E2 Morning Roundup: New Alaska Senate polling upcoming, SF Chronicle disses Boxer, Administration and BP officials testify before spill commission, Gore hits fundraisers and more

Landrieu, Barbour too

Gulf Coast officials will also appear – including Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour Tuesday.

Gulf lawmakers in both parties have pushed against the administration’s suspension of deepwater drilling, which is intended to be in place at least until the commission comes up with its recommendations.

Landrieu last week announced she would block Senate approval of Obama’s nomination of Jacob Lew to head the White House Office of Management and Budget until the administration lifts or eases the federal freeze on deepwater drilling and speeds up permits for shallow water projects.

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) is backing her effort.

SF Chronicle offers no endorsement in Boxer-Fiorina race

In an “extremely rare” move, the San Francisco Chronicle has declined to endorse either Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) or her Republican challenger Carly Fiorina. It was less of a hit on Fiorina by the newspaper’s editorial staff than on Boxer, whose liberal ideology is more closely aligned with its views.

“It is a dismal choice between an ineffective advocate for causes we generally support and a potentially strong advocate for positions we oppose,” the paper noted in a Sunday editorial.

Despite Boxer’s chairmanship of the Environment and Public Works Committee, “it is telling that leadership on the most pressing issue before it – climate change – was shifted to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., because the bill had become so polarized under her wing,” according to the editorial.

While Fiorina “has campaigned with a vigor and directness that suggests she could be effective in Washington,” she also has “an agenda that would undermine this nation’s need to move forward on addressing serious issues such as climate change, health care and immigration,” the editorial states.

The Chronicle also noted Friday that despite job performance ratings that are at an all-time low, Boxer increased her lead over Fiorina to six points in a statewide Field Poll released that day.

Gore ramps up fundraising help 

Former Vice President Al
Gore Sunday held a fundraiser for Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) – who heads the
House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee. The price
for entry at the afternoon event ranged from $,1000 to be a “host” to
$100 to be a “guest.” No word on whether Gore touted Moran’s reelection
as an “inconvenient truth.”

In what may be the start of a
prominent role helping Democratic candidates this fall, Gore also
recently sent out a fundraising email for the Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee and will attend a fundraiser this week for Democratic
Rep. Kendrick Meek’s U.S. Senate campaign in Florida.

Landrieu to BP: Extend deadline for rig workers’ relief fund

Landrieu is pressing BP to extend a Sept. 30 deadline for
applications to the $100 million fund for rig workers idled by the
federal deepwater drilling freeze.

In a
letter to BP late last
week, she notes that only a few hundred workers have sought aid
from the fund, fewer than expected.

“I believe this is because
many companies, to their credit, are keeping their workers on the
payroll, despite the uncertainty of knowing exactly when new permits
will commence,” she writes. “Yet, with each passing day, their balance
sheets take significant hits and it becomes harder for these companies
to maintain their employees.  As a consequence, the demand for this fund
may be on the rise over the next two months or until the moratorium is
lifted.”

Landrieu also wants the fund – which BP agreed to
support several months ago – opened to workers affected by the slowdown
in federal permitting for shallow-water drilling, even though these
projects are not covered by the six-month deepwater freeze. Unless the
Interior Department speeds up permitting, “many of these companies could
be faced with the hardship of laying off employees,” she writes.

Yergin speaks at Brookings event

Daniel Yergin – the chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize – will be among the panelists at a Brookings Institution event Monday about oil markets and energy security. He’ll address the consulting firm’s view that proposals to repeal oil-and-gas industry tax breaks would put U.S. companies at a disadvantage.

Salazar to give broad energy speech

Salazar is slated to make a wide-ranging speech on energy policy Thursday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He “will discuss the Obama Administration’s comprehensive energy strategy, the path to a clean energy economy, and the Department of the Interior’s progress in raising the bar for the oil and gas industry’s safety and environmental practices in deepwater,” according to an advisory about the event from the think tank.

Takin’ it to the streets

Monday brings the culmination of Appalachia Rising, a three-day event in Washington, D.C. that an array of environmental and community groups are holding in opposition to mountaintop removal coal mining practiced in West Virginia and other Appalachian states.

The controversial strip mining method involves use of explosives to blast the tops off peaks in order to access coal seams, generating wastes and rubble that buries valleys and streams. Nearly 2,000 miles of Appalachian headwaters streams have already been buried, according to EPA. The first two days of the event – Saturday and Sunday – featured an array of workshops and trainings.

Monday brings a “day of action” that includes a rally and a march from Freedom Plaza to the White House.

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