Comm on Energy and Natural Resources Sen

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=9/17=Eight U.S. senators called for an investigation today after a federal climate scientist filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that he had been arbitrarily reassigned by the Trump administration in what he believed was retaliation for speaking out publicly about the dangers <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/climate-change" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(131, 190, 68); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">climate change</a> poses to Alaska Native communities.The scientist, Joel Clement, had been working on climate adaptation in Alaska for the Department of Interior when he was moved to an obscure accounting position that deals with fossil fuel royalty payments.The senators, all members of the <a href="https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/members" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(131, 190, 68); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee</a>, asked the deputy inspector general in the Department of Interior to look into allegations that as many as 50 Senior Executive Service employees at the department have been arbitrarily reassigned."We believe that any reassignment of highly trained, highly competent senior executives within the department from the positions in which they may best use their training and competence to accomplish the department's mission and best serve the public interest to sinecures where their talents are wasted would constitute a serious act of mismanagement, a gross waste of public funds, and an abuse of authority," <a href="https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=files.serve&File_id=A8DB3B66-E5B6-43D8-A98F-DEC7E512E51D" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(131, 190, 68); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">the senators wrote</a>.The Senior Executive Service was created to provide continuity in the management of public programs, with career experts in their subject areas serving under the political appointees. Under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/3131" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(131, 190, 68); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">the law</a>, agency heads can reassign senior executives, provided the changes are made "to best accomplish the agency's mission.""Any suggestion that the department is reassigning SES employees to force them to resign, to silence their voices, or to punish them for the conscientious performance of their public duties is extremely troubling and calls for the closest examination," the senators wrote. No Republicans signed the letter.The letter came just days after Clement, formerly the director of the Office of Policy Analysis in the Interior Department, filed a formal complaint about his reassignment and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/im-a-scientist-the-trump-administration-reassigned-me-for-speaking-up-about-climate-change/2017/07/19/389b8dce-6b12-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(131, 190, 68); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">published an op-ed</a> in the Washington Post describing his experience.In an <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20072017/whistleblower-trump-intimidation-abuse-power-climate-scientists-joel-clement-zinke" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(131, 190, 68); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">interview with InsideClimate News</a>, Clement said he thought it was "fishy" when he was reassigned, and that those suspicions were quickly confirmed. "When [Interior Secretary Ryan] Zinke testified the next week that they were going to use reassignments to trim the workforce, then you could really smell a rat," Clement said.The day after Clement spoke out, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) raised concerns about the reassignments at a Congressional hearing. "It's a lot of confusion and, in my sense, a lot of undermining science," she said. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also <a href="https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2017/07/20/stories/1060057693" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(131, 190, 68); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">told E&E News</a> that she planned to speak with <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/ryan-zinke" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(131, 190, 68); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Zinke</a> about Clement's case.Cantwell was joined in the request for an investigation by seven colleagues on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee: Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.). They asked Interior Department Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall to report back to them, as well as to Secretary Zinke and the appropriate committees in Congress.<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/house-senate-committees-environmental-laws-2490244316.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/house-senate-committees-environmental-laws-2490244316.html</a><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">House, Senate Committees Attack Environmental Laws Using Wildfires as Pretext</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2490244316" data-headline="House, Senate Committees Attack Environmental Laws Using Wildfires as Pretext" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description">Two congressional committees will hold coordinated hearings Wednesday to push partisan legislation designed to weaken environmental laws on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands" style="text-decoration-line: none;">public lands</a>.The House Natural Resources Committee will use the pretext of "catastrophic" <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" style="text-decoration-line: none;">wildfires</a> to build support for legislation by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) that would curtail protections for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" style="text-decoration-line: none;">endangered species</a> and limit science-based review of environmental harms to expedite logging projects.The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will consider three bills designed to limit environmental reviews on a variety of logging and forest-management projects on public lands."Timber companies would be the only winners if these terrible bills pass," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director with the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Biological Diversity</a>. "No matter what issue our public lands face, the knee-jerk response from congressional Republicans is an effort to gut our environmental laws. They're willing to sacrifice our wildlife, healthy streams and rivers, and vibrant public lands on the altar of private profit."The Senate committee will consider three bills:<ul class="ee-ul" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>S. 605 by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) would eliminate consultations required under the Endangered Species Act when a new species is added to the endangered species list or when critical habitat for a listed species is revised for Forest Service lands where a land management plan is already in place. Only when that plan is revised—usually every 15-20 years—would the Forest Service be required to review it at the landscape level.</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>S. 1417 by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) would severely limit science-based review of potential harms under the National Environmental Policy Act for juniper-tree control projects on public lands if those projects are designed to benefit either mule deer or sage grouse populations. While Juniper control may be appropriate in some ecosystems, many juniper-removal projects use destructive chaining, plant non-native seeds and spray herbicides that could actually harm sage grouse and other species. That potential harm needs to be evaluated and disclosed.</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>S. 1731 by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) would exempt many types of logging and forest-management activities up to 10,000 acres—approximately 15 square miles—from environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. The legislation includes provisions that would also limit judicial review of Forest Service logging activities and force citizens to use binding arbitration if they want to challenge a poorly conceived logging project.</li></ul>The House committee will consider Westerman's bill, which would eliminate Endangered Species Act requirements that the Forest Service ensure logging projects do not harm endangered wildlife and plants. It also would rush through large-scale logging projects—up to 46 square miles—without meaningful public involvement or scientific evaluation by excluding such projects from review under the National Environmental Policy Act."Republicans have repeatedly cut resources to the Forest Service, making it harder for agency workers to do their jobs," Hartl said. "Then the GOP scapegoats environmental laws for the problems that these funding cuts have caused. It's an incredibly cynical and dangerous strategy."When properly funded, the Forest Service can meet its legal obligations and protect endangered species and natural resources. For example, in June the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service completed an important consultation process under the Endangered Species Act in just 10 days, covering nine national forests in the Sierra Nevada region, following the designation of critical habitat for the Yosemite toad and Sierra Nevada and mountain yellow-legged frogs. This type of consultation would be eliminated under the Daines-Tester legislation."Daines and Tester are wrong. Weakening the Endangered Species Act doesn't improve forest management—it only makes timber companies richer," said Hartl. "The main reasons forest projects are delayed is because Republicans in Congress have been starving the agencies of funding."</div></div>
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Staff shuffles abound across energy, enviro committeesRobin Bravender, E&E reporterE&E Daily: Wednesday, January 7, 2015Droves of new staffers are moving into top jobs on energy and environmental committees, now that the 114th Congress is officially underway.Incoming GOP committee leaders are staffing up in the Senate as they prepare to fight the Obama administration's energy and environmental agenda, while leadership changes in the House are sparking further staff shakeups across Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, some former staffers are shifting to work for other lawmakers or leaving the legislative branch after their former bosses retired or lost their races or committee posts.It's a familiar shuffle that occurs at the start of each new Congress, and the new hires will be helping to set the tone on Capitol Hill this year when it comes to energy and environmental issues.In the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Ryan Jackson will be taking over as staff director under incoming Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) (E&E Daily, Dec. 16, 2014).Dimitri Karakitsos will be staying on as EPW Republicans' senior counsel, and Brittany Bolen will remain on staff as Republican counsel, according to Inhofe spokeswoman Donelle Harder. Karakitsos started on the EPW staff in 2009, when Inhofe was the top Republican, and he stayed on when Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) took over as ranking member in 2013. Bolen joined the committee in 2013.Harder -- an Inhofe communications aide since 2012 -- will be the new EPW communications director. Harder said more staffing announcements will be made after Inhofe is elected chairman.
Major shakeups aren't expected on EPW's Democratic staff, where Bettina Poirier will remain staff director and chief counsel. Poirier has been a top aide to ranking member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) since 2005.
On the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the new chairwoman, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), has added several new staffers to her roster. Colin Hayes, a former lobbyist with McBee Strategic Consulting, is the committee's new deputy staff director. Michael Pawlowski, formerly Alaska's deputy commissioner of revenue, was recently hired as an energy and natural resources adviser (E&ENews PM, Dec. 3, 2014).
Karen Billups is staying on as GOP staff director for the panel; she's been on the committee's staff since 2003.
Across the aisle, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington is staffing up, now that she's become the top Democrat on the ENR panel.
Cantwell has hired her former staffer Angela Becker-Dippman to return to Capitol Hill to become her staff director. Becker-Dippman has been working as a senior policy adviser in the energy and environment unit of the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., and previously worked for McBee Strategic Consulting after a stint on Capitol Hill working on energy policy for Cantwell (E&ENews PM, Dec. 18, 2014).
House hiresRep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) is bringing in new staff to the House Energy and Commerce Committee minority office as he takes over the top Democratic spot from retired California Democrat Henry Waxman.
Many of Waxman's former staffers -- including several longtime aides -- have left their posts, and Pallone has begun to fill their slots.
Jeffrey Carroll is the new Democratic staff director, and Tiffany Guarascio has been appointed deputy staff director. Carroll is a longtime Pallone aide who has been chief of staff in the New Jersey Democrat's personal office. Guarascio has been working as legislative director in Pallone's office.
Timothy Robinson, who's been working as senior policy counsel and legislative director for Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), is the new chief counsel for Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats. Ashley Jones has been hired as director of outreach and member services; she was previously chief of staff to former Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.), who lost his 2014 re-election bid.
Michael Goo and Jacqueline Cohen have been heading up the panel's energy and environmental work in recent months, but Democratic staffing for the Energy and Power Subcommittee and the Environment and Economy Subcommittee is still being worked out. Goo was a longtime congressional staffer before working at U.S. EPA and DOE during the Obama administration; he returned to the Energy and Commerce Committee in July. Cohen is a longtime Waxman staffer.
The Energy and Commerce Committee Republican roster working under staff director Gary Andres is expected to remain largely the same this year. The panel, led by Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), promoted Karen Christian to become its top lawyer in October and hired former Boeing executive Charles Ingebretson to be the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee's chief counsel (Greenwire, Oct. 10, 2014).
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) will remain chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee this year, but the panel is still seeing some staff changes.
Two new staffers have been hired from the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Molly Boyl is the Science panel's new deputy general counsel and parliamentarian, which was also her role on the oversight committee under former Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). And Mark Marin, former deputy staff director for oversight under Issa, is now the Science Committee's staff director for the Energy and Environment subcommittees.
Todd Johnston, who has been Republican staff director for the Environment Subcommittee, is expected to soon leave the committee. Stephen Sayle, previously staff director for the Energy Subcommittee, has already left the committee.
The new Oversight and Government Reform chairman, Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), announced a new spate of staffers last month. Former Podesta Group principal Sean McLaughlin is the committee's staff director; former Chaffetz senior adviser Rachel Weaver is the new deputy staff director. Andrew Dockham is the new general counsel, joining the panel from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Steve Castor is the new deputy general counsel for oversight and investigations, and Ryan Little is the committee's operations director (E&ENews PM, Dec. 2, 2014).
Incoming House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) has also shaken up staffing on the panel that oversees federal lands, wildlife and fisheries. Bishop announced in late November that he had hired committee veterans Jason Knox as staff director and Todd Ungerecht as deputy staff director.
Bishop appears to have cleaned house, as at least 11 staffers have departed from the panel. The staffers who have left include former Chairman Doc Hastings' (R-Wash.) staff director, Todd Young; Tim Charters, who was staff director for the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee; Amanda Tharpe, who handled onshore energy development on the EMR Subcommittee; and several others (E&E Daily, Jan. 6).=<div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: 630px; min-width: initial; width: 630px; line-height: 1.5em;">While much of the congressional climate change denial <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/12/al-gore-republicans_n_5313028.html" target="hplink" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" entry_text="entry_text" lnid="lnid" citation="citation" mpid="mpid" style="box-sizing: inherit;">happens in the House</a>, the Democrat-led Senate has also failed to exhibit substantial interest in the issue.</div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: 630px; min-width: initial; width: 630px; line-height: 1.5em;">The Senate Commerce Science and Space Subcommittee has held four hearings on space, but only one on climate change. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hasn’t addressed the topic since 2012. The Environment and Public Works Committee has held three hearings on climate change this Congress.</div>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/22/congress-climate-change-aliens_n_5372168.html]</div><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/07/lamar-smith-climate-change-denial_n_6123638.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/07/lamar-smith-climate-change-denial_n_6123638.html</a> 6/15<a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/how-climate-deniers-are-creating-nightmare-they-most-fear">http://www.alternet.org/environment/how-climate-deniers-are-creating-nightmare-they-most-fear</a>Recently, the Washington Post <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/02/13/polarization-in-congress-has-risen-sharply-where-is-it-going-next/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">reported</a> new data showing something most of us already sense: that increased polarization on Capitol Hill is due to the way the Republican Party has lurched to the right. The authors of the study use Senator John McCain to illustrate the point. McCain's political odyssey is, in some dismaying sense, close to my own heart, since it highlights the Republican turn against science.As unlikely as it might seem today, in the first half of the twentieth century the Republicans were the party that most strongly supported scientific work, as they recognized the diverse ways in which it could undergird economic activity and national security. The Democrats were more dubious, tending to see science as elitist and worrying that new federal agencies like the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health would concentrate resources in elite East Coast universities.In recent decades, of course, the Republicans have lurched rightward on many topics and now regularly attack scientific findings that threaten their political platforms. In the 1980s, they generally questioned evidence of acid rain; in the 1990s, they went after ozone science; and in this century, they have launched fierce attacks not just on climate science, but in the most personal fashion imaginable on climate scientists.While Senator McCain didn’t go directly down the path of attacking science, he, too, shifted in disturbing ways. After all, with Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, he had been a co-sponsor of the Climate Stewardship Acts of 2003, 2005, and 2007, which called for a mandatory cap-and-trade system to control greenhouse gas emissions.  These were at the time endorsed by many Democrats and most environmental groups.  By 2010, however, he was retreating fast from support for his own bill and insisting that he had <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/02/17/82485/mccain-never-favored-cap/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">never backed</a> capping carbon emissions “at a certain level.” He now calls for increased offshore oil and gas drilling, <a href="http://usconservatives.about.com/od/johnmccainontheissues/a/McCainEnergy.htm" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">claims</a> that important aspects of energy policy should be left to state and local governments, and has criticized both President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry for <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/05/20/in-coast-guard-commencement-obama-to-link-climate-change-to-national-security/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">framing</a> climate change as a national security issue — a position that the Pentagon itself <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/us/pentagon-says-global-warming-presents-immediate-security-threat.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">endorses</a>.Still, compared to many of his colleagues, McCain looks like a moderate. They have dismissed climate change as a fraud and a <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/03/09/441515/inhofe-god-says-global-warming-is-a-hoax/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">hoax</a>, while conducting McCarthy-esque inquiries into the research of leading climate scientists. Many of them attack climate science because they fear it will be used as an excuse to expand the reach of government.In a hearing at which I testified last month, Republican members of the Committee on Natural Resources denounced a wide range of scientific investigations related to the enforcement of existing environmental laws as “government science.” And this, they alleged, meant it was, by definition, corrupt, politically driven, and lacking in accountability. The particular science under attack involved work done by, or on behalf of, federal agencies like the National Parks Service, but climate science came in for its share of insults as well.On the face of it, the charges were absurd: most agency science is subject to far more scrutiny, accountability, and oversight, including multiple levels of peer review, than research done in academic settings. In contrast, research done under the aegis of industry is often subject to no public accountability at all.In preparing my testimony, however, I realized that something far larger was at stake: the issue of politically driven science itself.  It’s often claimed that environmental science done in federal agencies is “politically driven” and therefore suspect. It was, I realized, time to challenge the presumption that such science is bad science. While widely held, the idea is demonstrably false. Moreover, the suggestion that “government science” is intrinsically problematic for Republicans who eschew big government ignores the simple fact that most of the major contributions of the twentieth century, at least in the physical sciences, came from just such government science....The ideological divide over climate change widened this week in the Senate committee charged with shaping America's energy policy, setting the stage for a partisan showdown over the new Republican majority's plans to attack the Environmental Protection Agency, build the Keystone XL pipeline and drive fossil fuel expansion.Democrats' replacement of three pro-fossil-fuel lawmakers with more pro-climate-action senators means that any across-the-aisle cooperation on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is probably dead, according to political strategists. While Republicans will control the panel 12-10 in 2015, Democrats could delay—or even potentially derail—the GOP's pro-fossil-fuels agenda by nitpicking bills during committee mark-up or by threatening a presidential veto."The GOP's appointments are evidence of the increasing desire within the party to roll back Environmental Protection Agency regulations," said Ford O'Connell, a Republican strategist who served as an adviser on the 2008 McCain-Palin presidential campaign. "The Democrats' decisions were definitely calculated, defensive choices. They chose three of their strongest environmentalists...There will be some serious battles in the next two years."David Goldston, a political strategy expert and director of government affairs for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said he wasn't convinced the Democrats' choices were deliberate. Rather, they could simply represent the widening divide between the parties' stances on climate issues."My guess is that if you just assigned people randomly, you'd sort of have the same ideological pattern, given the make-up of this Congress," he told InsideClimate News.New Committee LineupsRepublicans named to the committee four newly elected senators who represent fossil fuel-driven electorates: Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Steve Daines of Montana and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. All four promised in their campaigns to fight for President Obama's climate action agenda, particularly the Environmental Protection Agency's strategy for regulating greenhouse gas emissions, known as the Clean Power Plan. Together, they pulled in more than $2.6 million in campaign contributions from oil and gas interests in 2014, according to the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary.php?ind=E&cycle=2014&recipdetail=H&mem=Y" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Center for Responsive Politics</a>, a nonpartisan group that tracks election finance. The Democrats' new energy committee members are Senators Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Independent Angus King of Maine, who typically caucuses with the Democrats, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Former Democrat committee members Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin were reassigned to other panels and their seats not refilled as a result of the party losing its majority in the election.The GOP made it clear after the November elections that President Barack Obama's climate strategy was one of the party's key targets for 2015. The Republican-led Energy and Natural Resources Committee will work alongside the Environment and Public Works Committee to produce legislation to dismantle many of the White House's programs. The Senate's most vocal climate denier, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, will probably lead the environment and public works panel.At the top of the agenda will be introducing legislation similar to a bill that failed in November to fast-track a decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would send 830,000 barrels a day of carbon-heavy tar sands oil from Alberta to Texas.The GOP sees implementing its pro-fossil-fuels strategy as an important step toward winning the presidency in 2016.  The party recognizes it needs to prove to voters that it can effectively govern. The Republicans also know they need to win the support of moderate, blue collar, middle class Americans. Party leaders hope they'll be able to accomplish both by expanding oil and gas industry jobs.What happens in the Senate Energy Committee, as well as the Environment and Public Works Committee, will have a "direct and immediate effect" on the success of the party moving forward, O'Connell said.If the Democrats are able to stall this strategy, they may be able to show voters that a Republican-led government isn't effective and doesn't create jobs—the strategy the GOP used this year, in reverse.Out with the Old, In with the NewThe outgoing chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee is Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, a staunch supporter of fossil fuels who was almost always among the top recipients of oil and gas-industry campaign donations during her 18 years in Congress. She had a 51 percent pro-environment score from the League of Conservation Voters, a political advocacy organization that tracks lawmakers’ votes. Landrieu lost her re-election bid to Cassidy in a December runoff."It is no secret that climate-oriented Democrats were not heartbroken to see her lose," said R.L. Miller, chair of the California Democratic Party's environmental caucus and founder of Climate Hawks Vote, a super PAC that helps elect climate-conscious candidates.Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota, who retired this year, cast some key pro-climate votes during his final weeks, including voting against the Keystone XL fast-track proposal in November. He also supported expanding renewable energy. For the most part, though, Johnson backed expanded oil and gas drilling in the U.S. He had a 72 percent pro-environment score from the LCV.Sen. Mark Udall from Colorado, who was unseated by Gardner, was the most climate-conscious of the Democrats ousted from the committee this year, with a League of Conservation Voters pro-environment score of 97 percent. However, Udall's pro-fracking stance frustrated environmental and climate leaders. He also largely avoided giving his opinion on the Keystone XL, though he did join Johnson in voting against the November bill.Landrieu, Johnson and Udall's replacements generally have much stronger pro-environment voting records. Warren, a potential presidential candidate, hasn't focused on energy and environmental issues in the past, but climate advocates said they hope her progressive background will make her a formidable opponent to the GOP's anti-climate-action committee members."I don't see Warren as someone who would compromise when it comes to climate change," Miller said.http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20141217/climate-change-divide-widens-senate-energy-paneldefectors on wind: Thursday’s move by the Senate Finance Committee doesn’t guarantee that the full Senate will support resurrection of the credits, much less the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. But encouraging signs emerged after Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) tried to kill the credits. He <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/202638-overnight-energy-wind-tax-credit-survives-senate-finance-markup" target="blank" style="line-height: 22.8px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">argued that restoring them</a> would amount to picking energy-industry winners and losers and forcing taxpayers to “subsidize inefficient, uncompetitive forms of energy.” (Meanwhile, taxpayers continue a century-long tradition of subsidizing fossil fuels.) <a href="http://cleantechnica.com/2014/04/03/renewable-energy-production-tax-credit-gets-important-last-minute-push/" target="blank" style="line-height: 22.8px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">CleanTechnica reports</a> on the encouraging bipartisan response to Toomey’s effort:<blockquote style="border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 1.4em 42px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%; line-height: 22.8px; width: auto !important; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The PTC [wind energy Production Tax Credit] and the alternate Investment Tax Credit were added overnight to a modified “Chairman’s mark,” after an earlier draft released Monday left them and several other provisions for further negotiation.They prevailed on a critical 18-6 vote during the committee markup late Thursday morning, on a motion by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) to strip them out. Five Republicans joined the committee’s Democrats in voting down that amendment: Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Thune (R-SD), Rob Portman (R-OH), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and John Cornyn (R-TX).</blockquote>ifgRepresentative ($) Average contribution/congress (%) Votes in favor of fossil-fuel interestsJoe Manchin (D-WV) 448,924 50 John Hoeven (R-ND) 402,695 88 John Barrasso (R-WY) 246,366 90 Daniel Coats (R-IN) 229,018 88 Rand Paul (R-KY) 225,203 88 Bob Corker (R-TN) 211,097 83 Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA) 170,153 63 Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) 164,122 81 Rob Portman (R-OH) 126,815 89 Dean Heller (R-NV) 100,393 91 Mike Lee (R-UT) 89,289 63 Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) 87,060 19 James E. Risch (R-ID) 74,190 89 Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) 38,952 25 Tim Johnson (D-SD) 36,307 14 Mark Udall (D-CO) 35,198 11 Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) 27,713 11 Maria Cantwell (D-WA) 21,482 19 Christopher A. Coons (D-DE) 19,262 13 Al Franken (D-MN) 19,150 11 Ron Wyden (D-OR) 18,798 6 Bernard Sanders (D-VT) 1,557 7===<h3>SENATE Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 1977–present</h3>

<ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_M.Jackson" title="Henry M. Jackson">Scoop Jackson</a> (D-WA) 1977–1981</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A.McClure" title="James A. McClure">James McClure</a> (R-ID) 1981–1987</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_Johnston_Jr." title="Bennett Johnston Jr." class="mw-redirect">Bennett Johnston</a> (D-LA) 1987–1995</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Murkowski" title="Frank Murkowski">Frank Murkowski</a> (R-AK) 1995–2001</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bingaman" title="Jeff Bingaman">Jeff Bingaman</a> (D-NM) 2001</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Murkowski" title="Frank Murkowski">Frank Murkowski</a> (R-AK) 2001</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bingaman" title="Jeff Bingaman">Jeff Bingaman</a> (D-NM) 2001–2003</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Domenici" title="Pete Domenici">Pete Domenici</a> (R-NM) 2003–2007</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bingaman" title="Jeff Bingaman">Jeff Bingaman</a> (D-NM) 2007–2013</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Wyden" title="Ron Wyden">Ron Wyden</a> (D-OR) 2013–present</li></ul>
===
http://naturalresources.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=198123

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Figure 6b. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
Representative ($) Average contribution/congress (%) Votes in favor of fossil-fuel interests
Joe Manchin (D-WV) 448,924 50%John Hoeven (R-ND) 402,695 88John Barrasso (R-WY) 246,366 90Daniel Coats (R-IN) 229,018 88Rand Paul (R-KY) 225,203 88Bob Corker (R-TN) 211,097 83Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA) 170,153 63Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) 164,122 81Rob Portman (R-OH) 126,815 89Dean Heller (R-NV) 100,393 91Mike Lee (R-UT) 89,289 63Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)  87,060 19James E. Risch (R-ID) 74,190 89Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) 38,952 25Tim Johnson (D-SD) 36,307 14Mark Udall (D-CO) 35,198 11Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) 27,713 11Maria Cantwell (D-WA) 21,482 19Christopher A. Coons (D-DE) 19,262 13Al Franken (D-MN) 19,150 11Ron Wyden (D-OR) 18,798 6Bernard Sanders (D-VT) 1,557 7Source: Calculated with data from: Oil Change International (07/23/2012)

In sometimes animated and wide-ranging testimony before the <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://energy.senate.gov/">Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee</a> on Tuesday morning, witnesses and lawmakers debated the relative merits of putting coal in the nation's gas tanks.

"I believe that coal is America's most affordable, available, reliable and secure source of energy," declared Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), whose own coal-friendly <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s937/text">American Alternative Fuels Act of 2011</a>, introduced two weeks ago, was on the committee's morning agenda. "And using America's coal resources as a transportation fuel will decrease our dependence on foreign sources of oil and really strengthen our national security."

<a href="http://">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/08/filling-your-tank-with-coal_n_873127.html?view=print</a>

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Breitbart:

Eleven Republican senators introduced a bill that would stop the <a class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden" href="http://topics.breitbart.com/Environmental+Protection+Agency/" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;">Environmental Protection Agency</a> from regulating greenhouse gases, which scientists blame for global warming, without explicit approval by <a class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden" href="http://topics.breitbart.com/Congress/" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;">Congress.</a>

Under Obama, the federal agency has steadily increased standards on gas emissions. The Republicans accused Obama of circumventing <a class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden" href="http://topics.breitbart.com/Congress/" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;">Congress,</a> where a so-called "cap-and-trade" bill to mandate emission curbs died last year.

"My bill will shrink <a class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden" href="http://topics.breitbart.com/Washington/" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;">Washington's</a> job-crushing agenda and grow <a class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden" href="http://topics.breitbart.com/America%27s+economy/" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;">America's economy,</a>" said Senator <a class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden" href="http://topics.breitbart.com/John+Barrasso/" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;">John Barrasso,</a> a Republican from <a class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden" href="http://topics.breitbart.com/Wyoming/" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;">Wyoming</a> and skeptic of climate change who is leading the effort.

"I will do whatever it takes to ensure that <a class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden" href="http://topics.breitbart.com/Washington/" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;">Washington</a> doesn't impose cap-and-trade policies in any form."

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