| | | | |  | | By Matthew Choi | Presented by AVANGRID | With help from Alex Guillén and Gloria Gonzalez. Editor's Note: Morning Energy is a free version of POLITICO Pro Energy's morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day's biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.
| | | — Not all lawmakers are happy with the partisan mud-throwing over high energy costs and some are hoping to find solutions while acknowledging the limits of federal policy. — Environmentalists heralded Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation to the Supreme Court as a major boost for their climate and EJ causes. — Congress pushed the ban on Russian oil imports further toward becoming law with overwhelming, veto-proof majorities. HAPPY FRIDAY! I'm your host, Matthew Choi, eagerly awaiting today's episode of "Pachinko." Congrats to EPRI's Rachel Gantz for knowing Joseph Story was the youngest ever nominee confirmed to the Supreme Court. For today's trivia: What sport was the central topic of the 2012 AP World History exam's DBQ? (I'm just trying to find my classmates…) Send your tips and trivia answers to mchoi@politico.com. Find me on Twitter @matthewchoi2018. Check out the POLITICO Energy podcast — all the energy and environmental politics and policy news you need to start your day, in just five minutes. Listen and subscribe for free at politico.com/energy-podcast. On today's episode: What a Russian oil, gas ban actually means. | | | | | A message from AVANGRID: As a leading sustainable energy company, we are accelerating the transformation to a cleaner tomorrow. Learn how here. | | | | | | NO EASY SOLUTIONS: Lawmakers are engaged in an extended dive into the oil industry and energy policy, all in a bid ostensibly to find out who's at fault for high gasoline prices — and it's devolved into partisan slugfest. Republicans blast Democrats and President Joe Biden for hampering the oil industry, while Democrats accuse industry of keeping a lid on production to rip off consumers and pay off Wall Street investors. There is yelling and interrupting and oversimplifications of complex market forces and energy policies. But some lawmakers are asking to hit pause, step off the partisan soapboxes and acknowledge the nuances of energy markets, POLITICO's Josh Siegel reports. "Both perspectives are wrong and it's not a binary black and white, yes or no, or good and bad," Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) said. "This is not an either-or of drilling more or all green energy." Of course, lawmakers aren't known to turn down the hyperbole in bitter partisan fights, particularly at a high profile hearing like Wednesday's Energy and Commerce panel gathering. But there could be a lot at stake. Democrats are girding for a potential shellacking in the midterms, and no one wants their name associated with agonizing gasoline prices when November comes around. The Biden administration has tried to alleviate short-term supply concerns, ordering the release of a million barrels of oil per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and telling oil and gas companies to get to work on their unused federal leases and drill, baby, drill. But Republicans and the oil and gas industry say what's needed is regulatory clarity for investment to flow for new wells, and while the war in Ukraine is driving the administration toward a more pro-U.S. fossil stance, it's not backing away from calls for a transition to clean energy. Hill Democrats, for their part, are struggling to find a short-term solution that will help ease prices without sacrificing their long-term climate goals. A federal gas tax holiday and consumer rebates don't guarantee benefits directly hitting consumers and have uneven support across the caucus. "In terms of the policies being proposed I am very cautious to do that unless we can guarantee it really went to people most affected directly at the pump, and I don't know of any mechanism to do that well," Phillips said. Read more from Josh here.
| | | | DON'T MISS ANYTHING FROM THE 2022 MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO is excited to partner with the Milken Institute to produce a special edition "Global Insider" newsletter featuring exclusive coverage and insights from the 25th annual Global Conference. This year's event, May 1-4, brings together more than 3,000 of the world's most influential leaders, including 700+ speakers representing more than 80 countries. "Celebrating the Power of Connection" is this year's theme, setting the stage to connect influencers with the resources to change the world with leading experts and thinkers whose insight and creativity can implement that change. Whether you're attending in person or following along from somewhere else in the world, keep up with this year's conference with POLITICO's special edition "Global Insider" so you don't miss a beat. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | JUSTICE JACKSON: Green activists heralded the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court as a major win for climate and environmental justice, citing her background as a former public defender and her barrier-breaking as the first Black woman to serve on the high court. League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski said her confirmation was "a milestone in the fight for a judiciary that looks like America and protects our vital interests, including clean air, clean water, racial justice, and a democracy that works for the people, not just the polluters and other special interests." Hallie Templeton, legal director at Friends of the Earth, said Jackson's term on the court "will finally bring a new perspective that is necessary to truly achieve justice for all." Jackson joins the court as the judiciary takes on cases determining the limits of environmental regulation. While Justice Stephen Breyer will finish the current term and will participate in the ruling on the challenges to EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gas pollution from power plants, Jackson will be on the court later this year when it revisits which wetlands qualify as federally protected waters. Jackson clerked under Breyer, who often bridged ideological divides to find compromise on several major environmental cases, and environmentalists are hoping for her to be their voice on a right-heavy court. For a look back at Jackson's record on environmental cases, ME redirects you to Alex Guillén's deep dive from February. CONGRESS REINFORCES THE RUSSIAN ENERGY BAN: Bringing Russian oil back into the U.S. will become even more difficult after the Senate passed a sanctions package codifying President Joe Biden's executive order banning Russian energy imports. The legislation, which passed the House with bipartisan support weeks ago and got a unanimous vote in the Senate on Thursday, gives Congress the option to vote to reimpose the ban should it disagree with any future executive branch action to reopen the doors to Russian oil, POLITICO's Andrew Desiderio reports. "It's important to recognize this legislation is not redundant," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said. "It's ensuring substantive steps will be taken so that the sanctions stay in with some level of reliability." The White House wasn't too keen on banning Russian energy at the outset of the invasion of Ukraine, fearing it would destabilize already unsettled markets. But Biden soon changed his mind under bipartisan pressure from the Hill. Still, the administration is facing the same energy crunches it feared when first deliberating over a ban, and the administration has had some real struggles getting some countries on board, ME's NatSec Daily peers write. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have so far ignored U.S. requests to boost their crude output. Saudi Arabia is the biggest cheese in OPEC, and the Emiratis flexed their muscle in the cartel last summer holding up negotiations over its output increase plan. But the two have largely sided with maintaining the output status quo with their OPEC+ partner across the Caucasus (though they have sent aid to Ukraine) and have lingering tensions with Washington over the Iran nuclear deal and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Related: "EU envoys approve new Russia sanctions package," via POLITICO's Barbara Moens. SENATORS FOR NUCLEAR LEADERSHIP: The U.S. is in danger of losing the nuclear race with Russia and China, and Senate Energy Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Foreign Relations ranking member Jim Risch (R-Idaho) want to do something about it. The two senators introduced the International Nuclear Energy Act this week to create an Executive Office for Nuclear Energy Policy to assist allies in building their civilian nuclear power capabilities. The bill would target overseas collaboration in financing, education, training, market analysis, safety and nuclear governance. It would also create an initiative to wean countries off Chinese and Russian nuclear fuel imports. What's worrying the lawmakers are the massive investments China and Russian have made in nuclear technology both domestically and abroad. "We must not turn a blind eye as China and Russia aggressively use their state-owned and operated civil nuclear programs as coercive tools to the detriment of other nations' energy security and our global nonproliferation efforts," Manchin said in a statement. "The United States must be proactive in confronting these geopolitical threats, not only for our national security but also for the entire free world." Read the bill text here. THE ROCKY ROAD TO CONFIRMATION CONTINUES: Carlton Waterhouse, nominee to run EPA's solid waste operation, and David Uhlmann, nominee for EPA's enforcement lead, can advance to the full Senate after getting a deadlocked vote in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday. But Democrats will have to vote to discharge them before they can reach the floor. That will burn valuable floor time for Democrats and comes after Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) put holds on the pair to press for parochial priorities. POLITICO's Alex Guillén has more.
| | | | A message from AVANGRID:   | | | | | | THE TOAD NOT TAKEN: The Center for Biological Diversity and Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe are threatening to sue the Bureau of Land Management if it does not stop construction on a geothermal power plant in Nevada. The groups warn Ormat's 60-megawatt Dixie Meadows project threatens a toad species found only at that location that was granted emergency endangered species protections earlier this week. The geothermal plant "could impact the species by changing—or potentially eliminating—spring discharge at the Dixie Meadows wetlands," bringing "catastrophic consequences, up to and including extinction of the species," they wrote in a Thursday letter . "Unless BLM and Ormat immediately prohibit and/or cease all construction activity, the Center and the Tribe intend to pursue litigation in federal court after sixty days."
| | | PUERTO RICO IN THE DARK: An island-wide blackout Wednesday night is amplifying calls for an overhaul of Puerto Rico's grid, which has been plagued with outages and underwent a controversial privatization. "The blackout is more proof of the need to get the energy recovery Action Plan on track and put to work the $8 billion allocated by FEMA for permanent improvements to the transmission and distribution system," Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón (R-P.R.) said in a statement. "This is not a job that you can do in just one year, but the longer we wait, pending deciding who do we want or not want to do it, the more years it takes and the more the system deteriorates." The blackout followed a fire at the Costa Sur power plant, though the exact cause of the fire isn't known, CNN reports. NEW YORK HOLIDAY: It's looking like New Yorkers will get a 16-cent gas tax cut per gallon starting this summer under the state budget set to be released this week. The state has a slightly higher average gasoline price than the rest of the country at $4.268, and Democrats up and down the ticket are looking for ways to bring down prices. Gasoline tax holidays have proven a controversial affair. While defenders view it as an immediate bailout for consumers, critics fear it won't actually reduce prices and just lead to oil companies pocketing the difference. The revenues from gas taxes are also used for critical transportation infrastructure. POLITICO's Joseph Spector and Marie French have more. LACE UP YOUR BOOTS! Every national park in our great country will be free on Saturday, April 16! The Senate unanimously passed an overwhelmingly bipartisan resolution to make April 16-24 National Park Week, and admission will be free on the first day to celebrate. The effort was led by Senate Energy Chair Joe Manchin and ranking member John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), as well as National Parks Subcommittee Chair Angus King (I-Maine) and ranking member Steve Daines (R-Mont.).
| | | | INTRODUCING DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | — EPA Regional Administrator Earthea Nance appointed Delia Iris Gonzalez as chief of staff for Region 6, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arkansas. Gonzalez is the founding coalition director for the Coalition for Environment, Equity and Resilience.
| | | — "Graphite emissions fuel search for solutions along EV supply chain," via S&P Global Insights. — "Energy strategy: UK plans eight new nuclear reactors to boost production," via The BBC. — " French election to pivot energy future back to nuclear pathway," via S&P Global Insights. — "American Airlines Restarts Philadelphia Regional Routes With Landline Buses," via Airline Weekly. — "EPA rejects three dozen refinery biofuel blending exemptions," via POLITICO. THAT'S ALL FOR ME!
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