The refinery industry and lawmakers are leveling fresh criticism at the Environmental Protection Agency, saying the agency failed to act quickly enough to protect the industry from fraudulent biodiesel certificates.
The issue surrounds a series of fraud schemes uncovered in the last year in which companies obtained and traded bogus EPA renewable identification numbers (RINS) that are supposed to prove fuel blenders and refiners have used require amounts of biodiesel in their products.
House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the House Energy Action Team has discussed renewable energy as part of energy legislation that could attract Democratic support, National Journal reports.
Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., and other Democrats introduced a bill that would require the federal government to develop a strategy to respond to the health risks of climate change, The Hill reports.
Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Acting EPA Administrator Bob Perciasepe comparing the agency's information request procedures to the IRS's targeting of conservative groups, The Hill reports.
European Union Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said the EU would review the potential risks and benefits of hydraulic fracturing this year, Reuters reports.
Federal plans to rebuild shorelines demolished by Hurricane Sandy have high costs, could threaten the environment and have high upkeep costs, The New York Times reports.
Though water supplies are plentiful, the surge of hydraulic fracturing in North Dakota has prompted a battle between water providers and a government-back cooperative over who should supply water for the process, Reuters reports.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's experimental study of nuclear fusion as an energy source will close within a year after a cut in federal funding, The Boston Globe reports.
Environmental activists called on Organizing for Action, the political group built from President Obama's campaign, to press the administration against approving the Keystone XL pipeline, Politico reports.
