- Wall Street Journal: Opinion: Allowing crude exports would free U.S. from self-sanctions
- The Washington Examiner: Sen. Murkowski talks up spending bill riders targeting EPA rules
- Wall Street Journal: Big Trucks Face New Emissions Standards
- National Journal: Obama Climate Rules To Face String Of Attacks On House Floor
POLITICO Morning Energy for 6/22/2015
By DARIUS DIXON, with help from Elana Schor and Darren Goode
CHECKING THE SCOTUS TRAPS: The Supreme Court hasn’t yet ruled on EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standard, but that could change this week — or even today. The high court’s current term ends next week and 11 opinions still haven’t been released. The slow bake of the MATS ruling puts it in the company of some of the court’s biggest constitutional cases of the session, including disputes regarding Obamacare and same-sex marriage. The court is expected to issue rulings today around 10 a.m. and probably once or twice more before the month is out.
Wait, what’s this all about? In March, the Supreme Court considered a narrow question concerning EPA’s 2012 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for power plants: “Whether the Environmental Protection Agency unreasonably refused to consider costs in determining whether it is appropriate to regulate hazardous air pollutants emitted by electric utilities.” Still, the compliance deadline for the rule was in April, except for those plants offered an extra year by their state regulator. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the rule in April in the face of a slew of challenges to both the scope and stringency of its requirements. The pollution control requirements will push owners of many of the nation’s oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants to retire them rather than carry out costly upgrades. The 21 states, the coal industry and utility groups fighting the regulation have said Congress would have wanted the agency to weigh the costs before deciding to saddle power plants — particularly older coal plants — with tight pollution restrictions. During the oral arguments, swing justice Anthony Kennedy seemed to side with EPA. But it’s the Supreme Court, so they like to keep you guessing.
THE C IN TSCA STANDS FOR CONFIDENCE: The rewrite of the Toxic Substances Control Act bill that cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee with no opposition earlier this month (California Democrat Anna Eshoo, who previously ripped the bill, abstained) is set to come to a vote on the suspensions calendar Tuesday, according to GOP aide. The suspensions calendar, typically reserved for noncontroversial legislation, requires a two-thirds majority of the chamber for passage. Action on the companion bill before the full Senate is moving a bit slower so don’t hold your breath for something to happen on this this week in the upper chamber. Sen. Barbara Boxer, the chief opponent to the bipartisan TSCA legislation in the Senate, is encouraged by the House TSCA bill, according to a spokesperson.
WELCOME BACK ME! I’m Darius Dixon and your host is happy to be back in a place where he’s fluent in the local tongue. I’m definitely hoping to go back to Japan on a vacation next time around in the not-too-distant future (I’m already missing the food). There are a lot of energy pieces moving around over there: Unifying the two halves of their electric grid, starting competition for residential customers and dealing with uncertainties around nuclear power. Send your energy news, tips and commentary to ddixon@politico.com, and follow us on Twitter @dariusss, @Morning_Energy and @POLITICOPro.
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THE WEEK IN CONGRESS, PRE-JULY FOURTH RECESS EDITION: There’s quite a bit happening this week on Capitol Hill, particularly when you look at tensions around Obama’s trade policies and the expected lapse in the Export-Import Bank next week. Well, let’s lay out the week ahead of Congress’ Independence Day break:
— The trade stuff: Late last week, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he wanted trade promotion authority, Trade Adjustment Assistance and a trade preferences bills to reach President Barack Obama’s desk before July 4th. According to our friends at Pro Trade, the first big vote of the week will happen Tuesday morning in the Senate, as members vote on whether to limit debate on a House-passed trade promotion authority bill to 30 hours. If that gets 60 votes, the Senate is expected to vote late Wednesday afternoon on the actual trade promotion authority bill. Should it get a majority Wednesday, it’ll go to the White House for Obama’s signature. The Senate’s Trade Adjustment Assistance cloture vote would come Wednesday. If that passes Wednesday or Thursday, it moves to the House.
— The Senate: On Tuesday, the Budget and the Homeland Security and Government Affairs committees are holding a joint hearing about regulatory reform and “the true cost of regulations.” Also on Tuesday, an Environment and Public Works Committee subpanel is holding a hearing on what impacts the EPA’s carbon regulations may have on electricity prices. Sen. John Barrasso is chairing a Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing on American energy exports Tuesday afternoon. The Wyoming Republican is a vocal advocate for lifting the U.S. crude oil export ban as well as selling more natural gas and coal overseas. On Thursday, the Finance Committee is meeting to discuss how states have financed transportation infrastructure given the gridlock on the issue at the federal level.
— The House: Along with the floor vote on TSCA reform legislation, Tuesday is also when the Rules Committee is slated to frame the debate for two energy bills, the fiscal 2016 Interior and Environment spending legislation and Rep. Ed Whitfield’s Ratepayer Protection Act. Rep. David McKinley’s coal ash bill, Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation Act, was also expected to reach the floor this week but hasn’t yet shown up in the agenda. Whitfield’s bill would essentially put EPA’s final carbon rule for existing power plants on hold until the courts have finished legal reviews of the rule. It would also exempt any state from the rule whose governor, in consultation with state regulators and officials, determines the rule would hurt ratepayers or threaten reliability. The Interior and Environment appropriations bill, as with most spending bills, is likely to get some kind of open rule, which opens the floodgates for amendments — and some long nights — this week. On Wednesday, a subpanel of the Science Committee is holding a hearing on EIA’s analysis of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and lawmakers on the Natural Resources Committee are looking into the Bureau of Land Management’s handling of solar and wind reclamation bonds.
** A Message from Nuclear Matters: Providing more than 60% of America’s carbon-free electricity, existing, state-of-the-art nuclear energy plants play a vital role in achieving our clean-energy and carbon-reduction goals. The industry also supports more than 100,000 jobs nationally and provides critical tax revenue locally for roads, schools and other public priorities. Learn more at NuclearMatters.com. **
THE CLUB FOR EX-IM BANK-HATERS: POLITICO’s Seung Min Kim: “The Club for Growth is pumping $1 million into ads against House Republicans — including spots that draw comparisons with Barack Obama — as part of its all-out war against the Export-Import Bank. But the targets of the Club’s wrath are firing back.” http://politico.pro/1H7WRXo
CHATS WITH CHINA: The seventh U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue and the sixth Consultation on People-to-People Exchange officially kickoff Tuesday in Washington but some of the climate-related items happen later today. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is expected to attend a meeting from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the State Department, according to an agency statement, celebrating the private sector’s involvement in advancing a U.S.-China climate change working group. On Tuesday, an event titled “Act on Climate: S&ED Celebration of Energy and Environment Cooperation” is slated to take place at the State Department just before a closed joint session on climate change at 10:50 a.m. There will also be two press briefings following Tuesday’s joint session: one with Moniz and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, immediately followed by a briefing with State’s Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern.
CALLING YOU REGULATION NERDS: Since it’s been so upsettingly hot recently, you haven’t got much of an excuse for not reading the latest edition of Energy Regulation Watch. Pro Energy’s Alex Guillén tells you want you need to know about the rules you love and hate (and those you may love to hate): http://politico.pro/1I8gGwz
MUST-SEE CRUDE TV: Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, among the Democratic Party’s most vocal boosters of ending the ban on crude oil exports, will stop by CNBC’s “Squawk Box” this morning to talk about the issue alongside three industry chieftains who share her views — Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm, ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance and Hess CEO John Hess. The program starts at 7 a.m.
STEYER WRITES CHECK FOR HIS CLIMATE GROUP: Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer poured another $5 million into his NextGen Climate Action Committee operation last month, according to a filing made to the Federal Election Commission on Friday. At the end of May, the group had nearly $6.1 million on hand and spent about $3 million. The filing: http://1.usa.gov/1GgxCfz
… AND HOSTS CHECK-WRITING PARTY FOR DEMS: Steyer hosted a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser at his San Francisco home Friday night where he introduced the president, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi introduced Steyer at the event. When asked whether Obama and Steyer would discuss the Keystone XL oil pipeline, White House press secretary Eric Schultz told reporters on Air Force One, “I think we’re all acutely aware of Mr. Steyer’s views on this issue,” according to a transcript. “Unfortunately, I don’t have an update for you on the review process that that project is undergoing at the State Department.” Steyer praised Obama’s efforts to address climate change with China, adding that the president has had to work “under the most difficult political circumstances I’ve ever witnessed.”
According to the pool report, the view of the Golden Gate Bridge was “the most opulent thing about the house.”
MORE THAN YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT DON BLANKENSHIP: Via The New York Times: “Don Blankenship always knew exactly what he wanted during the years he ran Massey Energy, once the sixth-largest coal company in the United States. He had specific and emphatic ideas about how to operate mines, how to treat employees and how to deal with regulators. When he issued instructions, he wanted them followed to the letter, and this wasn’t just true about his business. It was also true about his breakfast. His former maid, Deborah May, discovered this when she was dispatched one morning to McDonald’s to pick up an egg-and-cheese biscuit for her boss. What she returned with had bacon in it, and that was a problem.” http://nyti.ms/1dYK8J6
(REALLY) PLANNING AHEAD: While Congress hasn’t yet broken for the July Fourth recess, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is already thinking weeks ahead. The panel has scheduled an Aug. 4 hearing to discuss “the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle and related legislation, including S. 854, the Nuclear Waste Administration Act.” http://1.usa.gov/1K5K201
MOPPING PROGRESS OF THE SANTA BARBARA OIL SPILL: The task force consisting of federal, state and county agencies along with oil spiller Plains All American Pipeline, said cleanup efforts following last month’s crude leak in California is working down its final stretch of about 8.7 miles. That’s 9 percent of the 96.5 miles of Pacific Coast surveyed after the accident. The bulk of the major cleanup work remaining follows the El Capitan region, a few miles west of Santa Barbara, where more than a quarter of the work area is described as “heavy oiling.” See the map for yourself: http://bit.ly/1GueYzY
NEW REPORT SHOWCASES STATE CLEAN ENERGY PROGRAMS: The nonprofit Clean Energy States Alliance has a new report out today compiling information about 31 state green energy programs featuring a mixture of “some well-known policies and programs” — such as state renewable portfolio standards, wind and solar tax credits and net metering — along with “others less obvious and less recognized that still have had a major impact.” Among the case studies are “community solar gardens” in Colorado; unique low-cost PV loans in Hawaii; the placing of paid interns in clean energy companies in Massachusetts; Nevada incentives that led to Tesla housing a $5 billion electric car battery factory there; and landmark hydro projects generating power from irrigation ditches and municipal water in Oregon. The report: http://politico.pro/1I9sTB2
QUICK HITS
— For Faithful, Social Justice Goals Demand Action on Environment. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1IYx6Gg
— How climate-change doubters lost a papal fight. The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1LoDNF8
— How Chinese Billionaire Li Hejun’s Solar Bet Soured. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1K5Kwlt
— Nigeria selects two sites for nuclear power plants. Reuters: http://bit.ly/1QLlJst
— Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo team up for clean energy campaign. The Associated Press: http://bit.ly/1JdlnXq
— David Cameron’s father-in-law and his £250,000 windfall for second wind farm. The Express: http://bit.ly/1dYJJq2
Tags: energy, fuel, gas, oil