This GOP governor’s clean power empire

Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation

Jan 13, 2023 View in browser   By Arianna Skibell Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp smiles as he stands next to a Rivian electric truck. | John Bazemore/AP Photo Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, has emerged as a curious figure on the American right. He's a conservative hard-liner whose enthusiasm for tax cuts and guns is matched by his passion for charging stations and battery recycling, Alexander Burns writes for POLITICO Magazine today. Kemp's position on climate change mirrors that of many Republican leaders. He doesn't outright deny its existence, but he's also not motivated to address it. Unlike his contemporaries, however, Kemp is aggressively pursuing a clean energy economy in Georgia. "I'm fulfilling my promise of creating good-paying jobs for our state," Kemp told Burns. Pointing to an F-150 Lightning, Ford's electric pickup, he added, "You're gonna have a lot of Republicans driving that truck." Kemp has lured a series of multibillion-dollar energy projects to his state, including investments linked to the electric vehicle supply chain from companies like Hyundai, Rivian and SK Battery. Just this week, the Korean conglomerate Hanwha announced plans for a massive solar panel facility in Georgia. During his inauguration for a second term Thursday, Kemp vowed that in four years, Georgia would be "the electric mobility capital of America." Georgia is not the only Republican-controlled state that stands to benefit from investments in electric vehicles and solar power technology. President Joe Biden's climate law, which sinks a record $369 billion in spending on climate and low-carbon energy technology, is expected to send billions to red states whose congressional Republicans voted against it. Kemp is not the only Republican finding ways to gain from Biden's policies without saying "climate change." Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a presumed presidential contender, announced $3.5 billion for a variety of environmental protections this week. Like other Florida governors of both parties, he has opposed oil and gas drilling in the Everglades and off his state's coast, and he fought utility efforts to impose higher fees on rooftop solar customers. On the other hand, the League of Conservation Voters gave DeSantis a 2 percent score for his environmental voting record while he was in Congress. Still, meeting Biden's ambitious climate targets — zeroing out carbon pollution economywide by midcentury — will need some level of political buy-in from GOP-led states where economic gains could be significant.   Thank goodness it's Friday — 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. PROGRAMMING NOTE: We'll be off Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day but back to our normal schedule on Tuesday, Jan. 17. Listen to today's POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Josh Siegel and Ben Lefebvre break down legislation the House passed with strong bipartisan support aimed at preventing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve from being shipped to China. mining wars 2.0 The site of Ioneer Rhyolite Ridge LLC's proposed Rhyolite Ridge lithium and boron mine in Nevada. | Ioneer Ltd. The Biden administration has offered its first loan commitment — to the tune of $700 million — for a lithium processing plant, backing a facility in southwest Nevada that would provide the highly sought mineral needed for electric vehicle batteries, writes Hannah Northey. But some environmentalists say the project will further threaten an endangered flower. The facility would be built near the only known habitat for Tiehm's buckwheat, a yellow-tinged wildflower that the Fish and Wildlife Service recently listed as endangered. The burgeoning battle is a harbinger of fights to come as the U.S. seeks to build out its lithium mining infrastructure in regions many environmentalists and Indigenous communities want to protect. Power Centers Lee Raymond (left), then-chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp., testifies before a Senate committee in 2005. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Exxon knew ... a lot It's been seven years since journalists first revealed Exxon Mobil's decadeslong efforts to undermine the scientific certainty around climate change, despite knowing how serious a problem it was, write Chelsea Harvey, Lesley Clark and Benjamin Storrow. Now, a new analysis shows Exxon wasn't just aware of the greenhouse effect. It had its own teams of scientists developing models to project the effects of carbon emissions on the global climate. And those models, it turns out, were highly accurate. Read more from Zack Colman here. Who actually cooks with gas? While the Biden administration has made clear it's not considering a ban on natural gas stoves, the explosive debate in Washington is shining a light on the environmental effects of the household appliance. David Iaconangelo breaks down what kind of equipment is best, what most people use to cook now and whether gas stoves are actually on their way out. Made in Europe The French government has pitched a complete overhaul of the European Union's approach to boosting its industry, offering a sweeping "Made in Europe" strategy to counter a flood of U.S. subsidies, write Paola Tamma and Samuel Stolton. Numerous countries support France's endeavor in theory, but there is little agreement over exactly how to accomplish it. in other news A Tesla Model S car is displayed at a Tesla showroom in Palo Alto, Calif. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Get 'em while they last: Tesla is slashing its prices up to 20 percent in a broad bid to boost sales and help its vehicles qualify for the Inflation Reduction Act tax credits. This is climate change: Welcome to the era of weather whiplash. Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. A rendering of the Willow Rock Energy Storage Center, which is planned north of Los Angeles. | Courtesy of Hydrostor Inc. A California project designed to be the largest compressed air energy storage facility in the world is moving ahead with a massive power sales agreement. A group of scientists is working to build one of the world's largest carbon capture companies — by sucking carbon dioxide out of the ocean. Halfway through the first winter of Europe's energy war with Russia, only one side is winning — and it's not the Kremlin. That's it for today, folks. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!   Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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