OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Renewable fuel debate rages on

ON TAP WEDNESDAY: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s controversial renewable fuel mandate, which determines the amount of ethanol and other biofuels that refineries must blend into the nation’s fuel supply.

The EPA and Energy Department officials are among those set to testify at the Wednesday hearing.

{mosads}The debate over renewable fuels has been heating up with the release of the EPA proposal last month, which biofuel companies viewed as a win for big oil.

Despite the EPA’s retreat on the amount of ethanol that must be blended into the fuel supply, the oil industry and other interest groups want the fuel mandate repealed all together.

Rest of Wednesday’s agenda …

A subpanel of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee will hold a hearing on the “factual relationship between climate and weather.”

The House committee has consistently hammered the EPA and Obama administration on its use of science in new regulations aimed at curbing the effects of climate change.

Also on Wednesday, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Reps. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) and Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) will talk at a Nonproliferation Policy Education Center discussion on U.S. policy toward nuclear cooperative agreements and whether non-weapons states can produce nuclear fuel.

NEWS BITES:

The Wall Street Journal reports China has released its first blueprint for a climate change agenda, in an effort to curb global warming and mitigate its impact.

The Associated Press reports the latest in the trial against two BP supervisors for the deaths of 11 workers when the company’s rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

Bloomberg reports U.S. crude supplies could drop for a second week as refineries ramp up operation.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out the story’s that ran on E2-Wire on Tuesday …
– Supreme Court reviews pollution limits
– Senators like House idea of stopping EPA’s fire hydrant guidance
– Sierra Club endorses Honda
– TransCanada now pumping oil into part of Keystone XL
– Report: US solar installations skyrocket
– Fight for Rahall’s House seat heats up

Please send tips and comments to Laura Barron-Lopez, laurab@digital-release.thehill.com.