Biden revving up climate regs before election

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Jun 14, 2023 View in browser   By Arianna Skibell Presented by President Joe Biden. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo It’s policy crunch time for the White House. As next year’s presidential election draws near, the Biden administration is trying to carry out a suite of energy and climate priorities that are already drawing attacks from Republican lawmakers. The first half of 2024 is promising to be one of the busiest regulatory periods of President Joe Biden’s presidency, according to the administration’s semiannual rulemaking agenda released Tuesday. Among the administration’s goals are regulating natural-gas-burning stoves and methane emissions, speeding up the deployment of clean energy projects, cleaning up planet-warming pollution from buildings and protecting public lands in Alaska, where the White House recently green-lighted a massive oil project. In a notable departure from recent past agendas, the administration has pushed up the deadlines for several regulations. That could be an effort to insulate rules from repeal should Republicans take control of Congress and the White House in the 2024 election, said James Goodwin, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Progressive Reform. “The past agendas were essentially just a catalog of six-month delays,” Goodwin told Kevin Bogardus and Kelsey Brugger. "That's not really the case here.” Relighting the stove wars: The Energy Department’s goal of finishing a rule to cut asthma-inducing pollution from gas stoves by the end of 2024 has added fuel to a firestorm of conservative pushback. The proposal, which could torpedo half the gas stove models on the market, has prompted House Republicans to pass a bill that would block the regulation and “any substantially similar rule.” On Tuesday, 29 House Democrats joined Republicans to pass a separate measure that seeks to block the Consumer Product Safety Commission from regulating gas stoves. Neither bill is likely to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate. And blowback from greens: GOP roadblocks aside, the administration’s climate-friendly plans may not be enough to win back the favor of some environmentalists, who are still reeling from Biden’s recent moves to boost fossil fuels. White House approval of a series of oil and gas projects, most notably the Willow oil project on the North Slope of Alaska, could dampen voter turnout among progressives at the polls next year, political experts say. For a deeper dive into the Biden administration’s regulatory plans, check out this rundown by a team of POLITICO’s E&E News reporters and this one by POLITICO reporters.   It's Wednesday — 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.   A message from Clean Fuels Alliance America: Clean Fuels Alliance America connects biodiesel, renewable diesel, and sustainable aviation fuel producers with leaders in agriculture, energy, and transportation. As of 2021, the clean fuels industry delivered a total U.S. economic impact of $23.2 billion and supported 75,200 U.S. jobs throughout the economy that earned $3.6 billion in wages. The industry’s vision of producing 6 billion gallons per year would generate $61.6 billion in economic opportunity. Learn more at cleanfuels.org.   Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: James Bikales breaks down why Ford and General Motors’ recent decisions to adopt Tesla’s EV charger technology puts the Biden administration on the losing side of a charging “standards war."   A message from Clean Fuels Alliance America:   Power Centers Emissions from a coal-fired power plant are silhouetted against the setting sun in Kansas City, Mo., Feb. 1, 2021. | Charlie Riedel/AP Photo Power plant rule backlash Members of communities that have lived in the shadow of polluting infrastructure for decades say the Biden administration's forthcoming rule to curb power plant pollution doesn't go far enough to protect them, writes Jean Chemnick. “I think it’s really a betrayal of a lot of the promises that the Biden administration has made to keep our communities whole and to repair some of the harms from the past,” said Juan Jhong-Chung, climate justice director at the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition. Biden exercises veto power Biden followed through on his promise to veto a GOP-backed resolution that sought to overturn his administration’s regulation to slash truck pollution, writes Mike Lee. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday slammed the resolution as “the most recent attempt by congressional Republicans to pollute the air our children breathe.” Germany slams China Germany accused China on Wednesday of acting against Europe's interests, "aggressively claiming regional supremacy" in Asia and putting international security at risk, writes Hans von der Burchard. The criticism comes ahead of German-Chinese government meetings in Berlin next Tuesday, set to be led by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Chinese Premier Li Qiang. In Other News Climate-fueled disaster: Human trafficking is surging in cyclone-hit east India. Health impacts: As wildfire smoke recedes, parents of young children are worrying about the next time.   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.     Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk is pictured last month in France. | Pool photo by Ludovic Marin Tesla CEO Elon Musk is imploring energy companies and utility leaders to increase the power supply and swiftly build transmission to avoid hindering the electric vehicle industry. Three environmental groups have filed a petition asking Biden to take the momentous step of banning oil imports from Saudi Arabia on national security grounds. The oil industry and environmentalists have formed an unlikely coalition to pressure Ohio lawmakers into keeping their hands off money for plugging abandoned oil and gas wells. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   A message from Clean Fuels Alliance America: Clean Fuels Alliance America is connecting biodiesel, renewable diesel, and sustainable aviation fuel producers with sustainable feedstock producers and other stakeholders. In 2022, U.S. production of biodiesel and renewable diesel grew by 500 million gallons. Since the start of 2023. U.S. production has increased by an additional 30%, using sustainably grown agricultural feedstocks like soybean and canola oils and meeting demand for low-carbon fuels that are needed now. Learn more about how the benefits keep growing at cleanfuels.org.     GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGISTER HERE.       Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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