- The Washington Times: Senators introduce bipartisan crude exports bill
- Fuel Fix: Oil pipeline spills off California coast
- Scientific American: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Cost $5 Trillion Annually and Worsen Pollution
- New York Times:Wind Power Is Poised to Spread to All States
POLITICO Morning Energy for 5/20/2015
By DARIUS DIXON, with help from Alex Guillén, Elana Schor and Andrew Restuccia
OBAMA TO HAMMER CLIMATE CHANGE AS SECURITY THREAT: President Barack Obama is traveling to New London, Conn., this morning to deliver the commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy, and a White House official says that he plans to argue that climate change is an “immediate risk” to U.S. national security. The president has spoken about the threats of extreme weather, but Obama will stress today that no one country can address climate change alone and that it will contribute to natural disasters, triggering humanitarian crises. “Climate change will impact every country on the planet,” Obama is expected to say, according to his prepared remarks. “No nation is immune. So I am here today to say that climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security, an immediate risk to our national security, and, make no mistake, it will impact how our military defends our country. And so we need to act — and we need to act now.”
Changes are in store for how the military plans, Obama will say. And, a White House official noted, the Pentagon is evaluating the climate vulnerability of more than 7,000 bases and other facilities. “You are part of the first generation of officers to begin your service in a world where the effects of climate change are so clearly upon us,” Obama will say. “Climate change will shape how every one of our services plan, operate, train, equip, and protect their infrastructure, today and for the long-term …Climate change poses a threat to the readiness of our forces. Many of our military installations are on the coast, including, of course, our Coast Guard stations.”
Reading material: To press its point, the White House is releasing an 11-page summary document today that compiles climate-related security concerns — threats to infrastructure, access to raw materials, etc. — plucked from several reports: http://1.usa.gov/1IKkbu1
Obama is expected to begin his address around 11:35 a.m., according to the White House schedule.
Secretary of State John Kerry, no stranger to discussions about climate change, pressed the national security point, too, by essentially saying that crazy dictators and crazy weather are top-line concerns on the other side of the planet. “Anyone who doubts that confronting climate change is a national security issue should have sat in the meetings I just had in Asia, where it was a primary topic of discussion with every one of my interlocutors, alongside other security issues like [North Korea] and violent extremism,” Kerry said in a statement. “And that’s true around the world. … So now it’s time to put aside discredited scientific arguments and partisan politics and to focus on the facts — not just for our health and the health of our children but for our planet’s security as well.”
NO GOOD! About 21,000 gallons of crude oil leaked near Santa Barbara County, Calif., due to pipeline rupture, The Los Angeles Times reports: “The crude oil pooled in a culvert before spilling into the Pacific Ocean, where it created a four-mile-long sheen extending about 50 yards into the water near Refugio State Beach. The ruptured pipeline is owned by Plains All American Pipeline, which said in a statement that the 24-inch diameter pipe was shut down and that the culvert was blocked to prevent more oil from flowing into the ocean.” http://lat.ms/1eeuycU
HAPPY SPRING-LIKE WEDNESDAY! I’m Darius Dixon, and while your morning host has laughed off the whole notion of Twitch, a program that lets people broadcast themselves playing video games over the Internet, I have to say that it can be pretty entertaining to watch. I’ve been playing Ori and the Blind Forest, and, man, it’s nice to see other people get just as lovingly frustrated. Send your energy tips to ddixon@politico.com, and follow us on Twitter @dariusss, @Morning_Energy and @POLITICOPro.
** A message from the National Biodiesel Board: From coast to coast, biodiesel is getting us where we need to go. Made from sustainable resources, biodiesel is diversifying our fuel supply, making our economy stronger and our communities healthier. Get biodiesel going in your community. Learn more today at www.AmericasAdvancedBiofuel.com. **
UDALL’S BALANCING ACT: Sen. Tom Udall is threading the needle when it comes to natural gas and fracking, Pro Energy’s Elana Schor reports. The New Mexico Democrat has urged top Interior Department officials to visit his state for face-to-face talks with locals worried about fracking near the cherished Chaco Canyon, a move hailed by activists hoping to halt drilling in the area. While Udall’s 96 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters places him comfortably in the green wing of the party, he’s an anchor in a western Democratic bloc that sometimes lines up with Republicans on oil and gas issues. Udall spokeswoman Jennifer Talhelm said his approach to the Bureau of Land Management and Chaco is in line with his longstanding support for a “’do it all, do it right’ energy strategy that includes natural gas,” as well as strong state regulations on fracking. Elana has more for Pros: http://politico.pro/1FuTJSL
SHELL AUDIT: SIGNED, REALLY SEALED, DELIVERED: Shell submitted to a third-party safety audit as part of all the hurdles the oil giant had to overcome in order to restart its troubled Arctic drilling operations — but the results of that review remain under wraps, much to environmentalists’ frustration. The independent audit was a key recommendation of the Interior Department report on the failures that plagued Shell’s 2012 foray into the Arctic, and both the company and the administration say its first phase resulted in a clean bill of health. Meanwhile, green groups intent on keeping Shell’s rigs from the remote Alaskan coastal waters are raising alarms about the company’s control over the audit results. A Freedom of Information Act request is required to obtain the results of the audit’s first phase, an Interior spokesman confirmed to POLITICO, while the second phase will take place in the field after Shell’s equipment arrives in the remote region where it plans to drill. When Greenpeace sought details on the audit through FOIA, however, Interior told the activist group to prepare for a delay. Elana Schor has more for Pros: http://politico.pro/1FmZ1hG
GET YOUR COMPETES TO THE FLOOR: Floor debate on House Science Chairman Lamar Smith’s America COMPETES Reauthorization Act is expected to start today. On Monday, the House Rules Committee approved a structured rule that filtered out all but 12 of the 45 amendments submitted for the bill. The bill would establish funding levels that cut Energy Department renewable programs while boosting cash for the National Science Foundation and DOE’s Science office. Rep. Louise Slaughter, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, brought out an ill-fated alternate rule that would’ve opened the bill up to dozens of amendments.
Among the amendments slated to get a floor vote today include one by Science Committee ranking member Eddie Bernice Johnson, which seeks to essentially to trash Smith’s bill and replace it entirely. Johnson’s 228-page amendment/bill is 32 pages longer than Smith’s COMPETES Act and seems to remove all the language that upset dozens of scientific organizations over the last several weeks. Where Smith’s bill set various funding levels for specific scientific disciplines — while saying that he didn’t want to pick “winners and losers” — Johnson’s version reverts back to wording in previous COMPETES acts that left those funding decisions to the NSF except on allotments for logistical matters like human resources, the inspector general and equipment. Her bill also ramps up funding for each fiscal year through 2020. Smith explained to the Rules Committee on Monday that his version, which kept funding flat in order to stay within the budget caps, only planned out two years because that’s “probably the most we can do right now.” Johnson’s measure is currently slated to be the last one discussed but will get 20 minutes, twice as much time, for debate. Amendment votes and final passage of the bill could happen in the range of 6 p.m. or 7 p.m., according to the House Majority Leader’s office. Johnson’s “amendment”: http://1.usa.gov/1IP2rfF
Other amendments up for a vote include those to strike language requiring all National Science Foundation grants to include a written “national interest” justification and to allow DOE to continue partnering with the Pentagon to produce military biofuels.
You will recall that the White House threatened to veto the bill if it reaches the president’s desk. On Tuesday, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer issued a statement saying the bill “has no chance of being signed into law.”
ME FIRST — E&C’S BAKER MOVING ON: Charlotte Baker, deputy communications director for House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, is leaving the panel on Thursday after nearly 4.5 years to join ExxonMobil’s public and government affairs team at the company’s Irving, Texas, headquarters. Baker, a Houston native, worked at DCI Group here in Washington before joining the committee staff. She starts with ExxonMobil on Tuesday. We Beltway energy reporters tip our hats.
CONSERVATIVE THINK TANK HOSTS HOEVEN ON CRUDE EXPORTS: The American Council for Capital Formation will host Sen. John Hoeven, one of Congress’ most vocal proponents of lifting the four-decade-old ban on U.S. crude exports, for a breakfast today as the oil trade debate heats up. The pro-export camp also corralled a new Democratic backer this week in Sen. Joe Manchin, and ACCF is releasing a report on its most recent oil-trade roundtable to further the cause. Here’s a preview: http://politico.pro/1AklfSq
Former Obama CIA director Leon Panetta and ex-National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley decided to chime in on the crude export debate too, with an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal unsubtly titled “The Oil-Export Ban Harms National Security”: http://on.wsj.com/1KiYGRx
HEADIN’ SOUTH OF THE BORDER: Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz today is previewing his upcoming travel to Mérida, Mexico, next week where he will participate in the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas Ministerial as well as the Sixth Clean Energy Ministerial. Moniz also will meet with energy ministers from around the world to help advance clean energy technologies, promote low-carbon economies, and combat global climate change. ECPA and CEM6 will highlight the role of low-carbon energy technology as part of the drive for ambitious commitments at the climate talks in Paris set for later this year. The where and when: The National Press Building, Suite 800, at 11 a.m.
HOUSE ADVANCES PIPELINES-IN-PARKS BILL: The House Natural Resources Committee’s energy subpanel today plans a hearing on a bipartisan proposal to allow the Interior Department to fast-track natural gas pipelines that would cross National Park Service land. The industry-backed bill would address what Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop described in a statement as “a critical infrastructure gap” by setting up National Energy Security Corridors for the projects on public lands. A discussion draft: http://1.usa.gov/1F0AjRN
SET YOUR DVRS: Tonight’s episode of “Nature” on PBS is all about the sage-brush, especially the sage-grouse that calls it home and is at the heart of one of the biggest Endangered Species Act disputes in years. Watch a preview and a clip about the sage-grouse mating dance, known as lekking: http://to.pbs.org/1L2wgbf. The episode airs at 8 p.m.
QUICK HITS
— The energy union road trip. POLITICO Europe: http://politi.co/1Hg9uJR
— Germany, France to Push for Ambitious U.N. Climate Agreement at Paris Summit. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1FuhvOw
— Peabody Energy exploited Ebola crisis for corporate gain, say health experts. The Guardian: http://bit.ly/1Aehka8
— EDF, World’s Biggest Nuclear Operator, Will Bid for Areva’s Reactor Business. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1Jyi6R4
— Hillary Clinton’s State Department Staff Kept Tight Rein on Records. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1EWCxRc
— California’s Brown Signs International Climate Change Pact. Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/1Aehw9m
— Senate subcommittee moves to pull U.S. out of ITER fusion project. Science Insider: http://bit.ly/1eeyudI
— The Florida mayoral race that brought up Koch Industries, goes to the GOP. The Florida Times-Union: http://bit.ly/1c3WoH0 (and if you have no idea what I’m talking about: http://bit.ly/1R25zHF)
— Japan approves third nuclear plant for restart. Reuters: http://reut.rs/1JZglKF
— Big industry, utilities win on energy legislation in Minnesota. Minnesota Star Tribune: http://strib.mn/1LjSvKA
Tags: energy, fuel, gas, oil