The GOP’s energy security gambit

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Jan 27, 2023 View in browser   By Ben Lefebvre and Arianna Skibell Presented by Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage at the Bryan Mound in Freeport, Texas. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images House Republicans scored a legislative triumph today aimed at a new constituency: petroleum reserve voters. Their problem: Analysts say there’s no such thing. “It’s safe to say most voters don’t know what the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is,” Kevin Book, managing director at the consulting firm ClearView Energy Partners, said in an interview before today’s 221-205 vote. The decades-old network of petroleum-storing salt caverns has played a starring role nonetheless in the GOP’s opening weeks of House control — coming ahead of high-profile pledges to loosen energy permitting rules, probe the origins of the pandemic and pry open the secrets of Hunter Biden’s laptop. The bill passed today would limit future withdrawals from the reserve, after President Joe Biden sold off about 40 percent of the stockpile to tamp down soaring gasoline prices. The House also held votes on dozens of amendments to the bill, adopting measures that included continued prohibitions on oil and gas leasing off Florida’s coast and much of the Atlantic. Last week, the House passed a bill that would bar exporting the reserve’s oil to China. Neither bill has much chance in the Senate, let alone the White House. So despite all the legislative hoopla, the SPR fight is mainly a Republican messaging exercise — the message being that Democrats are depleting an emergency fuel supply to win elections. “They might get some traction on a message that the president used national security assets for political purposes,” Book said. Then again, political conventional wisdom suggests that voters mainly pay attention to the price they see on the pump when gassing up. Today, that’s a national average of $3.51 a gallon, down from last summer’s high of $5. Messaging switcheroo Presidents generally have little control over the global oil markets that make gasoline prices fluctuate — as presidents are quick to point out when fuel gets expensive. Still, Biden and his outgoing chief of staff, Ron Klain, have repeatedly credited last year’s SPR releases with lowering gasoline prices. Republicans have also done a messaging about-face. During both the Obama and Trump administrations, GOP lawmakers wrote and passed bills authorizing years of oil reserve sales to help fund the government. Biden has most recently pledged to refill the reserve with oil purchased at prices well below last year’s peaks. And it may be a while before the administration dips into the reserve again. That reality may be good news for anyone concerned about energy security, said Bob McNally, president of the market analysis firm Rapidan Energy Group — as is the new Republican call for oil releases to be more tightly policed. “The main constituency for the SPR is energy security experts, including current and former officials, who understand its value,” said McNally, who was a senior director for international energy in George W. Bush’s National Security Council. “What's interesting is that both Biden and House Republicans are turning away from a bipartisan agreement in recent years to drain the SPR for non-energy expenditures.”   Thank goodness it's Friday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Big thanks to Ben Lefebvre for his contributions today. 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.   A message from Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future: Let’s get to work on reaching climate goals faster. With the power of clean natural gas, we can power our future reliably and affordably. Let’s change the future today, together. Learn how natural gas partnered with renewables is accelerating our clean energy future at www.naturalalliesforcleanenergy.org.   Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Tanya Snyder breaks down a bill Sen. Joe Manchin proposed that would require electric vehicle tax credits to have strict domestic sourcing requirements. Featured story The Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell in Arizona. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images In the fall of 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower touched a telegraph key in the White House Cabinet Room, triggering a dynamite blast 1,900 miles to the west that kicked off construction on the Glen Canyon Dam. More than six decades later, conservation advocates and environmentalists are hoping the Biden administration will set an implosion in motion — albeit a metaphorical one — this time mothballing the 710-foot dam on the Colorado River in northern Arizona, writes Jennifer Yachnin. The proposal is, bluntly, a radical one, seeking to undo decades of federal management focused on maintaining water levels for not only hydropower production and recreational activities, but holding back flows to create a surplus of water for drier times. But many proponents say their goal isn’t to abandon efforts to harness the West’s largest river but rather to sustain a waterway that faces catastrophic failure.   A message from Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future:   Power Centers Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) speaks with reporters. | Francis Chung/POLITICO One is the loneliest number Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina is the lone Republican standing between asset managers that screen investments for environmental, social and governance risks — known as ESG investing — and critics on the right who say it adds up to a boycott on fossil fuel investments, write Emma Dumain and Adam Aton. McHenry is the incoming chair of the House Financial Services Committee, which is being populated by Republicans who would like to see the federal government join 17 mostly GOP-led states in proposing or instituting policies to blacklist those financial firms. Follow the $$ The biggest climate bill in U.S. history helped fuel heavy lobbying from chemical, oil and electric utility companies, writes Timothy Cama. Records disclosed to Congress in recent days showed that the American Chemistry Council came out on top, spending $19.8 million. The industry stands to benefit from the law, but it has also fought policies, including one to reduce methane emissions. Hungary says not so fast Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said his country will veto any EU sanctions against Russia's nuclear sector, writes Victor Jack. The Hungarian leader's comments came as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are pushing hard for sanctions against Russia's nuclear industry and state-run company Rosatom, according to a document seen by POLITICO. in other news Public health: Transportation pollution, the largest source of climate pollution in the U.S., can also impair brain function. Tribes: Tired of being told to "adapt," an Indigenous community wrote its own climate action plan.   JOIN POLITICO ON 2/9 TO HEAR FROM AMERICA’S GOVERNORS: In a divided Congress, more legislative and policy enforcement will shift to the states, meaning governors will take a leading role in setting the agenda for the nation. Join POLITICO on Thursday, Feb. 9 at World Wide Technology's D.C. Innovation Center for The Fifty: America's Governors, where we will examine where innovations are taking shape and new regulatory red lines, the future of reproductive health, and how climate change is being addressed across a series of one-on-one interviews. REGISTER HERE.     Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. A worker passes by a field of solar panels in Long Pond, Pa. | AP Photo/Matt Slocum The cost of connecting most new energy projects to the grid has doubled over the last few years in the eastern U.S., underscoring a growing challenge for carbon-free power. California officials approved local plans to cut ozone pollution, including one that would phase out natural gas heaters and stoves in Los Angeles. Twenty-five Republican-led states filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over a rule that enables retirement plan sponsors to account for climate change risks. That's it for today, folks. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!   A message from Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future: Everyone is focused on the next generation, and it’s time to get real about climate change. Let’s get to work and cut emissions now by investing in clean natural gas infrastructure. Natural gas is the best way to reach climate goals faster and power our future reliably and affordably. Natural gas, partnered with renewables, will power our world today — while laying the groundwork for tomorrow. Learn how natural gas is accelerating our clean energy future at www.naturalalliesforcleanenergy.org.     LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today.       Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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