to get a bill passed this year.

CHEMICAL REFORM SIGNING SCHEDULED: Obama is planning to sign into law Wednesday an overhaul of the nation’s chemical safety standards.

The bipartisan bill, the Frank J. Lautenberg Chemicals for the 21st Century Act, was passed by the Senate earlier this month and the House last month.

It would reform the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, giving the Environmental Protection Agency sweeping new power to regulate thousands of potentially harmful chemicals.

The signing ceremony will be Wednesday morning at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the White House said Monday. No word about who has been invited, but chances are at least some of the main congressional backers will be on hand.

ON TAP TUESDAY I: Neil Kornze, the director of the Bureau of Land Management, will testify at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the BLM’s planning agenda.

ON TAP TUESDAY II: The American Petroleum Institute will host an event on voter opinions about energy. Republican National Committee communications director Sean Spicer will speak.

AROUND THE WEB:

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen penned a Seattle Times op-ed in support of reforming the federal coal leasing program.

The Southwest United States is experiencing a heat wave that has seen temperature records topple, the Washington Post reports.

China is on pace to produce up to a quarter of its electricity from wind by 2030, The Guardian reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out stories from Monday and the weekend:

-Interior chief scolds employees on sexual harassment, ethics
-Poll shows support in West for coal leasing reform
-Activists to bring millions of dead bees to EPA headquarters
-Anti-Keystone activist to lead Nebraska Dems
-Chairman: Civil rights of scientists imperiled by Exxon investigations
-Obama warns of climate change in Yosemite Park remarks
-Week ahead: EPA chief on hot seat over ‘secret science’ claims

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