OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Feds seek new offshore drilling rules

OFFSHORE CRACKDOWN: The Obama administration unveiled its long-awaited proposal to improve offshore oil and natural gas well-containment standards Monday.

The rules focus mainly on new standards for blowout preventers, the critical equipment that was largely to blame for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster and oil spill at BP’s well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Interior Department officials said Monday that of all the reforms in the wake of the BP spill, the blowout preventer rule is the biggest.

{mosads}”Through this proposed rule, we’re requiring more stringent design requirements and stricter operational procedures for critical equipment used in offshore energy development,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told reporters Monday.

Democrats and environmentalists welcomed the rule’s unveiling, but criticized the administration for taking five years to get it ready.

The oil and gas industry is withholding judgment. But it’s also pointing to the efforts the industry has undertaken already in the last five years to improve safety.

Read more here.

‘COURAGE’ AWARD FOR CLIMATE: Former Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) was named Monday as the recipient of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s Profile in Courage Award for standing against the GOP and in favor of policies to fight climate change.

Inglis in 2010 said he believed in climate change and came out in support of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

That cost him his job when he was defeated in the Republican primary.

“He displayed the courage to keep an open mind and uphold his responsibilities as a leader and citizen at the expense of his own political career,” Jack Schlossberg, Kennedy’s grandson, said in a statement.

Read more here.

ON TAP TUESDAY I: The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subpanel on energy and power will meet Tuesday to discuss draft legislation to fight the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) climate rule for power plants. The bill from Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), the panel’s chairman, would delay the rule until court challenges are over and let state governors veto compliance plans.

Lawmakers will hear from Janet McCabe, who leads the EPA’s air pollution office, and from various stakeholders who support and oppose the rule.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) spoke with reporters Monday on his objections to the bill.

ON TAP TUESDAY II: A subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hear Tuesday from the inspectors general for the EPA and Interior Department. The hearing is meant to review the oversight work the inspectors are doing and to open a dialogue between them and the committee, which hasn’t had them at a hearing in years.

Rest of Tuesday’s agenda …

The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on trade will hold a hearing on the 40-year-old ban on exporting crude oil. Members will hear from Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas), both of whom support lifting the ban; as well as four experts with differing opinions on it.

A subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hear from Obama administration officials on coming regulations on railroads, pipelines and hazardous materials.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will meet Tuesday to vote on three bills, including legislation to change the EPA’s coal ash rule and to delay Energy Department efficiency standards for grid-enabled water heaters.

The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on “proposed federal water grabs,” including the EPA’s waters of the United States rule and the Forest Service’s groundwater directive

Adam Sieminski, head of the Energy Information Administration, will speak Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies to prevent the agency’s Annual Energy Outlook for 2015.

NEWS BITE: Reps. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) introduced legislation Monday that would force the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to withdraw their waters of the United States rule, which would redefine the federal government’s jurisdiction over waterways.

“The administration’s proposed rule and its regulatory fallout will have real economic costs and consequences for states, local governments, farmers, builders, other stakeholders, and private citizens,” Shuster said in a statement.

“Instead of legitimately consulting these parties, the administration flouted the rulemaking process, rushed this rule forward, and is now close to putting it into practice,” he continued.

The agencies sent their final rule to the White House last week for review.

AROUND THE WEB:

Harvard University students, alumni and faculty continued late Monday to block entrances to a main administrative building as they protested the university’s fossil fuel investments, the Boston Globe reports.

Australia will open an auction this week to pay private companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

China is on track this year or next to overtake the United States as the top contributor to human-caused climate change, Reuters reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Monday’s stories …

– EPA blasts GOP’s bill to change climate rule
– Ontario to join cap-and-trade system
– Regulators tighten rules for offshore drillers
– GOP ex-rep to get JFK award for climate work
– Illinois considering gas tax hike
– China’s coal imports drop by nearly half
– Week ahead: Climate rule gets its day in court

Please send tips and comments to Timothy Cama, tcama@digital-release.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @Timothy_Cama, @thehill