An unusually slow White House review process is holding up stricter energy efficiency requirements for appliances, lighting and buildings proposed by the Department of Energy. The delay – the review process has taken as much as two years for some of the rules in question – seems at odds with the administration’s push for vehicle fuel efficiency. [NYT]

And the Department of Energy – not really an institution that oozes scandal – is being questioned over $450,000 in payments to former congresswoman Heather Wilson’s consulting business in exchange for “no deliverables”.  “The services provided to the department ‘did not meet even minimum standards for satisfying [Federal Acquisition Regulation] requirements,’ the inspector general said. [USA Today]

With California’s San Onofre plant going off-line permanently, the state’s Public Utility Commission will have to figure out a source for replacement power, and decide who’s going to pay for it – ratepayers or shareholders. [LA Times]