Your daily briefing for all the top news in Energy, Technology, Finance, and Politics.
Energy
Let Our Oil and Gas Go
NEW YORK TIMES
Steven Rattner
AS a young reporter covering energy for The New York Times, I saw firsthand the distortions and inefficiencies caused by the web of regulations that followed the Arab oil embargo of 1973-74, and the resulting surge in gasoline prices.
DOT proposes stricter oil train safety rules
POLITICO
Kathryn A. Wolfe
The proposed rules include mandates for phasing out older, less-sturdy rail tank cars during the next two to five years, tightened speed limits, improved brakes, permanent requirements for railroads to share data with state emergency managers and steps to address concerns that crude oil produced in North Dakota’s Bakken region is unusually prone to ignite. The rules also include provisions affecting ethanol, another flammable liquid frequently shipped by rail. The proposal doesn’t include some steps that safety advocates have called for, such as a requirement that oil producers remove the most volatile gases from their crude before shipping it. But the Department of Transportation said it was open to making changes in the rule before it becomes final.
GOP’s new climate bogeyman: NRDC
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Andrew Restuccia
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) used a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing Wednesday to bash the well-known environmental group, charging that it used its sway with the Obama administration to shape EPA’s proposed climate rule for existing power plants, and calling it a “lobbying machine backed by Hollywood elites.”
States Against E.P.A. Rule on Carbon Pollution Would Gain, Study Finds
NEW YORK TIMES
Coral Davenport
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma are among the most vocal Republican skeptics of the science that burning fossil fuels contributes to global warming, but a new study to be released Thursday found that their states would be among the biggest economic winners under a regulation proposed by President Obama to fight climate change.
EPA chief McCarthy, critics spar at Senate hearing over new rules
WASHINGTON TIMES
Kellan Howell
“This is the most respectful rule at the federal level that I have ever been involved in,” the Environmental Protection Agency administrator told the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, citing what she said was the flexibility given to the states to design their own plans to reduce carbon emissions 30 percent by 2030.
Texas Is Wired for Wind Power, and More Farms Plug In
NEW YORK TIMES
Matthew Wald
The wind is so relentless that a week can go by before it is calm enough for a crane operator to install the 30-ton blades atop the 260-foot towers at the Panhandle 2 wind farm here. It’s worth the wait; a single turbine at the farm can produce 40 percent more energy than an average one.
Geothermal Industry Grows, With Help From Oil and Gas Drilling
NEW YORK TIMES
Kate Galbraith
Yet the geothermal industry is growing, if slowly, and proponents hope that new technologies — including tie-ins with drilling for oil and natural gas — will bring further gains. Last year, the amount of electric power capacity available from geothermal resources grew about 4 percent to 5 percent globally, according to a report released in April by the Geothermal Energy Association, which is based in Washington. The United States remains the world’s leader in the use of geothermal energy for electric power, followed by the Philippines, Indonesia and Mexico, according to the report.
Technology
FCC partisan rancor on the rise
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Brooks Boliek and Alex Byers
The partisanship that has overwhelmed Congress is spreading to the halls of the Federal Communications Commission, splitting the agency as it takes on high-profile issues like net neutrality and wireless spectrum auctions.
Pressure Grows on E.U. Regulator to Rethink Google Settlement
NEW YORK TIMES
James Kanter
During the past five years, Google has taken a gingerly approach to fighting its antitrust battles in the European Union, nurturing a working relationship with Joaquín Almunia, the bloc’s competition commissioner, and patiently presenting him with three sets of proposals to settle antitrust complaints that it favored its own business over that of rivals in search results. But lately pressure has mounted on Mr. Almunia to delay — or even jettison — parts of a carefully crafted antitrust settlement.
President Barack Obama to issue executive order on drone privacy
POLITICO
Erin Mershon and Kevin Robillard
President Barack Obama plans to issue an executive order to develop privacy guidelines for commercial drones operating in U.S. airspace, POLITICO has learned.
Senate moves to extend ban on Internet taxes
THE HILL
Bernie Becker
Senate Democrats are gearing up to pass a short-term extension of a moratorium on Internet access taxes, according to aides and K Street officials. The Internet Tax Freedom Act expires on Nov. 1, and Democratic leaders are pushing to extend the moratorium through 2014. A bipartisan group of senators, including Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), is seeking to merge a proposal barring states from levying taxes on Internet access with a more contentious measure that would give states more power to charge sales tax on online purchases.
FCC to Web providers: We’re watching you
THE HILL
Julian Hattem
“Consumers deserve to get the broadband service they pay for,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement after a formal advisory was issued. “After today, no broadband provider can claim they didn’t know we were watching to see that they disclose accurate information about the services they provide.”
States Would Sue to Kill City Internet Service
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Brendan Sasso
A group representing state legislatures is threatening to sue to protect restrictions on city-run Internet networks, claiming the projects often waste taxpayer money. The National Conference of State Legislatures sent a letter Tuesday to the Federal Communications Commission, saying it would file a constitutional challenge against any federal action to preempt state laws limiting municipal broadband.
Finance
Saving Taxpayers From Money Funds
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
Floating prices make clear that money-fund buyers are making an investment decision, not depositing money in an insured bank account. We’d prefer to see floating net asset values for all money funds, but the SEC is taking a step toward a safer financial system. Kudos to SEC Chair Mary Jo White for pressing forward. It’s good to see taxpayers win one for a change.
Making corporate tax dodgers patriotic
WASHINGTON POST
Robert J. Samuelson
Let’s lower taxes on corporations that can move from the United States; let’s raise taxes on the people who own their stock. Although the odds against this bargain are long, it would be a true act of economic patriotism.
John Taylor’s Reply to Alan Blinder
WALL STREET JOURNAL
John Taylor
The purpose of the House bill is to prevent such harmful departures from rules-based policies in the future. The de jure independence that the Congress has granted the Fed has not prevented such deviations. Moreover, there is a clear precedent for such congressional oversight. During another period of poor performance in the late 1970s, the Federal Reserve Act was amended to require that the Fed report the ranges for the future growth of the money supply. These requirements were removed from the law in 2000. The requirements did not reduce Fed’s independence, though the Fed complained about the legislation. In fact many judge that the 1980s and 1990s were a time when the Fed regained its de facto independence. That could well happen again if Section 2 of H.R. 5018 were passed into law.
Calpers Pulls Back From Hedge Funds
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Dan Fitzpatrick
Public pensions from California to Ohio are backing away from hedge funds because of concerns about high fees and lackluster returns. Those having second thoughts include officials at the largest public pension fund in the U.S., the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or Calpers. Its hedge-fund investment is expected to drop this year by 40%, to $3 billion, amid a review of that part of the portfolio, said a person familiar with the changes.
Barney Frank ‘not embarrassed’ about toll of financial regulations
THE HILL
Benjamin Goad
Former Rep. Barney Frank on Wednesday defended the torrent of financial regulations required by his signature legislation, lamenting only that they are not being enacted quickly enough to rein in Wall Street.
Politics
An opportunity to cut poverty
USA TODAY
Rep. Paul Ryan
We need to expand opportunity in this country. And to do that, we need Washington to get its act together. Each year, the federal government spends almost $800 billion on 92 programs to help struggling families. Yet the poverty rate is the highest in a generation. The problem with all these federal programs is that they’re fragmented and formulaic. They don’t see how people’s needs interact. And what’s worse, they measure success by how much they spend, not how much good they do. Instead, we need to measure success by results — that is, by how many people we’re helping get out of poverty.
The Solution to Border Disorder
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Jeb Bush and Clint Bolick
President Obama has promised to once again act unilaterally if Congress fails to take up immigration reform. Now is the time for House Republicans to demonstrate leadership on this issue. Congress should not use the present crisis as an excuse to defer comprehensive immigration reform. Whether President Obama is making health-care policy by fiat or using the Environmental Protection Agency to circumvent the lawmaking process, we have too often seen what happens when the president oversteps his constitutional authority. Avoiding similar disastrous results will require legislative action by both parties.
Taking Action on Workplace Equality
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Valerie Jarrett and Jason Furman
That’s why an executive order signed this week by the president is so important. At present, there are no federal laws that sufficiently protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers from being fired simply because of who they are or who they love. American workers should be judged by one thing only: their ability to get the job done. American workers should be able to walk into work every day with full confidence that their identity won’t cost them their jobs.
Despite rhetoric, gun prosecutions plummet under Obama
WASHINGTON TIMES
Kelly Riddell
While President Obama decries gun violence and presses for more laws to restrict ownership, his Justice Department has prosecuted 25 percent fewer cases referred by the main law enforcement agency charged with reducing firearms violence across the country, a computer analysis of U.S. prosecution data shows.
Unions put teachers on streets — for votes
POLITICO
Stephanie Simon
Backed by tens of millions in cash and new data mining tools that let them personalize pitches to voters, the unions are sending armies of educators to run a huge get-out-the-vote effort aimed at reversing the red tide that swept Republicans into power across the country in 2010.
