Boehner runs from oil tax remarks - Oil majors to break out the billions - Spending the tea party can love - Royals preparing low-carbon wedding

(with reporting from Darren Goode, Darius Dixon, Darren Samuelsohn and Robin Bravender)

DUCK AND COVER – John Boehner is running from his own suggestion yesterday that major oil companies no longer need some tax breaks.


Oil companies are “gonna pay their fair share in taxes and they should,” Boehner told ABC News last night. “Listen, everybody … wants to go after the oil companies. And frankly, they’ve got some part of this to blame.”

Boehner also named a specific tax provision – the oil depletion allowance – that he didn’t think oil majors needed.

But speaker spokesman Michael Steel later tried to recast his boss’ remarks: "The speaker made clear in the interview that raising taxes was a nonstarter, and he's told the president that,” Steel said. “He simply wasn't going to take the bait and fall into the trap of defending 'Big Oil' companies.”

Boehner’s statements came in response to a question about whether it was “obscene” for oil majors to pocket billions while the public struggles with high gas prices. Read the full interview: http://abcn.ws/eu3j3v

READY TO STRIKE – Any wavering from Boehner would be a major blow for the industry, as Obama and other Democrats make oil tax credits their primary target for deficit reduction.

The White House is desperate to redirect public anger over gas prices toward “Big Oil,” especially as evidence mounts that pump pain is crippling the president’s approval ratings. Seventy percent of respondents to a new Washington Post poll say gas prices are causing financial hardship, and of those 70 percent, only one-third approve of the president’s handling of the economy: http://wapo.st/ibWrs9

MO MONEY, MO PROBLEMS – The oil industry is about to hand its critics a tailor-made talking point, as all five majors prepare to announce billions in first quarter profits this week. Forecasters are predicting massive gains from a year ago, including increases a 50 percent gain for ExxonMobil – while pulled $6.3 billion in the first quarter of 2010 – and a 33 percent bump for both Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips. Goode has more for Pros: http://politico.pro/fljXhm

ANNOUNCEMENT SCHEDULE

BP: Wednesday, 2 a.m.

Chevron: Friday, 11 a.m.

ConocoPhillips: Wednesday, 2:30 p.m.

ExxonMobil: Thursday, 8 a.m.

Royal Dutch Shell: Thursday, 5 a.m.

HAPPY TUESDAY and welcome to Morning Energy, where your host is fighting through a food coma after having just gone Kevin McCallister (pause for Googling) on a cheese pizza, “just for ME.” To help him escape his wayward ways, send your news, views and a recipe involving at least one vegetable to [email protected].

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PICKENS PICKS UP UNLIKELY SUPPORT – Tea partiers and other hard-right Republicans are lining up to support T. Boone Pickens’s plan for federal subsidies for natural gas vehicles, even as they bash Obama’s plans for wind and solar subsidies.

The Pickens plan is “a much more efficient use of taxpayer’s money than let’s say other forms of quote clean energy that have no chance of making us anywhere near energy independent anytime soon,” Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole tells POLITICO’s Darren Goode.

GOP strategist Mike McKenna calls it hypocrisy: “Either all these subsidies are good ideas or none of these subsidies are legitimate,” he said. “What is not a defensible position is my subsidy is good and yours sucks.” http://politico.pro/fp4fsN

DRILLING IN COURT – Environmental groups square off with the Obama administration and the oil industry today on a pair of offshore drilling cases. The groups are trying to convince the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to strike down some Gulf of Mexico drilling permits, saying the Interior Department underestimated the potential for a massive oil spill while approving them.

ME FIRST: CONGRESS FAIL – The best way to turn a waste site into a never-ending battleground is to get Congress involved, according to an MIT study on nuclear fuel disposal. The study, to be released today, found that nations who successfully built nuclear waste repositories did so by having independent organizations negotiate directly with local communities, rather than subjecting them to the national legislature.

MIT professors meet at 10:30 a.m. today to discuss that conclusion and other topics touched on in their wide-ranging study. The event will be webcast here: http://bit.ly/eXbhKk, and the report posts at 10:30 a.m. here: http://bit.ly/dS7jQp. Viewers can send questions during the event to [email protected] with "question about report" in the subject line. Darius Dixon, who snared an advance copy of the study, has more here: http://politico.pro/eqmgLB

** A message from America's Natural Gas Alliance: Affordable, domestic and cleaner than traditional gasoline or diesel, natural gas is a transportation trifecta. That’s why communities and businesses are converting their fleets to natural gas. http://bit.ly/ggcEG9 **

ROYAL GREEN – Local food, seasonal flowers and recycled-paper programs will all be on display Friday as Prince William and Kate Middleton try to minimize the carbon footprint of their royal wedding. The facilities for the event will also be partly powered by renewable energy, but the real buzz is surrounding Middleton’s dress, which eco-fashionistas are hoping will be made of sustainable materials. From BusinessGreen: http://bit.ly/ewMY6n

NEWT RESPONDS – Newt Gingrich is taking on critics who are angry at the conservative icon for taking home more than $300k from an ethanol lobby firm in 2009. While the critics say support for ethanol subsidies runs counter to Newt’s free-market rhetoric, Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler said his work is consistent with his “all of the above” energy platform.

AND PIVOT – Tyler then went after Obama: “Newt will gladly juxtapose that strategy with the president’s current policies which are not only responsible for increasing cost of energy and gasoline but are a direct threat to national security.”

DRUDGE BUZZ – A Fox News report ( http://fxn.ws/gaq8ob) about Shell's Alaskan offshore plans being scuttled over an EPA air permit is getting plenty of attention this week, including a Drudge link and emails to POLITICO about why we're not covering it. Not mentioned in the FOX report is the fact the decision came late last year and it's come up in the budget debate, hearings and active bills on the Hill. Here's our story from Feb. 3 on the negative reaction from Alaska pols ( http://politi.co/i8YBwJ).

CHERNOBYL ANNIVERSARY – Greenpeace is pouncing on the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster with a new video claiming nuclear power poses a threat to New York City. The video, titled “Chernobyl. Fukushima. Indian Point?” notes that 17 million people live within 50 miles of the plant and features actors in radiation suits walking through Times Square: http://bit.ly/h1Ur2R

ON THE NUKE NOTE – John Shimkus and two other Energy and Commerce Republicans are going ahead with their Yucca Mountain visit today, despite Henry Waxman’s effort to paint it as a $200,000 waste.

Shimkus rejected the $200k figure and said: “The fact that the Department of Energy has shuttered Yucca Mountain — after spending over $14 billion in ratepayers and taxpayer funds over nearly 20 years — is a concern. We simply intend to observe and learn about this taxpayer funded federal project.” Dixon for Pros: http://politico.pro/ihboEg

WELL, THAT’S ONE WAY TO DO IT – Developed countries are meeting their greenhouse gas reduction goals in large because their manufacturing sectors are moving to the developing world, according to a new report from the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo. "If you look at territorial emissions you are only looking at half the picture," lead author Glen Peters said. Reuters: http://reut.rs/i3t0Mw

MOVING ON UP – Former Bob Bennett chief of staff Chip Yost is joining the National Association of Manufacturers as vice president for energy and natural resources policy.

Pat Bousliman, Max Baucus’s lead staffer on energy tax policy, is leaving the public sector to take a senior adviser position for D.C. lobby shop and law firm Holland & Knight.

GREEN PRIORITY – The Interior Department will have the right to temporarily block new mining claims on lands it proposes to dedicate for wind or solar development, according to rules to be officially published today. The mining blocks – which last for two years and can be extended – are intended to keep solar and wind projects from getting hung up by competing land uses, Interior says.

BUY IN BULK – Businesses, universities and local government can save up to 15 percent on solar installations by negotiating a group rate on panel prices, according to a report to be released today by the World Resources Institute. The report goes live at 9 a.m. here: http://www.wri.org/

MONEY TALKS – Mutual fund managers are pushing back on federal attempts to tighten scrutiny on trading of oil, gold and other commodities features, the Wall Street Journal Reports: http://on.wsj.com/e4D2f9

THE DAY’S (PACKED) AGENDA

8:30 a.m. – Renewable energy industry officials converge on George Washington University for a daylong solar symposium. 805 21 St. NW

8:45 a.m. – Lisa Jackson keynotes as The Energy Information Administration on Tuesday kicks off a two-day conference on the future of offshore drilling after the BP spill and issues with energy development. Other speakers include EIA chief Richard Newell and Shell Oil president Marvin Odum. Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

10 a.m. – DOE’s Daniel Poneman, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn and Center for American Progress CEO John Podesta host a White House Forum on Energy Security. Access the live webcast here: www.whitehouse.gov/live

11 a.m. – Earth Policy Institute President Lester Brown hosts a teleconference on "how the new geopolitics of food is driving political upheaval in the Middle East and threatening stability in other developing regions." Dial 877-874-1589, access code 2658698

Noon – Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman speaks on at a Woodrow Wilson Center forum on the future of domestic nuclear energy at the Ronald Reagan Building.

12:30 p.m. – Lisa Jackson and Nancy Sutley join Arne Duncan at the Education Department HQ to plant the department’s official tree.

3 p.m. – BLM officials are in Salt Lake City for the first of seven public hearings on its new plans for Western oil shale development.

6 p.m. – EPA officials are in San Francisco to talk about environmental health issues, climate change and sustainable communities at the Aging in America Conference.

THAT’S ALL FOR ME – Your hosts thanks you for reading, and, as an Office Space encore, asks that we all take a moment to remember the fate of poor “Samir Naga… Naga… not gonna work here anymore.”

** A message from America’s Natural Gas Alliance: One solution for more abundant domestic energy is staring us in the face. Natural gas is the natural choice—now and in the future. We know we need to use cleaner, American energy. And, we have it. Today, the U.S. has more natural gas than Saudi Arabia has oil, giving us generations of this clean, domestic energy source. Natural gas supports 2.8 million American jobs, most states are now home to more than 10,000 natural gas jobs. As Congress and the Administration look for ways toward a cleaner tomorrow, the answer is right here: natural gas. Learn more at www.anga.us. And, follow us on Twitter @angaus. **

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