1. RENEWABLE ENERGY:
Interior plans to push on with effort to beef up renewables on federal land
The Interior Department will continue its aggressive push to develop renewable energy on federal lands in 2013, announcing today that it intends to make more than 20 solar, wind and geothermal power projects priorities to complete the permitting process by year's end. But Interior Secretary Ken Salazar also said today during a conference call with reporters that the ongoing uncertainty about the fate of an expiring federal wind energy tax break could slow the rapid growth that industry has made in the last four years.