OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Lawmakers debate ‘mythical’ water rule

by Laura Barron-Lopez and Timothy Cama - 02/04/15 6:20 PM ET

AGREE TO DISAGREE?: Democrats accused Republicans Wednesday of telling so many falsehoods about the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) water jurisdiction rule that it was becoming a “mythical” rule.

At a joint Senate-House hearing, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and others said the rule would give the EPA authority to regulate isolated ponds, puddles, farming ditches and almost any wet area.

{mosads}”I’m confused, because I think people are arguing against some mythical rule,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), said there were two hearings happening, one on the mythical rule and one on the real one.

Republicans didn’t believe it.

“While the agencies had an opportunity to develop a reasonable rule, they instead chose to write the proposed rule vaguely, in order to give federal regulators free rein to claim federal jurisdiction over most any water or wet area,” Shuster said.

Inhofe and Shuster called for the rule to be repealed, and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said he’d introduce a bill to repeal it.

Read more here.

ON TAP THURSDAY I: The National Association of State Energy Officials will continue its Energy Policy Outlook Conference Thursday. EPA head Gina McCarthy will give the keynote address. Thursday’s other events will include sessions on the EPA’s carbon rules for power plants, reducing air pollution from coal, regional electric grids and renewable electricity sources.

ON TAP THURSDAY II: The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on the environment and the economy will meet Thursday to vote on the Drinking Water Protection Act. The bill would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to study and manage the risks of algal toxins in drinking water. It was introduced in the wake of last summer’s drinking water problems in Toledo, Ohio.

Rest of Thursday’s agenda … The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) will host a workshop on the Fukushima response and lessons learned. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) will unveil his energy agenda for the 114th Congress at NEI, and talk about nuclear energy.

NEWS BITE: As the approval process for its Keystone XL pipeline drags on, TransCanada Corp. is planning to enter the oil-by-rail business, its head said.

“Depending on our conversations [with customers], we will probably enter the rail business in some form or fashion in the coming months,” CEO Russ Girling said in Toronto Wednesday, according to the Financial Post.

TransCanada doesn’t expect to be “a big player” in the rail business and would likely limit itself to 2 billion barrels per day, Girling said.

AROUND THE WEB:

It’ll be “an uphill battle” for Keystone XL supporters to get a 67-vote veto-proof majority in the Senate, due to concerns over climate change and oil prices, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the Huffington Post.

The Tennessee Valley Authority had an $81 million profit in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, $148 million more than the same period last year, the Bristol Herald Courier reports.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said (D) he “would never” reverse the ban he instituted late last year on hydraulic fracturing, the Journal News reports.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has ruled that Lolita, a 44-year-old orca whale at the Miami Seaquarium, is entitled to endangered species protections like those in the Puget Sound, the Seattle Times reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

– Republican avoids apocalyptic 666

– Lawmakers push bill to reform renewable fuel mandate

– EPA pollution rules target wood heaters

– Inspector faults energy regulator for grid security leaks

– House Dem bill would nearly double gas tax

– GOP pledges to fight EPA water rule

– DOE lends Shell a hand on carbon capture in Canada

– Lawmaker’s clash over ‘mythical’ EPA water rule

– US energy consumption at lowest level since 1975, feds say

– Norway to slash pollution 40 percent by 2030

– Obama administration shuts down Bush’s ‘clean coal’ project