- The Hill: Bill would hike gas tax to pay for roads
- Wall Street Journal: Low Prices Cool Boom in U.S. Oil Production
- Wall Street Journal: U.S. oil supplies growth to level off this year, OPEC says
POLITICO Morning Energy for 4/17/2015
By DARIUS DIXON, with help from Alex Guillén
TAX CUT FOR KOCHS AND STEYER? The House on Wednesday with little fanfare passed legislation that would protect major donors like the Koch brothers and Tom Steyer from having to pay gift taxes on huge donations to secret money political groups. The legislation, which now heads to the Senate, is seen by fundraising operatives as removing one of the few remaining potential obstacles to unfettered big-money spending by nonprofit groups registered under a section of the tax code — 501(c) — that allows them to shield their donors’ identities.
The bill that passed Wednesday would make clear that the gift tax does not apply to groups registered under sections 501(c)4, (c)5 or (c)6. That covers a wide swath of organizations including everything from the Karl Rove-conceived Crossroads GPS and the Tom Steyer-funded NextGen Climate (both of which are registered under section 501(c)4 of the tax code) to major labor unions (501(c)5) to the Koch brothers-backed Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce (501(c)6). A coalition of conservative and liberal non-profit groups and their lawyers on Wednesday sent a letter to members of the House supporting the bill. It asserted that the “application of the gift tax to 501(c)(4) donors raises serious constitutional questions, and threatens to hamstring smaller or start-up citizens’ groups.” POLITICO’s Kenneth P. Vogel and Hillary Flynn have more: http://politi.co/1b2nGgA
THE CITY OF ENERGY LOVE: Late yesterday, the White House announced that Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz have scheduled a trip to Philadelphia next Tuesday, where Biden will deliver remarks about energy at the PECO building in City Center. The notice declined to say anything else except that details were “forthcoming.”
Don’t call ME a betting man, but I’m willing to put my chips on this being the rollout of the Obama administration’s first Quadrennial Energy Review (the name notwithstanding, the White House plans to churn out another QER next year on a different energy topic. I know. They know. Just accept it.). If I’m right, a Tuesday unveiling would give everyone a week to digest it before Moniz testifies before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on April 28 — a hearing delayed by more than a month in order to give the administration more time to cross “T”s and dot “I”s. Invites have gone out about the event but the wording is apparently pretty generic on the subject.
DOE DEPARTURE LOUNGE: Jonathan Levy, one of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz’s deputy chiefs of staff, is leaving the Energy Department for a job in the private sector, Moniz’s chief of staff Kevin Knobloch wrote in an email to agency staff late yesterday. “As Deputy Chief of Staff, Jonathan has consistently tackled many of the most difficult challenges facing the agency, ranging from energy efficiency standards to small modular reactors,” Knobloch wrote. Levy joined DOE’s congressional affairs office in 2009 before he became a senior advisor to then-Deputy Secretary Dan Poneman in the summer of 2011 (and worked on several issues, including uranium policy). Levy did a stint with the White House Domestic Policy and National Security councils but came back to DOE to help bridge the period between former Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Moniz, before, as Knobloch writes, “the Chicago reign of the seventh floor was mercifully overtaken by Bostonians.” The search for a successor is underway and Levy’s last day is expected to be April 28, though he may briefly come to DOE in late May to help his replacement.
HAPPY FRIDAY! I’m Darius Dixon, and your morning host is honestly trying to figure out how StatSocial ranked me 1,293rd in “social influence” on Twitter (to be clear, 5000th would’ve been reasonable: http://bit.ly/1GQ5dSc). I’m not saying you shouldn’t follow me, of course, but let’s just say I let you go about your day job without feeling like you missed much. After all, imho, slipping up on social media seems like the easiest way to get a pink slip, no? Send your energy tips to ddixon@politico.com, and follow us on Twitter @dariusss, @Morning_Energy and @POLITICOPro.
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INDIA BACKS PUSH TO CUT HFCS IN MONTREAL PROTOCOL: India signaled on Thursday that it supports amending the Montreal Protocol to phase-out hydrofluorocarbons, a shift that some observers said was a positive sign that the major polluter would cooperate in the international effort to reach a global climate change agreement later this year. Abandoning its long-standing resistance to the move, India proposed an amendment to the Montreal Protocol that would phase out hydrofluorocarbons, the potent greenhouse gases produced by air conditioners and refrigerators. The amendment: http://bit.ly/1b2hyF9
“India’s action should spur global leaders to phase down HFCs this year, eliminating one of the six major greenhouse gases, reducing near-term warming, and providing momentum for a broader climate agreement in Paris in December,” Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate aide who is now a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, said by email. Having orchestrated a joint commitment with China to tackle climate change, the Obama administration has now set its sights on India. The country has not yet unveiled the domestic climate plan that international negotiators have encouraged nations to submit in advance of the Paris talks. And observers are watching closely for signs that India, which said last year that it likely won’t peak and begin reducing its emissions for at least three decades, is taking climate change seriously.
COURT TO EPA CLIMATE RULE: WE’RE JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU…YET: A panel of federal judges yesterday appeared wary of blocking the Obama administration from issuing its landmark climate change regulation this summer, but didn’t tip its hand on how it might view future legal challenges. At a hearing at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, a panel of three Republican-appointed judges — Karen LeCraft Henderson, Thomas Griffith and Brett Kavanaugh — heard more than two hours of arguments on the trio of cases over the EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan, which opponents have said was the latest attack by the administration on the coal industry. While they appeared interested in whether the EPA was overstepping its legal authority, the judges spent relatively little time trying to determine who is right on that legal question, which stems from the agency’s controversial interpretation of the amendments that Congress added to the Clean Air Act.
This seems to sum up the situation: “Do you know of any case in which we have halted a proposed rule?” Griffith asked West Virginia Solicitor General Elbert Lin moments into the oral arguments. And Kavanaugh appeared unconvinced that the proposed rule rose to the level of “extraordinary” that is required to issue an order blocking it. Griffith: “You’re inviting us into a morass.” Alex Guillén and Erica Martinson have at it: http://politico.pro/1FYHht9
ME CAN’T HARDLY WAIT: The House Energy and Commerce Committee has scheduled its first hearing on what panel leaders hope will become a broad, bipartisan energy trade, manufacturing, and efficiency bill. The committee announced that the hearing, which is set for next week, would examine the workforce title of the bill, which also contains titles on infrastructure, “energy diplomacy,” and efficiency, according to a framework the panel Republicans released in February (http://1.usa.gov/1cAo3jO). The workforce title would “allow the Department of Energy, along with the national laboratories, community colleges, and public-private partnerships, to better coordinate and leverage existing resources to foster an energy and manufacturing workforce for the 21st century,” that framework states.
Mark your calendar: The hearing is slated for Thursday at 10 a.m. in Rayburn 2123.
A GOP-FRIENDLY GAS TAX PLAN: The latest proposal to shore up the Highway Trust Fund involves a bump in the gas tax and has the backing of a surprising subset of lawmakers: House Republicans. Considering that Republicans border on allergic when it comes to tax hikes, having eight sign onto a bill to do just that is remarkable, even if their numbers aren’t. Even more amazing, they aren’t afraid to talk about it. Just asking about the gas tax, which has been stagnant for two decades, has been known to make more than a few Republican lawmakers duck the question, or worse, run away. But a group of Republicans are openly standing behind a bill unveiled by Reps. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) and Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) on Thursday that would index the gas tax to inflation and establish a bicameral, bipartisan commission — likened to the deficit supercommittee — that would come up with a long-term solution. Pro Transportation’s Heather Caygle has more: http://politico.pro/1E7i8ii
The hurdles: Republican leaders in both chambers have already ruled out a gas tax hike.
The cliff: May 31 is the deadline to reauthorize highway and transit programs.
EPA DIDN’T WANT TO GET COAL ASH IN ITS STOCKING: Though it was rolled out back before Christmas, EPA will make its new coal ash rule official today when the regulation is published in the Federal Register. According to a spokeswoman, EPA needed the extra four months to “allow for corrections to address inadvertent omissions, typos, etc. in order to help avoid unnecessary confusion.” The rule, which goes into effect in 180 days — so check back in October — requires utilities to shutter coal ash ponds contaminating neighboring waters. Environmentalists thought it wasn’t stringent enough, while Republicans dislike its enforcement scheme using citizen suits. Federal Register: http://1.usa.gov/1FPqLZC
Legislation from Rep. David McKinley, H.R. 1734, that would give states more power to manage coal ash cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week. Frank Holleman, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said “citizen lawsuits are one of the most important tools to force utilities to responsibly dispose of coal ash” and McKinley’s bill would weaken that power by curtailing “public access to information from utilities on coal ash pit assessments.”
CRUDE-BY-RAIL-BY-EAR: Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin met with Lincoln Land fire safety officials yesterday afternoon: @SenatorDurbin: Sat down with some of Illinois’ brave fire chiefs today to discuss fire grants and crude-by-rail safety pic.twitter.com/bmHQCA3x8K
KOCH TO SENATE: REPEAL RFS, DON’T REFORM: Koch Industries is pressing members of the Senate to oppose a bill sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Pat Toomey seeking to reform the Renewable Fuel Standard. “The current RFS is a mandate in name only,” wrote Philip Ellender, the top lobbyist for Koch Companies Public Sector. “Feinstein-Toomey would change that in an instant and turn the RFS into a real mandate with real economic consequences for consumers.” The free market, he added, has done more to get ethanol into the market than the RFS and he pointed to Koch’s ethanol plants. “One of Koch’s subsidiaries, Flint Hills Resources just closed on the purchase of its seventh ethanol plant. We bought these ethanol plants despite the RFS, not because of it. Let us compete in the free market.” The letter: http://politico.pro/1FZjxVG
QUICK HITS
— Secrecy shrouds decade-old oil spill in Gulf of Mexico. The Associated Press: http://apne.ws/1E7l7Y2
— Schlumberger to cut 11,000 more jobs. Reuters: http://reut.rs/1yzsVzI
— California imports of Bakken crude by barge sets record in 2014. Reuters: http://bit.ly/1IkmnF5
— Florida PSC approves rate cut for Duke customers for failed nuclear project. The Tampa Bay Times: http://bit.ly/1FQImAq
— DOE report on WIPP: Los Alamos radiation release could have been prevented. The Associated Press: http://bit.ly/1CRqswH
— Judge rules on CPUC-Edison secret meetings. NBC San Diego: http://bit.ly/1CUDic8
— SunPower, Apple to build solar projects in China. Reuters: http://reut.rs/1G1O73U
Tags: climate, energy, fuel, gas, oil