| | | | |  | | By Matthew Choi, Kelsey Tamborrino and Josh Siegel | Presented by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association | 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.
| | | — Senate negotiators are working toward a bipartisan energy deal focused on clean energy tax credits during Wednesday's huddle. But there's still little clarity on a path forward. — Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is back on the Hill today to defend her department's budget request in front of the Senate Energy Committee. — Two major bipartisan climate actions are heading to the full Senate after flying through committee. HAPPY THURSDAY! I'm your host, Matthew Choi. Congrats to FTI's Ava Iuliucci for knowing Mr. Krabs sold Spongebob's soul for 62 cents. For today's trivia: Samin Nosrat worked as a busser at what famed Bay Area restaurant? 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 Russian-EU energy war enters a new phase.
| | | | A message from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association: Electric co-ops are accelerating innovation and powering a brighter future for rural America. From establishing the first rural microgrids to pioneering one of the first electric school bus programs, co-ops are using advanced technologies to power their communities. Learn how electric co-ops are #PoweringTomorrow. | | | | | | | MAY 4 IS TAX DAY FOR BIPARTISAN ENERGY GROUP: Tax credits were the main point of discussion during the latest meeting of a bipartisan group of senators, spearheaded by Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), working toward a compromise on energy legislation. Senators who emerged from the meeting Wednesday night told reporters, including POLITICO's Kelsey Tamborrino and Josh Siegel, that the purpose was informational and to get a better grasp on the clean energy tax credits that lawmakers already passed in the House and which the Senate Finance Committee crafted. "A better understanding of what the Finance Committee voted on, the energy tax package that was debated and voted on months ago," Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said. "It's hard to wrap everyone's brain around tax policy that's that complex and so broad, but I think it's important to have a conversation." Manchin also told reporters lawmakers were simply trying to understand what was in the bills: "We're just trying to get a better handle on that," he said. Noticeably absent from the meeting: Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who could shed light on the nature and scope of the tax credits. A spokesperson for Wyden told ME that neither the senator or his staff was invited to Wednesday's meeting, but said they were aware the group was going to be looking at the scores and summaries of the previously proposed tax credits. "It was strictly informational," the spokesperson said. North Dakota Republican Kevin Cramer said the items discussed during the meeting were a "wish list" of everything that was previously proposed, though he acknowledged there's little chance lawmakers will agree to the whole list. "Which ones have the best benefit, best greenhouse gas emission benefit, the best carbon benefit for the buck," he said. "We just can't subsidize every single idea that everybody has." Still, there's little indication on what Democrats and Republicans can agree on from the proposed tax credits or their path forward. Cramer said there were several areas that garnered broad support, including on nuclear, carbon capture and offshore wind. But Carper said he was thinking about it as more of a "two-track" process than a replacement of any reconciliation efforts. "One, a bipartisan bill that Democrats and Republicans support and builds on what we did really in the infrastructure bill. And if at the end of the day, that doesn't get the job done in terms of the emission reduction we need, then let's go beyond that," he told reporters. "Republicans I think will not be anxious to support any kind of reconciliation bill. But let's see how much we can get done in a bipartisan approach."
| | | BUDGET BASH 2.0: Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is back in the Senate today, testifying before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee about her department's budget request. These hearings have so far offered Republicans a chance to press the administration to greenlight more domestic fossil fuel production, particularly following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "There are few issues as important right now as energy. During Secretary Granholm's confirmation hearing, I said, 'the incoming administration should not devastate our economy by implementing policies that undermine energy production.' I meant that as a warning. It turned out to be a prediction," ranking member John Barrasso plans to say, according to talking points shared with ME. "Madam Secretary, it's long past time for the Biden administration to have an energy strategy that includes American energy." Granholm testified in a brief appearance before the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee on the budget request Wednesday, and she opened with a firm denial that the administration was getting in the way of domestic energy, citing its largest ever release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and ban on Russian energy imports. "Let me be clear: the Department of Energy is using every tool available to increase oil supply," Granholm said. Here's a rundown of the DOE budget request from POLITICO's Catherine Morehouse and Kelsey Tamborrino. THERE CAN BE BIPARTISAN CLIMATE ACTION: Two major climate moves are heading to the full Senate after advancing out of committee on Wednesday, with resounding bipartisan support. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol out of committee with only one Republican dissenting vote, paving the way to ratify the global agreement to phase down hydrofluorocarbons. And the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously advanced the 2022 Water Resources Development Act, which has a much heavier focus on climate resilience and environmental justice than in previous years. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a member of EPW and the architect of bipartisan clean water and wastewater provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, told ME that though members may be "dug into their corners" on some of the more publicly controversial energy and climate items, the WRDA vote shows openness on both sides to responding to climate change at the community level. "Putting in provisions … that are smart, and very much broad based and acknowledge that there are disadvantaged communities all across the country is how we're going to gain bipartisan support," Duckworth said. NOPEC AGAIN: The Senate Judiciary Committee has a markup today on the perennial No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) Act, which would let the Justice Department sue oil cartels for antitrust violations. The bill has bipartisan support, with Republicans pointing to OPEC as a direct competitor to American energy and Democrats blaming OPEC's slow output increases for high global energy prices. Industry, however, is less keen, with the American Petroleum Institute warning it could lead to diplomatic tension with little economic benefit.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | PUSHING ALONG EPA NOMS: Some of the country's top environmental groups and 144 former EPA staffers and leaders warn that the delay in confirming EPA's enforcement chief risks exposing vulnerable communities to environmental violations and law-abiding companies to less scrupulous competitors. The nomination of David Uhlmann, an environmental law professor, to lead EPA's enforcement operation has been languishing in the Senate for months after deadlocking in the Senate EPW Committee last April on party lines. Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) placed holds on EPA nominations to twist the agency into complying with their local energy priorities, though Lummis lifted her hold on Uhlmann in "a show of good faith," spokesperson Abegail Cave said. "For many years, Republicans and Democrats have agreed that weakening enforcement of the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and other environmental laws enacted by Congress jeopardizes public health and our natural resources, undermines environmental justice, and gives violators an unfair advantage over companies that work hard to stay in compliance," the groups wrote in a letter to Senate and EPW leadership. The signatories include the leaders from the Environmental Defense Fund, League of Conservation Voters and National Wildlife Federation. WIND TIME: A whole host of the administration's clean energy bigwigs will be at the AFL-CIO headquarters today for a signing ceremony between North America's Building Trades Unions and Norwegian offshore wind company Ørsted on an agreement to employ American labor on its offshore wind farms. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, White House Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy, BOEM Director Amanda Lefton and AFL-CIO President Elizabeth Shuler will all be attending.
| | | | A message from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association:   | | | | | | OPEC HUDDLE: OPEC+ ministers are slated to stay their course in a gradual crude output increase to 432,000 barrels per month, despite the European Union cooking up a serious blow to Russia's oil industry by proposing a phaseout of Russian oil imports by the end of the year, Reuters reports . OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said in an OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee meeting that Russia supply "cannot be made up from elsewhere. The spare capacity just does not exist," according to a copy of his remarks Reuters got its hands on. Oil markets rallied on Wednesday following the EU announcement, with WTI futures breaching $108 per barrel before settling at $107.81 on Wednesday afternoon. By the way, the European sanctions on Russia wouldn't just hurt Moscow's direct oil sales. The proposal also bars EU citizens and ships flying EU member flags from transporting oil, seriously wounding the country's ability to export to alternative markets in Asia, POLITICO's European team reports.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | | — "April sets record for highest CO2 levels in human history," via Axios. — "Colonial Jamestown, assailed by climate change, is facing disaster," via The Washington Post. — " Volkswagen is prolonging its use of coal due to Russian energy 'threat,'" via CNBC. — "Fed launches fresh assault on inflation in new era for economy," via POLITICO. THAT'S ALL FOR ME!
| | | | A message from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association: Electric cooperatives are driving new possibilities in rural America. From Alaska to the Atlantic coast, electric co-ops established the first rural microgrids, pioneered one of the first electric school bus programs, and accelerated community solar development faster than any segment of the electric sector.
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