Energy News for May 11, 2015

  • by BPC Staff
  • on May 11, 2015
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POLITICO Morning Energy for 5/11/2015

By DARIUS DIXON, with help from Alex Guillén

FOAMING AT THE … HUDSON RIVER: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo repeated long-held “misgivings” yesterday about the Indian Point nuclear plant, following a transformer fire Saturday night that shuttered one of the plant’s two reactors, our sister publication Capital New York reports. In a briefing for reporters, Cuomo said that aside from safety concerns about the transformer fire itself, he was also worried about the environmental impact the fire would have at the Buchanan facility. Cuomo said oil contained in the transformer leaked out during the fire and made its way to the Hudson River. “There is no doubt but that oil did escape from the transformer, there is no doubt that oil did go into the holding tank and exceeded the capacity of the holding tank, and there is no doubt that oil was discharged into the Hudson River,” Cuomo said. “Exactly how much, we don’t know.” A spokesman for Entergy, the company that owns and operates Indian Point, said an oil leak into the Hudson was not yet a foregone conclusion. During the course of the fire, a sprinkler system was activated and then followed up with a fire-suppressing foam, said the spokesman, Jerry Nappi. The foam is made partially of animal fat that, when mixed with water, can also have an oil-like sheen. http://bit.ly/1Kz5A1I
Read the comments at your own risk: The Nuclear Energy Institute’s annual confab is slated for midweek. The event, the Nuclear Energy Assembly, has grabbed quite a few high-profile people, including Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski, NRC Chairman Stephen Burns, and former NRC commissioner William Magwood, who now leads the Nuclear Energy Agency (the “other” NEA) in Paris. NEI’s Matt Wald posted a short tease of the event. But the first — and only, last ME checked — comment on Wald’s post came from James Greenidge of Queens, N.Y., who complained that “No sooner than the Indian Point transformer fire was put out was Hudson River Alliance was already hawking spots of how unsafe nukes ‘inherently’ are … Now is the time for nuclear professional organizations to get off their blogs and go mass media like the far less well funded nuclear opponents.” http://bit.ly/1dW80gM

OBAMA TO SPEAK TO ‘GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURS’: President Barack Obama is scheduled to give an address in the South Court Auditorium on the White House grounds this afternoon recognizing emerging global entrepreneurs. The event, which starts at 2 p.m., will “highlight the importance of investing in women and young entrepreneurs to create innovative solutions to some of the world’s toughest challenges, including poverty, climate change, extremism, as well as access to education and healthcare,” according to the White House. Obama’s speech is slated for 3:30 p.m. You’ll be able to watch it here: http://1.usa.gov/1F86dzr

HAPPY MONDAY! I’m Darius Dixon. Remember me? Darren, Andrew and Alex did a fine job covering for ME while the family and I vacationed in Seattle. Anyway, one thing I learned on my vacation last week is that some places still have something called “spring.” Send your energy news, tips and commentary to ddixon@politico.com, and follow us on Twitter @dariusss, @Morning_Energy and @POLITICOPro.

PRESCRIPTION PULSE: NOW LIVE FROM POLITICO PRO — We’ve created a team of reporters devoted exclusively to covering the policy and politics behind the complex and rapidly changing pharmaceutical sector. Prescription Pulse, our new weekly newsletter, delivers in-depth coverage of drug policy and regulation — key concerns of the industry that has the largest lobbying presence in D.C. Sign up now: http://politi.co/1GTDc7p.

GREENS STILL COUNTING OUT HOW THE TORY VICTORY WILL HURT: Last week’s Tory victory in the British elections is the first time conservatives have won a majority in more than two decades — and so comes the purge of cabinet officials from the previous coalition government. As our European sister publication has reported, the country’s renewable energy industry is likely in for a rough ride (http://politi.co/1H8r0lT). But The Independent also reports that onshore wind power isn’t likely to be the only thing on the Tory hit list. More shale gas is likely to be promoted under the new government, and government agencies dedicated to energy, climate change and the environment could be merged, closed and/or face drastic funding cuts. “There is nothing good for green energy about the Tories’ election,” said Tom Burke, a former director of Friends of the Earth and now chairman of the E3G sustainable development charity, according to The Independent: http://ind.pn/1GY64eF

** A message from the Nuclear Energy Institute: What is America’s energy future? Every day we depend on safe, clean, affordable, reliable electricity from nuclear energy. And as electricity demand continues to grow, clean-air nuclear energy is an essential component of America’s energy and environmental future. Get the facts at nei.org/futureofenergy **

GETTING THE ENERGY BILL BALL ROLLING: The second of Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s hearings to hash out the elements of a comprehensive energy package is set for Thursday. Murkowski’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing will focus on energy infrastructure and churn through nearly two dozen bills introduced by members of the Senate, including several measures meant to improve the electric grid as well as bills to speed up or slow the approval of natural gas infrastructure. Other titles of the forthcoming legislation are slated for May 19 and June 4. Energy efficiency was tackled at the end of last month.

THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS: Just like your morning host, the House returns this week after a brief recess. The House gavels back in tomorrow. When one chamber is out of town, it makes me think of the sound of one hand clapping.

— The Senate: Besides Thursday’s energy infrastructure hearing in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the panel will discuss Murkowski’s critical minerals legislation tomorrow morning. Interestingly enough, Murkowski is listed as a witness. The Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled a hearing for tomorrow afternoon to review the “potential risks and rewards” of civilian nuclear trade with China. Last month, Obama signed the renewal of a so-called 123 agreement with China, which goes into effect after two time periods totaling 90 days of continuous session close unless Congress passes a joint resolution disapproving the agreement. Before tomorrow’s hearing though, members of the Foreign Relations panel plan to have a closed door briefing with several administration officials on the “commercial, political, and security implications” of the U.S.-China civil nuclear agreement tonight at 6 p.m. On Wednesday, Murkowski’s interior and environment Appropriations subcommittee will hear from Bureau of Land Management director Neil Kornze.

— The House: The Energy and Commerce Committee, which is working on its own raft of new legislation, plans to discuss draft measures focused on hydropower regulation (http://1.usa.gov/1K0esRh) and the siting and review of natural gas pipelines (http://1.usa.gov/1Pcib1p) during a subpanel hearing Wednesday morning. A different E&C subcommittee has scheduled a Friday hearing to review current U.S. nuclear waste policy. On Wednesday, the Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on the Council of Environmental Quality’s draft guidance on greenhouse gas emissions. A Natural Resources subcommittee is expected on Thursday to discuss Rep. Alex Mooney’s Supporting Transparent Regulatory and Environmental Actions in Mining Act, the latest GOP-led effort to block the Interior Department from rewriting a key coal mining regulation.

SEC CHAIR MEETS WITH OIL INDUSTRY ON DODD-FRANK RULE: SEC Chair Mary Jo White met with representatives from the American Petroleum Institute and several major oil companies on April 10 about the forthcoming Dodd-Frank rulemaking that will require energy and mining companies to disclose payments made to foreign nations, according to a notice only recently posted by the SEC. The commission is taking a second stab at the so-called Section 1504 rule after the first version was tossed out by a judge in 2013. But the delay in issuing a new version has irked human rights groups like Oxfam America, which is suing in an attempt to force the SEC to finish the rule. The agency has said it may propose a rule by this fall, but that the timeline could slip to spring unless a judge intervenes. The SEC last week reported an April 14 meeting between various agency and industry officials, the first disclosed meeting on the topic since June 2014.

BP WINS RIGHT TO APPEAL GULF SPILL CLAIMS: Via Reuters: “BP Plc deserves the right to have a federal appeals court review some damage claims awarded under the settlement to compensate people and businesses harmed by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said BP did not expressly waive its right to appeal various claims determinations made under the 2012 settlement following review by a district court. BP argued that rules adopted by the federal judge who oversees that settlement compromised that right.”

Read it from the court’s mouth: http://1.usa.gov/1F7TZGX

TINKER TAILOR SOLIDER, IT OFFICER: In the latest edition of Strange News Today, 60 Minutes told the story of a self-identified ex-K.G.B. agent who until recently was a top I.T. official at the New York Independent System Operator, Capital New York reports. Jack Barsky says in the report that he was born in East Germany as Albrecht Dittrich, and became a hand-picked agent of the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s. He was recruited out of college and trained to burrow into American society. He was given a name — which he called a “legend” — a birth certificate and $6,000. The K.G.B. referred to him as a “scout for freedom.” But after years of receiving coded radio messages, making dead drops and handing over sophisticated stolen computer code to Moscow, Barsky became enamored of America, and the family he had started here and declined to return. “I sent them this Dear John letter, the goodbye letter in which I stated that I had contracted AIDS and that the only way for me to get a treatment would be in the United States,” Barsky told Kroft. “There’s three things I tell people that the Russians were afraid of: AIDS, Jewish people and Ronald Reagan,” Barsky said. Capital New York: http://bit.ly/1HbDWKG

QUICK HITS

— U.S. Urges Greece to Reject Russian Energy Project. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1QA1w5l

— Duke Energy’s Lynn Good (barely) scores in top 20 for pay among utility CEOs. The Charlotte Business Journal: http://bit.ly/1F0S7OQ

— French President Says UN Climate Fund Could Help Caribbean. The Associated Press: http://abcn.ws/1AQeeUu

— Apple Expands Renewable Energy Goal. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1zV4f5b

— After 36 Years, Nuclear Plant in Tennessee Nears Completion. The Associated Press: http://nyti.ms/1cGBZsK

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