Got cobalt? Let the mineral games begin

Presented by National Clean Energy Week: Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation

Sep 13, 2022 View in browser   By Arianna Skibell Presented by National Clean Energy Week President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday. | Francis Chung/E&E News/POLITICO Hundreds of people descended on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. today to celebrate the passage of a historic law to tackle the climate crisis. "The American people won; the climate deniers lost," President Joe Biden said from the White House South Lawn during what can only be described as a party for the bill, which includes $369 billion in climate and energy funding. The measure could dramatically curb carbon pollution by helping the nation ease off centuries of unearthing and burning fossil fuels. While the Inflation Reduction Act will help keep carbon in the ground, or at least out of the atmosphere, it is also unleashing a new era of industrial extraction — and the fierce competition that comes with new economic opportunities. As POLITICO's E&E News reporter Jael Holzman notes in a story today, the mineral games have already begun. And players from across the political spectrum are looking to cash in. The bill is chock-full of mining industry benefits for companies that can domestically produce the minerals needed for the energy transition. Minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite are essential ingredients for building electric vehicles and the batteries that power them. Hydrogen fuel cells and solar panels also require their own sets of minerals, like palladium or tellurium. Republican lawmakers are looking to boost a politically connected newcomer: Westwin Elements, a company angling to build the nation's first cobalt processing plant. KaLeigh Long, a well-connected Republican political consultant, started the company this year. Long once led the Conservative Leadership PAC and managed a political consulting firm that has garnered nearly $1 million from Republican campaigns in recent years, Holzman reports. A group of conservative House lawmakers sent letters to both the Energy and Defense departments last week seeking incentives for Long's company. Westwin Elements' management has little experience in mining or metals refining and is largely composed of Republican political operators. But Republicans aren't the only ones pushing for their people. A former House Democrat is lobbying for a different cobalt company, and a former Interior Department official is pushing for a lithium mine in Nevada. The federal investment in mining for clean energy all but guarantees a windfall for the companies that can deliver. Let's just hope the green revolution doesn't follow in the destructive footsteps of the industrial one.   A message from National Clean Energy Week: Save the date for the 6th annual National Clean Energy Week (NCEW), September 26-30! NCEW celebrates the policies, industries, and innovations that power our daily lives while reducing emissions. Ready to join the national clean energy conversation? REGISTER for the VIRTUAL Policy Makers Symposium on September 27-29! Join us to hear from legislators, industry leaders, and clean energy advocates alike! Thanks to NCEW sponsors, registration is 100% FREE for all attendees! Register for FREE here.   It's Tuesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell.  Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net. Listen to today's POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Catherine Morehouse breaks down the implications of an unfolding dispute between a utility and state regulators about who should pay for offshore wind projects. Power Centers Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images The Manchin tango After nearly two years of watching Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin tank some of their biggest priorities, House progressives finally have sway over one of his. And they have every intention of using it, write Sarah Ferris and Burgess Everett. Dozens of House Democrats are now threatening Manchin's proposal to streamline energy project permits — even if it breaks a commitment that brokered the party's massive climate law. Make it stick EPA is asking outside experts how it can write protective and legally sturdy rules to tackle power plant carbon pollution, writes Jean Chemnick. The agency wants advice on how to structure existing fossil fuel power plant standards under a section of the Clean Air Act, which has been used twice before. But neither rule survived long enough to take effect. Water woes The relentless Western drought that is threatening water supplies in the country's largest reservoirs is foreshadowing a significant shift in electricity: Hydropower is not the reliable backbone it once was, writes Jason Plautz. Utilities and states are preparing for a world with less available water and turning more to wind and solar, demand response, energy storage and improved grid connections. In Other News King Charles III at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. | Jane Barlow-WPA Pool/Getty Images The Green King: Charles will not cool on climate action, his friends say. All aboard: The United States is seeking to bring Mexico on board with plans for semiconductors and clean energy. Question Corner The science, policy and politics driving the energy transition can feel miles away. But we're all affected on an individual and communal level — from hotter days and higher gas prices to home insurance rates and food supply. Want to know more? Send me your questions and I'll get you answers.   A message from National Clean Energy Week:   Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. Equipment associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is put aboard a vessel in 2010. | Petty Officer 1st Class Thomas M. Blue/U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images The Biden administration moved to tighten offshore well safety rules loosened during the Trump administration. The White House rolled out a new website to help people take advantage of tax credits available under the behemoth climate and energy bill enacted in August. The U.N. secretary-general slammed the rich world for penny-pinching over financing preparations for the devastating impacts of climate change. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   A message from National Clean Energy Week: Are you ready to join the national clean energy conversation? Save the date for the 6th annual National Clean Energy Week (NCEW), September 26-30 and REGISTER for the VIRTUAL Policy Makers Symposium on September 27-29! Tune in to hear from legislators, industry leaders, and clean energy advocates like YOU— thanks to NCEW sponsors, registration is 100% completely FREE for all attendees! NCEW is a weeklong celebration of the policies, industries, and innovations that power our daily lives while reducing emissions. Join us to recognize what an all-of-the-above clean energy future can bring: American energy independence, economic prosperity, & a healthier climate. Register for FREE here.     Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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