Senator Wyden vs.Senator Bingaman Blue Ribbon Report on Nuclear Has Hearing, New Chevy Volt Gets 308 Miles

It is widely anticipated that Senator Wyden(OR) will replace retiring Jeff Bingaman (NM) as the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.  POLITICO has a piece on the differences between the more courtly Senator Bingaman and Senator Wyden who has a penchant for creative deal-making with Republicans.  Altho this penchant irks the Democrats at times, Politico says perhaps this style will unleash some of the partisian backlog on energy legislation such as a clean energy mandate and revenue-sharing from offshore drilling.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will soon be diving into a report on handling waste at nuclear plants around the nation. The report, published in January by the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future, calls for interim storage sites, increased efforts to develop geological disposal sites, and a new federal body that will remove nuclear responsibility from the Energy Department. This hearing comes amidst the long-standing debate over the waste repository in Nevada's Yucca mountain, which the Democrats hope to close for good and the Republicans wish to revive after an NRC review.

The new 2013 Chevrolet Volt will offer a slightly higher all-electric range, up from 35 to 38 miles although the sticker price of $39,995 will not change.  Next year's Volt will also receive a higher EPA efficiency rating, from 94 to 98 MPGe, or Miles Per Gallon Equivalent--a measure of how far the vehicle can travel on electricity with the energy content of 1 gallon of gasoline.  The 2013 Volt will be fitted with a battery pack that holds slightly more energy--up from 16 to 16.5 kilowatt-hours.  The changes come courtesy of a slightly altered chemistry in the lithium-ion cells provided by LG Chem.