- United Press International: Poll: More Americans support oil, gas industry amid lower gasoline prices
- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Boehner: U.S. needs crude exports to make most of energy potential
- Washington Examiner: Industry groups protest federal ozone rules
- Washington Examiner: Energy chief says solar doesn’t need subsidies to grow
POLITICO Morning Energy for 8/25/2015
By ERIC WOLFF, with help from Alex Guillén and Elana Schor
OBAMA HITS THE ROAD TO GENERATE SUPPORT FOR CARBON CUTTING: President Obama took his climate message to Las Vegas night to a clean energy event co-hosted by Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, the first in a series of speeches intended to whip up support his anti-global warming agenda. As Andrew Restuccia and Edward-Isaac Dovere report, Obama wielded his famous “Yes we can” catch phrase to galvanize the mostly liberal audience. “It’s a debate between those who say ‘no we can’t’ and those who say, ‘Yes we can’,” he said.
As Andrew and Isaac write, “Monday’s speech kicked off a two-week global warming messaging sprint by Obama that will take him from the Las Vegas event to New Orleans on Thursday for a Hurricane Katrina commemoration tour to a glacier in the north of Alaska next week. Throughout, he’ll be using the devastating prospects of extreme weather and other climate changes in an effort to galvanize support for the executive actions he’s already taken … as he lays out the groundwork for the major international climate change agreement he’s hoping will emerge from the global climate summit in Paris in December.” http://politico.pro/1MJTvKo
Did Inhofe hit Obama with that snowball? In his Las Vegas speech, Obama once again mentioned the snowball Republican Sen. James Inhofe brought onto the floor of the Senate in February as evidence that global warming isn’t real. After displaying his prop to the assembled Senators, Inhofe tossed it away to a recipient out of the frame of the shot. ME wonders: Did the snowball wing the president, standing somewhere off screen unbeknownst to all observers? Obama seems unable to let the snowball go, referencing it in last night’s speech, his Correspondents Dinner skit, a Florida speech in April, a DNC fundraiser in May, and who knows where else. http://bit.ly/1LPD8IF
DEAL OR NO DEAL — D.C. REGULATORS TO VOTE ON EXELON-PEPCO MERGER: The three-member D.C. Public Service Commission will vote today on the proposed Exelon-Pepco merger, and how they decide could make or break the $6.8 billion deal. FERC and state regulators in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey have already given the thumbs up to the merger, making D.C. the last to weigh in. The commission has been the target of a vocal campaign seeking to derail the deal, and those opponents secured support from several top city officials, council members, neighborhood groups and consumer advocates. The D.C. attorney general’s office called on the PSC to reject the merger unless the company agrees to dozens of conditions. Maryland regulators gave their OK only after demanding Exelon meet 46 conditions, which the company agreed to. If the DCPSC makes major demands, the big question becomes whether it erodes the deal’s profitability. The PSC meets at 11 a.m. at 1325 G St. NW, Suite 800.
Putting the ‘private’ in Public Service Commission: A DCPSC spokeswoman told ME that the commission’s staff serves in a confidential role to the commissioners, and so any recommendations they may have made will remain private.
CARBON OFFSETS? MORE LIKE CARBON ONSETS: A scheme intended to allow companies to trade carbon credits in Europe created an incentive for companies to pump more carbon into the atmosphere, not less. Politico Europe report Kalina Oroschakoff has the details: “The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) found that the credits may have increased emissions by as much as 600 million tons of carbon dioxide … The worst offenders were in Ukraine and Russia, where the system was riddled with corruption, the Stockholm authors wrote. They noted ‘perverse effects’ that had the operators of three chemical plants removing safeguards and increasing the production of powerful greenhouse gases to earn more lucrative credits. ‘If you produced more greenhouse gases only to destroy them and generate more carbon credits, you would essentially be damaging the climate for profit,’ said Lambert Schneider, a co-author of the study.” http://politi.co/1V5wp3C
TRY, TRI-STATE AGAIN — COMPANY AGAIN ASKS COURT FOR MATS EXEMPTION: A power provider is once again asking the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to give it a break from one of the requirements of EPA’s mercury rule, just one week after the court declined to get involved. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association sought an exemption from a hydrochloric acid control for one of its smaller, infrequently used coal plants in Colorado, citing uncertainty created by the Supreme Court’s decision that sent the rule back to the agency. The court last week said it wouldn’t get involved until the company sought out an exemption from EPA or the state of Colorado.
Tri-State promptly contacted both and was rebuffed on both ends, and yesterday afternoon again asked the court for a little help. Tri-State is slated to decide by Sept. 1 whether to close the plant in question or pay millions for the HCl controls, and it argues that it shouldn’t have to make the choice yet since EPA will have to write a new “appropriate and necessary” finding. EPA says will finish that task before next April, when the extended compliance deadline occurs. Tri-State’s new request: http://politico.pro/1U30unp
HAPPY TUESDAY: I’m your host Eric Wolff, back from paternity leave and freshly scrubbed of all spit-up, a state that will last approximately 5 minutes after I get home. Thanks to those of you who sent congrats and kind wishes. My little ones (Wolfflets? Cubbs?) are six weeks old and doing great. Now I’m back behind the wheel at ME and stepping on the accelerator. Send tips, quips, and comments to ewolff@politico.com, or follow us on Twitter @ericwolff, @Morning_Energy, or @POLITICOPro.
No ME next week: Morning Energy goes dark next week, but your host will still be toiling away in the news mines. Anyone stuck in D.C. want to meet up to talk energy policy and babies? Coffee, lunch, beer, you name it. ME’s dance card is empty.
ME FIRST — NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE HEADS TO THE BAYOU: The House Committee on Natural Resources will hold a field hearing in New Orleans on Sept. 15 titled, “The Impacts of Federal Policies on Energy Production and Economic Growth in the Gulf.”
If you love beignets: The hearing will start at 10 a.m. ET/ 9 a.m. CT at the Louisiana Supreme Court located at 400 Royal Street, New Orleans.
SIERRA CLUB OFFERS MANUFACTURERS EXTREME MAKEOVER: The Sierra Club wants to help their friends at the National Association of Manufactures with a “pro-bono rebranding.” The environmental non-profit — which is presently waging a public relations and lobbying war with the manufacturers over the EPA’s new ozone standard — is offering to rename the industry group the “National Association of Polluters,” and it has a new logo and several social media accounts all set up and ready to go. “NAM needed a makeover so current and prospective members would have a better sense of their laser-sharp focus on promoting pollution, and so that the organization could start attracting more of the right kind of membership,” Melinda Pierce, Sierra Club’s legislative director said in a statement. Press Release: http://bit.ly/1fCCvsi New Logo: http://politico.pro/1JTNnAl Twitter feed: http://bit.ly/1JhPcUm
OHIO IN THE OZONE ZONE: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Center for Regulatory Solutions, American Petroleum Institute and other opponents of the Obama administration’s pending update to the ground-level ozone standard held events focused on the regulations’ impact in the critical swing state of Ohio on Monday. That drew a quick rebuttal from the League of Conservation Voters: “These doomsday claims are straight out of the same tired and failed playbook polluters use every time the EPA undertakes clean air protections,” Beth Nagusky, LCV’s Ohio policy director, said in a statement.
EPA, LAWN MOWER COP: The anti-EPA group Environmental Policy Alliance will go live today with a kind of hilarious ad opposing the ozone standards. The spot depicts a chubby, bearded man dressed like a state trooper, making arrests and imposing fines on people for everyday activities, like mowing the lawn with a gasoline mower or driving a car. ME is skeptical that the EPA regulation will look much like it does in the ad, but that aside, the sight of the EPA “cop” tackling a poor shmo pushing his lawn mower brought to the fore pleasing memories of Terry Tate, Office Linebacker (http://bit.ly/1JQk3KQ). The ads will start running today, and will run on regional and national cable networks including MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News. The launch alone cost six figures. http://bit.ly/1PvmUaq
QUICK HITS
— One Chart Shows Why Electric Companies Are Going for Gas Lines. Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/1NQ4KzD
— Here’s how bad it’s gotten for energy stocks. Business Insider: http://read.bi/1MK76RZ
— How Warren Buffett’s bet on an Energy Imbalance Market in the West is paying off. Utility Dive: http://bit.ly/1WP9Lyi
— Moody’s Cuts Credit Rating of Canadian Oil Sands. WSJ: http://on.wsj.com/1EgyMN0
Tags: energy, fuel, gas, oil