To:
Jackson, Ryan[jackson.ryan@epa.gov]
From: POLITICO Pro Energy
Sent: Fri 6/30/2017 9:43:21 AM
Subject: Morning Energy, presented by Exelon: Trump's energy speech short on bold action -- Clean
coal backers unfazed by Kemper collapse -- Bishop open to another energy bill push
By Anthony Adragna | 06/30/2017 05:41 AM EDT
With help from Eric Wolff, Alex Guillen, Darius Dixon and Esther Whieldon
PROGRAMMING NOTE -- Due to the July 4 holiday, Morning Energy will not publish on Monday, July 3 and Tuesday, July 4. Our next Morning Energy will publish on Wednesday, July 5. Please continue to follow Pro Energy issues here.
ACTIONS CAP ENERGY WEEK: It was a speech heavy on rhetorical flair about U.S. "energy dominance" for President Donald Trump on Thursday, but the six initiatives he touted were decidedly more modest in practice.
l.'A complete review' of nuclear policy. Trump said he wants to revive and expand the nuclear energy through a "complete review of U.S. nuclear energy policy." It's not exactly clear what this will entail and the president said he await results of that examination before moving additional policy.
2. First step toward new offshore drilling plan. Following through on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's May directive, BOEM plans to publish a request for information on the new five-year offshore drilling plan on Monday. Comments will then be accepted for 45 days, and Zinke has said he expects the entire plan writing process will take two or three years. Pro's Esther Whieldon with more here.
3. Find an opening for overseas coal financing. Trump vowed his Treasury Department would "address barriers" to financing overseas coal plants, though didn't specify exactly what that would entail. The Obama administration issued guidance back in 2013 in an effort to pressure multilateral development banks like the World Bank not to fund those sorts of projects, though it wouldn't require much to simply withdraw it.
4. More LNG exports authorized. DOE approved two LNG export applications from the Lake Charles LNG facility, a joint venture between Shell and Energy Transfer Equity in Louisiana, to boost deliveries. It authorized an additional 0.33 billion cubic feet per day on top of the 2 Bcf/d in previously approved exports.
5. Modest Mexican pipeline approved. The State Department approved permits for the New Burgos Pipeline, which will cross the border near Penitas, Texas, and can deliver up to 108,000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products. Pro's Nick Juliano with more here. "It'll go right under the wall," Trump said.
6. Sempra LNG negotiations highlighted. With the South Korean president in town, Trump highlighted a formal beginning of negotiations with Sempra Energy's to sell U.S. liquefied
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natural gas to South Korea.
Not mentioned: Climate change, all-of-the-above, Southern Company's decision to abandon its clean coal efforts at the Kemper plant in Mississippi, solar panels on his border wall, renewable energies, calls to shut down other pipelines -- Access Northeast and Enbridge Inc.'s Line 5 (more on that below).
International wish list: Trump's top economic adviser said world leaders such as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are desperate for more U.S. liquefied natural gas exports, Pro's Darius Dixon reports. "It's not because our LNG is cheaper than Russian gas -- Russian gas is actually cheaper," National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn said. "But our LNG is guaranteed to show up once you enter into a contract." Cohn said LNG exports would be high on Trump's agenda next week as he stops in Poland before the G-20 summit in Germany.
Quotable: Trump after spotting coal magnate Bob Murray in the room: "He's in great shape, right? You in good shape, Bob? Right from the beginning. Good. You just take care of yourself, all right?" Remember Murray's lawsuit against comedian John Oliver claimed he was dependent on an oxygen tank and "does not expect to see the end of this case."
Fact check: Trump erroneously claimed that after he set in motion the approval of the Dakota Access and Keystone pipelines, "I didn't take any heat. I approved them and that was it. I figured we'd have all sorts of protests. We didn't have anything." In point of fact, hundreds of thousands of people have protested Trump's actions on the pipelines and other environmental matters at multiple marches since he took office. More than 200,000 people alone protested the Trump administration's environmental actions at the Peoples Climate March in late April.
Lawmakers shrug it off: Despite efforts from the White House to build up Energy Week buzz, the impact among senior Hill lawmakers seems minimal. House Energy and Commerce Environment subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus and House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop both said they really hadn't been paying much attention to it, while Senate Energy Chairman Lisa Murkowski-- with some exasperation in her voice -- quipped to reporters: "The fact that it's actually Energy Week seems to me it might be worth some news coverage." (Murkowski has been getting more questions about health care lately than on the bipartisan energy bill she and Sen. Maria Cantwell just reintroduced.)
WELCOME TO FRIDAY! I'm your host Anthony Adragna, and Duke Energy's Michael Sewell was the first of many of you to identify Strom Thurmond as our nation's oldest serving senator. For today: What two U.S. state capitals have no vowels in common but yet rhyme? Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to aadragna@politico.com, or follow us on Twitter @AnthonyAdragna, @MomingJEnergy, and @POLITICOPro .
CCS FANS SOLDIER ON AFTER KEMPER COLLAPSE: Southern Company's decision to bum natural gas and abandon its dreams of gasified coal and carbon capture at its power plant in Kemper County, Miss., doesn't seem to worry fans of the technology too much. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp told ME Southern Company "had to make an economic decision for their shareholders," but she wasn't worried about the technology. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said he
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still plans to introduce a bipartisan bill expanding CCS tax credits, but he thinks, in the long run, carbon technologies "only make economic sense if there's a price on carbon." Sen. Joe Manchin did express some concern over the project's failure and promised to explore the matter over recess. "I'd like to find out what happened," he said.
Apropos of Kemper: A senior aide to Rep. David McKinley said Kemper "wouldn't change the equation" for carbon capture technology. While President Donald Trump's budget calls for major cuts to DOE's Office of Fossil Energy, where CCS research is funded, the recent appropriation bill introduced would restore most of the office's funding. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has praised Petra Nova, a carbon capture project in his home state, and he will soon visit the Morgantown National Lab, which conducts carbon capture research.
A little history: SoCo's decision would have been a much bigger deal a year ago, when top EPA officials were desperately trying to persuade a skeptical Congress carbon capture was a realistic technology for new coal plants to use to meet limits under a rule limiting CO2 emissions from new power plants. Former Administrator Gina McCarthy repeatedly argued Kemper and a tiny power plant in Canada were living proof that CCS was a viable technology. The new source rule is still there, but no one is building coal power, so the point is kind of moot.
Big Green win: Sierra Club has been fighting the Kemper project for years, calling it "dirty, expensive and unnecessary." Louie Miller, Sierra Club's Mississippi director, said shareholders will bear most if not all of the cost of the gasification and CCS elements, while the NGCC plant will go to ratepayers. "The commission made the right decision here, and it appears from what happened yesterday that the idea of what Kemper was design to do, be a clean coal project, has just had a stake driven through its heart."
REPUBLICAN AG SEEKS ENBRIDGE PIPELINE CLOSURE: Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette on Thursday called for a "specific and definite timetable to close" Enbridge's Line 5 dual pipelines that run along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac. The pipelines, which became operational in 1953, carry light crude oil and natural gas liquids through the waters where Lakes Huron and Michigan meet. Schuette, who is widely expected to run for governor, made his comments after the release of a consultant's report that suggested the pipelines could operate indefinitely, though the attorney general said he "strongly disagreed" with that view.
John Gauderman, Enbridge's director of operations for the Great Lakes region, defended the pipeline's health, according to the Associated Press. "After more than 60 years in service, Line 5 is in outstanding operating condition because the rigorous maintenance done through the decades...We intend to keep it that way." In a client note, ClearView Energy Partners said continued operation of Line 5 "looks stable for now" and "clarity regarding the line's future prospects may be a year away, if not longer."
** A message from Exelon: Innovation always begins with the spirit of discovery--the search for new ideas and answers to our biggest questions. As America's largest clean energy provider, what happens when 34,000 Exelon engineers, analysts, and innovators put their heads together to tackle the energy industry's biggest challenges? Find out here: http://bit.ly/2szvZN4 **
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IT'S BEEN AN HONOR: Today is Colette Honorable's last day as a FERC commissioner, ending her two-and-a-half year run at the agency. Her departure leaves acting FERC Chairwoman Cheryl LaFleur as the last person standing at a commission with five leadership seats although the place may filling up after next week's recess. The White House announced plans earlier this week to nominate Rich Glick to succeed Honorable and take a seat at FERC that could keep him there into 2022. But Honorable isn't going far. She plans to stay in the D.C. area but hasn't said what she'll be up to yet.
SENATE STAFF HUDDLE ON DOCUMENT REQUESTS: Staffers with the top Republican and Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee huddled with EPA staff, including Chief of Staff Ryan Jackson, this week for a "constructive" meeting about responding to oversight requests, Ranking Member Tom Carper tells ME. "We'll build on that," he said. A Republican EPW aide confirmed the meeting took place.
Nothing's up: Carper also told ME not to read anything into EPW's decision to postpone a host of votes on nominees for a second time on Thursday. He said Chairman John Barrasso's staff opted to delay the votes on two NRC nominees and an EPA pick until July 12 because they "thought there was too much going on."
NOW TAKING BETS: Count Bishop as open to another crack at passing a broad energy bill this year amid Murkowski and Cantwell's renewed push at broad Senate legislation unveiled this week. "Pass it and send it over," the Utah Republican told ME. "I'd be happy to look at it." ICYMI: Here's the text of the new Senate bill and Murkowski's comments on securing floor time.
CAN I HITCH A RIDE? Sen. Tim Scott tells ME that he is still eyeing the must-pass FAA re authorization legislation as one possible vehicle for his bill that would extend tax credits for nuclear projects. Lawmakers are hoping to get the FAA bill through next month but are running into scheduling complications thanks to ongoing healthcare reform efforts. Asked what his current plans are for advancing his legislation, S. 666 , Scott told ME: "Prayer." He went on to say "you know, there's only a couple of vehicles at this point, FAA is one of them, the tax extenders at the end of the year, the tax reform package as well. We're trying to hotline it but I don't think Schumer is allowing us to hotline anything." The House passed a companion version of the nuclear tax bill earlier this month.
TWO NAMES FORMALLY SENT: The White House formally sent the Senate the nominations of Brenda Burman to be commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation and Douglas Domenech to be an assistant Interior secretary for insular areas Thursday.
MAIL CALL! INFO SOUGHT ON 'SUE AND SETTLE' CHANGES: Five senior House Judiciary and Energy and Commerce Republicans sent a letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Attorney General Jeff Sessions requesting a briefing about recent agency changes curtailing the use of "sue and settle" policies. "During the previous administration, EPA entered numerous settlements or consent decrees, a practice known as 'sue and settle,' committing the agency to undertake significant new rulemakings subject to timelines or schedules," the lawmakers wrote.
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"We appreciate this change in policy, hope that Attorney General Sessions shares Administrator Pruitt's views, and urge EPA and the Justice Department to develop conforming written guidelines as soon as possible." Reps. Greg Walden, Bob Goodlatte, Tim Murphy, Tom Marino and John Shimkus signed the letter.
THIS TIME WE'RE SERIOUS: Attorneys general from 14 states and D.C. say they plan to sue EPA for not regulating methane emissions from existing oil and gas wells and other industry sources. The agency issued a rule last year covering new wells under Section 111(b) of the Clean Air Act, which in turn triggered a requirement that it write a rule for existing sources too. The Trump administration has paused major portions of that new source rule, and ended an information request that was a first step toward regulating existing wells.
MASSACHUSETTS MOVES FORWARD ON OFFSHORE WIND: The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources on Thursday issued a request for proposals between 400 megawatts and 800 megawatts of offshore wind projects. This is the DPU's first move under a law passed last year to arrange for utilities to buy 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2027. Would-be developers have until July 26 to indicate that they plan to bid for a contract and until Dec. 20 to make their pitch. The team managing the process expects to send negotiated contracts for the DPU's approval by July 31, 2018.
NOW IN TIME FOR ENERGY WEEK! Sen. Claire McCaskill, Homeland Security and Governmental Reform ranking member, sent a letter Thursday requesting a briefing from DOE on why two companies with past waste and fraud issues -- Bechtel National, Inc. and AECOM -- were able to form a subsidiary to clean up the Hanford nuclear Waste Treatment Plant. She said the arrangement "raises questions about DOE's ability to conduct oversight" and added she has additional "questions about the impact of this subcontract on performance and costs."
MOVER, SHAKER: Former Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp has been named the next president of the Heartland Institute, the libertarian group that argues against the scientific consensus on climate change; he'll succeed long-time president Joseph Bast, who co-founded the organization in 1984.
QUICK HITS
-- A New Problem for Keystone XL: Oil Companies Don't Want It. Wall Street Journal.
-- Environmentalists, fishing groups file lawsuits to block Delta tunnels plan. Mercury News.
-- Pennsylvania gets no seat at the table during White House 'Energy Week' panel. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
-- Utilities withdraw plan for $3 billion natural gas pipeline expansion. Boston Globe.
-- As Climate Changes, Southern States Will Suffer More Than Others. New York Times.
-- Investors slowly start to push climate change up their agenda. Reuters.
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HAPPENING TODAY
No energy events today
THAT'S ALL FOR ME!
** A message from Exelon: Innovation always begins with the spirit of discovery--the search for new ideas and answers to our biggest questions. As Washington, D.C.'s energy provider and America's largest source of clean energy, we're committed to continual investment in innovation. Every day, Exelon's engineers, analysts, and innovators are revolutionizing the way energy is generated, sold, and delivered across the United States and around the world. So, what happens when 34,000 Exelon employees come together at our annual Innovation Expo in Washington, D.C. this week to tackle the energy industry's biggest challenges? Find out here: http://bit.ly/2szvZN4 **
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Stories from POLITICO Pro
Interior to take first step in offshore drilling plan rewrite Back
By Esther Whieldon | 06/29/2017 03:40 PM EDT
The Interior Department today announced it is taking the first step toward redoing its five-year offshore drilling plan.
The agency expects to publish a request for information on the five-year plan in the Federal Register on Monday. It likely will take at least two-to-three years to complete a new offshore drilling plan, but BOEM will still be able to issue leases in the meantime for offshore sites that were included in the Obama administration's version.
Interior officials announced the plans just before President Donald Trump's speech at the Energy Department this afternoon.
On orders from Trump, Secretary Ryan Zinke in May directed BOEM to write a new plan for offering oil and gas drilling leases in the Outer Continental Shelf and to include parts of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean as well as Alaska's Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea and Cook Inlet areas. The Obama administration last year issued a plan that left out parts of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
"Offering more areas for energy exploration and responsible development was a cornerstone of the President's campaign and this action is the first step in making good on that promise for offshore oil and gas," Zinke said in a statement.
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WHAT'S NEXT: Interior will accept comments for 45 days once the request for information is published, and Zinke has said he expects the entire plan writing process will take two or three years.
To view online click here.
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U.S. cuts funding for overseas coal power plants Back
By Alex Guillen | 10/29/2013 04:23 PM EDT
The Obama administration is drawing a line in the sand on public financing for overseas coalfired power plants.
The U.S. will use its considerable influence to pressure multilateral development banks like the World Bank against providing funding for almost all coal projects.
The new guidance issued Tuesday is squarely aimed at ending public financing of coal projects except under rare circumstances, a senior Treasury official told reporters.
President Barack Obama's climate action plan announced in June included an order that the government stop financing coal plants overseas except in very rare circumstances.
That order drew cheers from environmentalists, in part because the plants are a major contributor to rising sea levels and extreme weather associated with climate change that is expected to inflict the greatest damage on developing nations.
But the move also brought criticism from conservative groups and fossil fuel advocates who said it essentially cuts off a source of cheap electricity for the world's poorest countries.
The guidance issued by the Treasury Department on Tuesday says banks should look for opportunities to deploy low-carbon power sources, including renewable energy, or to provide efficiency upgrades for existing plants.
While there are exceptions to allow a coal project to move forward, it's not clear whether any project could meet Treasury's stringent requirements.
In countries so poor they can only borrow from the World Bank Group's International Development Association (known as IDA-only countries), banks could move forward with a coal project but only if "it can be demonstrated that the project overcome binding constraints on national economic development" and if the project "employs the best available technology for reducing GHG emissions that is practically feasible," according to Treasury's guidance.
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There are currently 64 IDA-only countries, according to the World Bank, including Haiti, Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Mali, Uganda and Nepal.
There are more stringent conditions for a bank to move forward with coal projects in other countries.
Under the guidance, those coal projects would have to deploy carbon capture and sequestration technology to lower carbon intensity to 500 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt hour of output, or about 1,100 pounds of carbon per megawatt-hour.
That's the same standard the EPA announced in September for new coal-fired power plants in the U.S. -- a rule the coal industry decried as essentially a ban on new coal plants.
One major problem to adopting CCS: The technology basically does not exist on any major scale yet.
Charles McConnell, who was DOE's top fossil energy official from 2011 until earlier this year, told lawmakers Tuesday that the EPA's claims about CCS's readiness are exaggerated.
Some early demonstrations have successfully deployed CCS, "but it's clearly not ready. It's really that simple," McConnell told a House Science Committee panel. It "can be made ready over time, and will have to have the support of the EPA as well as the marketplace and industry."
The Treasury official sidestepped questions about whether CCS can meet the standard the guidance lays out, and instead echoed a previous EPA argument that requiring such technology will encourage research and development.
The official wouldn't comment on any coal project proposals currently being considered.
The guidance also requires any new coal project to be "accompanied by a package of significant and measurable offsetting actions in the power sector" that would counter any emissions added by the project. Those actions could range from transmission upgrades or plant retirements to "demand side management."
Banks could require such offsets as part of a direct deal, or finance complementary projects that do so, the guidance says.
Retrofits of existing coal plants can get around the CCS requirement if installing the technology is not feasible, though the plant would still have to use the best technology available.
The U.S. is a major shareholder at the World Bank and other institutions, and plans to use that leverage to push banks and other countries to adopt the guidance, affecting potentially billions of dollars in financing.
Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland agreed with the U.S. last month to stop public financing of coal projects.
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To view online click here,
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State Department issues permits for U.S.-Mexico pipelines Back
By Nick Juliano | 06/29/2017 05:41 PM EDT
The State Department today released details on presidential permits it has approved for pipelines to deliver petroleum to Mexico.
President Donald Trump announced in his speech at DOE this afternoon that his administration has approved a new pipeline across the southern U.S. border.
NuStar Logistics L.P. is building the New Burgos Pipeline, which will cross the border near Penitas, Texas, and has the capacity to deliver up to 108,000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products.
The State Department announced that it has approved a permit authorizing the construction and operation of that conduit. It also issued new permits for two other NuStar pipelines, the existing Dos Laredos and existing Burgos pipelines, to change the name of the permit holder and authorize the transport of a broader range of products. Those lines cross the border near Laredo and Penitas.
WHAT'S NEXT: The permit authorizes NuStar to begin building its new pipeline.
To view online click here.
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Cohn, Perry: Allies are clamoring for U.S. energy exports Back
By Darius Dixon | 06/29/2017 03:38 PM EDT
President Donald Trump's chief economic adviser said today that world leaders like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are scrambling to get their hands on American liquefied natural gas exports.
National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn said that when Modi visited Washington earlier this week, "his No. 1 ask was LNG." Cohn said he also expects to discuss LNG exports with South Korean President Jae-in Moon at dinner tonight.
Exports will be high on Trump's agenda next week as he stops in Poland before the G-20 summit
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in Hamburg, Germany, Cohn said.
"It's not because our LNG is cheaper than Russian gas -- Russian gas is actually cheaper," Cohn said. "But our LNG is guaranteed to show up once you enter into a contract."
Energy Secretary Rick Perry, whose agency authorizes LNG exports to non-Free Trade Agreement countries, said that boosting U.S. exports will improve our relationships with allies more than leaving the Paris climate agreement angered them.
"We are in a position to be able to clearly create a hell of a lot friends by being able to deliver to them energy, and not being held hostage by some countries -- Russia in particular," Perry said.
Giving Europe greater access to U.S. LNG and coal will give them alternatives to Russia, he said. "That singularly will have more to do with keeping our allies free and building their confidence in us than practically anything else."
WHAT'S NEXT: Trump travels to Warsaw next week, ahead of the G-20 summit.
To view online click here.
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Trump plans to nominate Glick for FERC seat Back
By Darius Dixon | 06/28/2017 09:32 PM EDT
President Donald Trump plans to tap Richard Glick to succeed outgoing Democratic FERC Commissioner Colette Honorable, the White House announced tonight.
Glick is the general counsel for Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Before joining the panel last year, he was vice president of government affairs for Iberdrola Renewables Inc. for about a decade. The company changed its name to Avangrid Renewables last year.
He also worked as an adviser to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson during the Clinton administration.
Glick's nomination may help ease the confirmations of Republican FERC picks, Neil Chatteijee and Robert Powelson.
FERC's five-member leadership can have no more than three members from the same political party, with a majority from the party holding the White House. While presidents are responsible for nominating commissioners to the agency, tradition has long held that each party picks its own candidates to fill its seats.
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The Senate energy committee has already approved the Chatterjee and Powelson nominations.
FERC has been operating without a quorum since early February, and Honorable intends to resign from the agency Friday.
The announcement of Glick's nomination confirms POLITICO'S earlier reporting.
WHAT'S NEXT: The White House must still formally send Glick's nomination to the Senate before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing.
To view online click here.
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EPW reschedules NRC, EPA nomination votes to July Back
By Darius Dixon | 06/29/2017 10:10 AM EDT
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee announced this morning that it has delayed votes on nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the EPA.
The votes are now scheduled for July 12. EPW had originally slated the markup for Wednesday before rescheduling it to noon today.
NRC nominees Annie Caputo and David Wright, and EPA nominee Susan Parker Bodine, who has been tapped as assistant administrator of the office of enforcement and compliance assurance, are awaiting committee approvals.
Lawmakers will also consider legislation to reauthorize and tweak aspects of EPA's popular brownfields program and a bill reauthorizing the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, which helps retrofit diesel-powered equipment.
WHAT'S NEXT: EPW has rescheduled the markup for the morning of July 12.
To view online click here.
Back
Murkowski: Energy bill ready now for floor action Back
By Anthony Adragna | 06/29/2017 01:35 PM EDT
Senate Energy Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski says she's pushing for floor time for her new energy bill, which has only minor changes from the version that nearly made it across the finish
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line last year.
"This is not brand-new stuff," the Alaska Republican told reporters today. "These are bills that have passed the committee, passed the Senate, passed the House many of them. What we've done is put them in a package and they're ready to go."
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has taken procedural steps to allow the bill to bypass committee, but he has not yet scheduled a floor debate.
Murkowski said there had been minor changes to energy efficiency provisions in the bill she introduced Wednesday, S. 1460, particularly to ensure "building codes truly are voluntary." Ranking member Maria Cantwell agreed only "minor things" had been changed in the bill.
Senate and House lawmakers pushed until the last minute last December to iron out differences between the bipartisan Senate bill and a House companion that cleared the lower chamber with mostly Republican votes, before Speaker Paul Ryan ultimately pulled the plug on those efforts.
Text of the latest energy package has not yet been released.
WHAT'S NEXT: Murkowski said she had some "talking to do with trying to find some time" on the Senate schedule, but the measure won't need to go through the committee process again.
To view online click here.
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Thune: Crunched calendar could trip up FAA floor timing Back
By Lauren Gardner | 06/29/2017 12:39 PM EDT
Sen. John. Thune today acknowledged that the unknown floor schedule for Republicans' Obamacare repeal-and-replace effort could complicate moving an FAA bill through the chamber next month.
"Probably some of that comes down as well to what we can work out, and if we can get the bill in a condition where people are willing to support it, and it's not going to require a full week on the floor, then maybe we'll process it" in July, he said.
"But right now the number of days that we have available to us before the August break are somewhat limited, and things that we have to do in that period are going to be, I think, fairly time-consuming, so we'll see," he added.
Thune said he wouldn't rule out an attempt to use the bill (S. 1405) to put the Senate on the record on House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster's proposal to spin air traffic control operations away from the FAA and into the hands of a nonprofit corporation. "I don't know what
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our members might decide to do," he said. To view online click here.
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