democratic Press
This second pre-conference update also focuses on – what else? – electricity. While yesterday’s message spelled out how the Senate’s energy bill would deal with infrastructure protection and reliability, this…
Since “pre-conferencing” on energy has started, we figured “Pre-Conference Updates” might be helpful. This first one deals with provisions in the recently passed energy bill that would upgrade the national…
Many of you will be writing on last week’s monster power outage for a long time to come. Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s reaction from last Friday follows. Bingaman is the top…
After five months attempting to craft energy legislation, the GOP today decided they did not have the bipartisan support they needed, so they turned to the Bingaman-Daschle energy bill that…
The Senate is now considering a substitute amendment that Senator Domenici has offered for his electricity title. Democrats believe its protections are inadequate to protect consumers in these trying times….
“FERC’s action today to streamline the licensing of hydroelectric projects is certainly welcome. Hydropower plays a central role in our nation’s energy mix, and dam relicensing has become an unduly…
While we calmly await a return to action on the energy bill, Dem staffers are putting the final polish on amendments that will improve S. 14 by adding what is…
The Energy Department today unveiled its “Smart Energy Campaign,” an effort which includes an array of energy-saving initiatives for homeowners, consumers and businesses, including a new website, regional energy summits,…
Consumers have the potential to save money on their electricity bills if utilities install “smart meters.” That’s because the price of producing electricity varies at different times of the day….
Striking the right balance among energy, environment and the economy has been a long-standing concern in the Senate and in society. A prime weakness of S. 14, the Republican energy…
When Congress gavels closed today, the Senate will begin a week-long recess to honor Independence Day. I suspect that many of you who cover energy may still be at work…
With sky high natural gas prices due to tight supplies/strong demand, and with even higher prices looming later this year, and on the eve of DOE’s Natural Gas Summit, worried…
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM, ranking member of the Senate Energy Committee), joined by Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), today introduced legislation to help prevent fires in national forests and on…
Senate Majority and Democratic leaders are looking to put together a finite list of amendments for the energy bill. Such a list — common on big bills — is an…
Too often you hear from us when we think the Administration (or the Congress) has done the wrong thing. So, it’s only fair for you to hear from us when…
Finally, the Senate stitched together consecutive days on the energy bill. So far, we’ve gone through 50 percent of the time that leadership says we will have on the bill…
Today (Wednesday) at 12:00 noon, in the Capitol’s Room SC-4, representatives from Native American tribes, citizens groups, sportfishing associations and the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies will join…
As expected, the Senate today returned to the energy bill. We were supposed to be doing ethanol, the pending business. But ethanol traffic was light because a lot of Senators…
Our last update highlighted the need for the Administration to support the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline provisions in the Senate energy bill. That project is the most meaningful thing S….
In this run-up to recess, with no action on the energy bill for at least another week, you may be looking for things to write about. We’re trying to help….
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) today introduced legislation that directs the Bureau of Reclamation to explore opportunities where the federal government can help ensure reliable supplies of water for small towns…
Thanks, everyone, for your patience and good humor so far re: the Senate GOP energy bill (S. 14). Floor action on this legislation is likely get more challenging as we…
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Ranking Member, Senate Energy & Natural Resouces Committee: “Last year, when Congress debated ways to reduce the threat of wildfires on public lands, some of my colleagues…
The Senate floor schedule is said to be notoriously unpredictable. Today we saw why. Here’s what happened: As forecast, the Senate yesterday set aside the energy bill (S. 14) to…
Energy bill watchers get a recess next week – the Senate is not expected to resume consideration of S. 14 until, well, until it does. Next week, as announced by…