This story was updated at 1:40 p.m.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) last night pulled an amendment to a spending package on the Senate floor that would have blocked subsidies for ethanol blender pumps and storage facilities.

The amendment to the "minibus" spending package -- which would set the fiscal 2012 budgets for the Agriculture Department; Commerce, Justice and Science; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development -- was tabled last night. McCain told reporters today that he “didn’t think we had the votes to win,” and noted that the ethanol lobby was “still alive and well.”

The amendment would have barred funds from the farm bill's Rural Energy for America Program from being used to install pumps that blend fuel with up to 85 percent ethanol at rural gas stations. That use for the program, traditionally focused for energy-efficiency improvements to rural plots, has been controversial. Environmental groups had backed the language, saying that agriculture interests should pay for the construction, installation and operation of ethanol blender pumps and storage facilities.

Industry groups, however, cheered the news that the amendment would not get a vote.

"This was an ill-conceived amendment that would have put OPEC further in control of our economy and limited consumer choice at the pump. While the withdrawal of this amendment is an important milestone, we will continue to encourage Congress to oppose any other effort that would erect new barriers to the market," said Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis.

Last night the Senate unanimously approved an amendment from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to help utilities set up energy efficiency financing programs for small businesses.

Sanders wants more utilities to offer "on-bill financing," where an electricity provider pays the initial cost of energy-saving upgrades and the customer -- either a homeowner or a business -- repays the debt over time through surcharges on electric bills.

His amendment would create a $1 million pilot program at the Economic Development Administration that would help utilities set up on-bill financing programs for small businesses (E&E Daily, Oct. 19).

The Senate is set to vote on several more amendments to the spending bill today, including one from Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) that would transfer $8 million from the administrative account of USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service into the Watershed Rehabilitation Program, which provides funding for water infrastructure maintenance and rehabilitation.

Citing benefits that dams and other water infrastructure provide, such as erosion control, irrigation and recreation, Moran said it is crucial to ensure those structures are sound. Many of the country's more than 1,000 structures are aging, he said.

"In the absence of maintaining these structures, we run the risk that the investment we made over decades begins to disappear," he said on the Senate floor, "and not only do we lose the value of the asset but also potentially life."

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) filed cloture on the bill yesterday and has said he hopes to complete action on it by the end of this week. The Senate has a scheduled recess next week.

IPCC, other measures

An amendment filed yesterday by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) would require detailed records be provided by federal employees communicating with anyone involved with the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on matters related to the panel's work.

That includes communications with IPCC employees, chairs, authors, review editors, technical staff or members of another nation's delegation.

Further, Vitter's amendment would require records be submitted by U.S. government workers participating in any electronic forums related to climate science, earth temperature records or weather analysis.

Those records must include transcripts, all communications sent or received by the employee relating to the forum, the date and the parties involved. The amendment would prohibit funds toward such forums if the records aren't provided.

The amendment, co-sponsored by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), would also prohibit any funds from being used for federal employees to participate in password-protected electronic forums held by the IPCC.

Vitter's amendment comes on the heels of a letter he, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) sent yesterday to the White House criticizing the Obama administration's scientific integrity policies (Greenwire, Oct. 19).

Another amendment from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) would provide almost $4.5 million for investigating China's trade practices involving solar panels and rare earth metals. He submitted the measure following legislation he introduced last week targeting Chinese currency manipulation.

The amendment comes as U.S. manufacturers SolarWorld Industries America Inc. asked the federal government to impose duties on China for allegedly flooding the U.S. market with silicon products used in solar panels. The company also accuses the Chinese government of illegally giving its manufacturers subsidies and creating trade barriers, among other allegations (E&ENews PM, Oct. 19).

The Obama administration recently notified the World Trade Organization that it believes about 200 Chinese subsidy programs violate international trade rules. The Chinese government has denied any wrongdoing.

In a statement on his amendment, Brown accused China of "cheating."

"China's gains in the solar market are coming at the expense of Ohio producers," Brown said. "Ohio manufacturers can compete with anyone on a level playing field, but by subsidizing its solar industry and hoarding rare earths, China isn't competing. It's cheating."

The money from the amendment would go to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. It would be used to both investigate and resolve the WTO dispute settlements over China's solar subsidies and restrictions on exporting certain rare earths metals.

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) also introduced an amendment to the transportation language that would return unspent money for "orphan earmarks" to the Highway Trust Fund. Under the language, which he introduced along with Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), funds not used on an earmarked project would be returned three years later and redistributed to other states.

Casey wrote a similar proposal into a pair of bills introduced earlier this year, which he said could return as much as $7.5 billion to states. According to a January USA Today report, about $13 billion in earmark funds since 1991 have gone unspent because of clerical errors, legal issues or environmental delays.

Marine planning, fishing councils and salmon research

Amendments that would alter regional fishing councils, allow states to opt out of national marine planning efforts and allow for more federal research on salmon are pending for the portion of the bill that governs funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) filed a new version of her bid to block the administration's marine spatial planning efforts. The new amendment tones down a rider she filed earlier this week, in an attempt to have the language added to the bill without objection. Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) co-sponsored the new amendment.

The new measure still seeks to block federal funding for coastal and marine spatial planning but adds a caveat. It would only do so in areas where a state has an objection to the plans. If the governor of a state provides written objection to the plans, NOAA could not spend any money to develop them in that region.

President Obama signed an executive order last year to launch a new national ocean policy intended to address growing demands on the ocean for fishing, transportation, energy and recreation. It called for regional bodies across the United States to begin "coastal and marine spatial planning."

The planning effort seeks to gather scientific data, mapping resources and input from ocean stakeholders to provide a framework for activities at sea. Marine scientists and conservation groups have lauded the effort but it has ignited concerns among some lawmakers, fishermen and other ocean users, who are concerned it will create a large federal bureaucracy that will essentially zone ocean waters.

An amendment from Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) would expand the influence Rhode Island fishermen have over policy decisions on regional fishing councils.

The amendment would give Rhode Island two seats on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The council, a governing board that sets catch limits and fishing rules, currently includes states from North Carolina to New York.

Reed's amendment would add Rhode Island to that group. The state would also keep its position in the New England Fishery Management Council. There is some precedent for states sitting on two councils: North Carolina is a member of both the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils.

Rhode Island fishermen have a stake in the fish stocks that fall under the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The state accounts for nearly a quarter of the catch from the fishery, according to data from NOAA. Reed has said it a "serious flaw" that is unfair to fishermen in his state.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is also hoping to add a provision to the bill that would direct research on salmon disease. The amendment directs a national task force to coordinate research on the infectious salmon anemia plaguing fish in Idaho, California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska (see related story).

The group would establish research objectives to assess potential transmission pathways, any role foreign salmon farms may have in spreading the disease to wild populations and susceptibility of various salmon populations to the disease.

Murkowski and Begich are co-sponsors of the amendment.

Reporter John McArdle contributed.