| | | | |  | | By Matthew Choi | Presented by the Edison Electric Institute | With help from Catherine Morehouse, Kelsey Tamborrino, Ben Lefebvfre and Daniel Lippman. 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.
| | | — FERC tackles transmission reform, one of its most closely watched agenda items, at today's monthly meeting. — DOT releases its gameplan today on a climate-friendly funding program under the bipartisan infrastructure law. But there are few mechanisms to ensure it reduces emissions. — Renewable generation on federal lands is expected to double by the end of fiscal 2023, according to DOI, which is facing blowback for going ahead with federal oil and gas lease sales. HAPPY THURSDAY! I'm your host, Matthew Choi. Paul Balserak of the American Iron and Steel Institute gets the trivia for knowing Pope Paul VI closed Vatican II. For today: What airline is the flag carrier of Angola? 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: The social cost of carbon gets politicized.
| | | A message from the Edison Electric Institute: Delivering America's Resilient Clean Energy. America's investor-owned electric companies are committed to getting the energy we provide as clean as we can as fast as we can , while maintaining the reliability and affordability that customers value. Today, carbon emissions from the U.S. power sector are as low as they were in 1984, while electricity use is up 72% since then. For us, the path forward is clear—the path forward is clean. We are #Committed2Clean.® | | | | | | TEEING UP TRANSMISSION: All eyes will be on FERC today as the agency barrels ahead on one of its most highly anticipated proceedings: Transmission reform. How new transmission is built and planned for will have enormous consequences for the ability of the U.S. to meet the Biden administration's ambitious clean energy goals. FERC's action today could be a first step in a slate of significant grid reforms needed to integrate a new wave of renewable resources onto the grid efficiently. The agency first opened a pre-rulemaking process last summer with the aim of overhauling federal transmission planning to better accommodate new renewable energy resources, clarifying rules around who pays for transmission upgrades and improving the process by which generators connect to the power grid. FERC is unlikely to tackle all those issues today, as regulators have indicated they'd like to break the massive proceeding into smaller, more digestible pieces. Cost allocation and planning methods are seen as root causes of clogged interconnection queues that have left over 1,300 gigawatts of solar, storage, and wind stranded in their efforts to connect to the grid, and could be a good place to start. Freeing up clogged queues could also get bipartisan support from a commission that has been split on some of its most high-profile issues. Republican Commissioner Mark Christie, for instance, has echoed some of the concerns raised by Chair Richard Glick over interconnection issues, indicating last fall he'd like to see the agency focus on fixing the "chaos" of the queue.
| | | | A message from the Edison Electric Institute:   | | | | | | DOT'S CLIMATE PLAN: The Transportation Department is unveiling its rollout plan for climate-friendly projects under the bipartisan infrastructure package, but admitted that accountability on how states use the money will be thin. "We don't require [tracking the impact of investments on emissions], but we do encourage it," an administration official told reporters. The initiative, dubbed the Carbon Reduction Program, would provide $6.4 billion to states for green transport projects, including public transit and congestion pricing. It requires states to submit carbon reduction strategies, but last year's infrastructure package didn't give the administration mechanisms to enforce them. The announcement is part of a spate of climate and environmental announcements this week leading up to Earth Day. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the program would help the country reach Biden's goal of cutting domestic emissions in half by 2030. Read more from POLITICO's Tanya Snyder and Catherine Boudreau. FEDERAL LANDS AREN'T JUST FOR FOSSIL FUELS: There's been a lot of blowback from environmentalists since the Biden administration took further steps for new oil and gas leasing on federal lands this week. The administration maintains it is following a court order and that the considerably contracted scope of the latest onshore leasing announcement shows that it is still dedicated to transitioning to clean energy. The Interior Department sent another signal Wednesday that it was not going soft on the energy transition, predicting doubled renewable energy capacity on federal lands by the end of fiscal year 2023. That means adding over 11 gigawatts of onshore solar, wind and geothermal capacity this and next fiscal year, toward the goal of permitting 25 gigawatts of onshore renewable energy by 2025. The figures were in a DOI report to Congress that the department released Wednesday. It noted that BLM authorized or facilitated 2,890 megawatts worth of onshore wind, solar and geothermal generation projects on federal lands in fiscal 2021. POLITICO's Kelsey Tamborrino has more. SOLAR TRENDING DOWN: U.S. solar panel imports decreased during the first quarter of 2022 ahead of the Commerce Department's decision to probe modules from four Southeast Asian nations, according to analysis from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The number of shipping containers delivering solar panels to the U.S. during the first three months of the year was down 17 percent from the prior quarter and 26 percent from a year earlier, according to the analysis. Two trade groups opposed to the Commerce probe outlined widespread delays and cancellations to projects and module deliveries in recent weeks following the announcement of the investigation. S&P said Wednesday U.S. solar installations are expected to fall by 7 percent in 2022. GOING NORTHWESTERN: Biden begins his tour of the Pacific Northwest today, with a stop in Portland, Ore., to talk about the benefits of the bipartisan infrastructure package with Gov. Kate Brown, Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Rep. Kurt Schrader. He'll pop over to Seattle for Earth Day on Friday to talk about the administration's moves to lower energy costs, including the biggest ever release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and a waiver for year-round E15 use . He plans to use the day to call on Congress to pass a clean energy and health care package (a Build Back Better bill successor, essentially), White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | | GOP QUESTIONS DOE'S FOR HIRE SIGNS: It may be recess on the Hill, but Republicans aren't taking a break from grilling the administration on its energy policy. Republicans on the House Science Committee want more information from the Energy Department on its effort to hire one thousand workers for its Clean Energy Corps initiative. In a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, House Republicans led by ranking member Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) said the hiring initiative announced earlier this year to help deploy the next generation of clean energy technology and implement the bipartisan infrastructure law has "grandiose goals and few specifics." "If poorly implemented, the Clean Energy Corps has the potential to be a significant waste of taxpayer dollars that, instead of furthering the Department's work to develop clean energy solutions, will drain resources and focus from critical research activities," they add. The lawmakers requested a briefing on the hiring initiative by May 4 and laid out questions for response by May 20. A REVIEW? IN THIS ECONOMY? Senate Republicans are also coming out against the Army Corps of Engineers' review of its Nationwide Permit 12 for Oil or Natural Gas Pipeline Activities, saying the current energy pinch from the war in Ukraine is hardly the time to be adding any barriers to domestic energy capacity. The corpsannounced it would be reviewing NWP 12 late last month as part of Biden's day-1 executive order on climate change mandating all federal agencies ensure their work is in line with its climate and environmental objectives. The review will include public feedback, particularly with communities that could be impacted by pipelines. The corps cited past concerns that environmental reviews for oil and gas pipelines didn't adequately take into account environmental justice concerns. But the 10 senators, led by Environment and Public Works ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), said the review was part of a host of administration actions that confused and delayed permitting for critical infrastructure. In a letter to Assistant Secretary for Civil Works Michael Connor, the senators write: "Complicated, time-consuming, and most importantly, unnecessary permitting processes remain one of the biggest hindrances to our nation's infrastructure buildout. The decision to single out and review NWP 12 for oil and gas pipelines is purely political, as this policy action is not required by statute or any regulatory deadlines." Read the letter here. HEARING NOTICE: House Science Committee's energy subpanel has a hearing on DOE's research infrastructure needs lined up for next Wednesday, featuring Geraldine Richmond, under secretary of Energy for Science and Innovation. The full committee will also have a hearing next Thursday on the "urgent need for ambitious climate action," with Ko Barrett, vice chair of the IPCC and a NOAA senior climate adviser, among the witnesses.
| | | LE DÉBAT: Soaring energy costs was one of the leading topics at Wednesday's French presidential debate between incumbent Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, with both volleying proposals on how to lower heating costs and other costs of living. While Le Pen proposed gutting value-added taxes to bring down costs, Macron dismissed the proposal as unrealistic in a heated discussion filled with pleas not to interrupt each other. France is experiencing inflation woes similar to the U.S. and the cost of living has polled as the top concern among the electorate, particularly with rising fuel and heating costs on the continent following the invasion of Ukraine. It was bumps in fuel costs that sparked the Yellow Vest movement that upended French society back in 2018 in a populous fervor, and EU plans to further sanction Russian energy will likely exacerbate volatile markets. The Biden administration has been knocking on doors around the world looking for energy alternatives to satisfy European demand. Macron and Le Pen clashed over their climate policies with Macron accusing his opponent of being a "climate skeptic" and Le Pen retorting that Macron was a "climate hypocrite." Le Pen thinks the green transition is moving too quickly and blamed "the economic model based on international free trade" for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions. Macron and Le Pen also went head to head over the invasion, with Macron pillorying Le Pen for her past coziness with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Le Pen retorted that she is an "independent woman" and would fight for French sovereignty. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told BFMTV that "I have a relationship with Emmanuel Macron and I would not want to lose it," though he did leave the door open to Le Pen if she switched her position on the Russian leader. The two candidates face a runoff on Sunday. ICYMI: "Biden's options if Russia hacks U.S. infrastructure," via POLITICO's Maggie Miller and "The plan to rebuild a green Ukraine," via POLITICO's Karl Mathiesen. STATE OF THE AIR: The U.S. made major strides in combatting air particle pollution, but raging wildfires and climate change still caused 9 million more people to be impacted by particle pollution than last year, according to a report today by the American Lung Association. The group's 2022 "State of the Air" report found that 137 million Americans are exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution, with people of color 61 percent more likely than white people to live in areas highly exposed to pollutants. Many of the worst impacted areas were in the West, particularly California, while the East Coast and Hawaii enjoyed generally higher air quality. Read the full report here.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | | — Whitney Drew has been promoted to be executive director in the Mid Atlantic region for regulatory and political affairs at NextEra Energy Resources. She most recently was senior director for regulatory and political affairs at the company.
| | | — "Traders Pocket 100% Pay Raises in Booming Corner of Fuel Markets," via Bloomberg. — "EU works to cut cost of Russia oil ban to win over skeptics," via Reuters. — " Yellen, other officials bolt G-20 meeting in protest against Russia," via POLITICO. THAT'S ALL FOR ME!
| | A message from the Edison Electric Institute: Accelerating the Clean Energy Transformation. Passage of a robust clean energy tax package will be a key driver for the deployment of clean energy and carbon-free technologies over the next decade and can help us reach a clean energy future faster.
The tax package now being considered by Congress will provide significant long-term benefits to electricity customers by spurring innovation and helping to keep electricity costs affordable, while also creating new jobs. It will also help to preserve the existing nuclear fleet, which is critical to ensuring that electric companies' new clean energy deployments deliver additional emissions reductions.
We have an extraordinary opportunity before us as a nation to tackle climate change. America's investor-owned electric companies are well-positioned to be part of the climate solution, and we are committed to working with Congress to advance the policies that we need to meet this challenge. We are #Committed2Clean.® | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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