The US government will start publishing annual reports on how much it spends on fossil fuel subsidies, The Hill reports. The White House made the commitment as part of a wider “open government” pledge announced yesterday.
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management director Tommy Beaudreau is expected to take over the Department of the Interior’s Office of Policy, Management and Budget from Rhea Suh, whom President Obama has tapped for assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, FuelFix reports. Beaudreau is also acting assistant secretary of Land and Minerals Management.
A bipartisan group of senators has written to Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, and Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the Council on Environmental Quality, to voice concern over the Obama administration’s s draft National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Guidance on Consideration of the Effects of Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The senators, including David Vitter (R-LA), Joe Manchin (D-WV), John Barrasso (R-WY), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and James Inhofe (R-OK), said the proposal would add more bureaucracy to the export of American products, especially coal.
Newly sworn in New Jersey senator Cory Booker (D) has joined the Environment and Public Works committee. Booker was elected to replace Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), who died in June.
Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $58,570 under a consent agreement and final order with the EPA, to resolve violations involving 820 barrels of crude oil released on Sept. 23, 2012, in Ouachita County, Ark., the agency said. The release impacted Smackover Creek and adjoining shorelines.
