Biden takes on hot planet summer

Presented by The Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition (CHFC): Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation

Jul 27, 2023 View in browser   By Zack Colman Presented by The Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition (CHFC) President Joe Biden speaks Thursday during an event to announce new measures aimed at helping communities deal with extreme weather at the White House. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo If you're reading this, you know it's hot right now. President Joe Biden knows it's hot right now. Grammy-winning rapper Nelly definitely knows it's hot right now. What we don't really know: How much that heat costs the country. "We’re figuring this out as we live it," said Jennifer Harris, the former senior director for international economics in Biden's White House National Security Council. It will take years, if not decades, for Biden’s landmark climate law to make a measurable difference in stemming rising temperatures, assuming it works as intended. So instead of taking a victory lap today on the first anniversary of the deal that secured the law, the president is trotting out modest measures to help besieged communities, outdoor workers and vulnerable Americans endure a month that is on track to be the hottest ever recorded. Meanwhile, the tab rises. Biden said Thursday that extreme heat costs the U.S. economy $100 billion a year. That's likely an understatement, said Sabeel Rahman, who until recently was a senior counselor in Biden's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. “The systemwide nature of it is pretty mind-boggling," Rahman said. Extreme heat can collapse ecosystems, buckle roads, melt power cables, sap worker productivity, worsen destructive hurricanes and kill people. Today, Biden rattled off devastation that sounded like modern-day plagues: boiling oceans, faltering fisheries, roaring wildfires, deadly working conditions and record temperatures. Such effects can be hard to model and translate into a monetary figure, Harris said. Experts say the expense of addressing climate change would be far less than the cost of living with it. The Inflation Reduction Act, which includes $369 billion in clean energy spending, is the biggest such package in U.S. history, but even Biden has acknowledged that “we have a lot more work to do.” Inching forward: In the meantime, Biden has announced measures designed to stave off the vagaries of an unhinged climate. They include improvements to weather forecasting, reinforcements for Western water supplies and increased workplace inspections to ensure workers are protected from the heat. The federal government has only limited ability to respond to extreme heat, which is not legally recognized as a disaster, Thomas Frank notes in a story today. The administration is also hampered by years of budget cuts to federal agencies and an increasingly conservative federal judiciary and Supreme Court, Rahman said. For example, the Labor Department is years behind finalizing a long-sought federal standard protecting workers from heat, despite pressure from climate, labor and health advocates. "We’re paying the price for the decades of attacks on our regulatory capacity," said Rahman, who is now a professor at Cornell Law School. "It creates a lot of friction and makes it harder to do big things like this.”   It's Thursday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Zack Colman. Arianna will be back soon! Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to zcolman@politico.com.   A message from The Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition (CHFC): We can jump-start America’s clean hydrogen economy. Here’s how. With practical clean hydrogen rules in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), we can bring clean hydrogen production to market faster, and help decarbonize critical industries like refining, steel and fertilizer production. See who’s working to speed up America’s clean hydrogen economy.   Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Ry Rivard breaks down the offshore wind industry’s financial woes and why 2023 could be a decisive year.   HITTING YOUR INBOX AUGUST 14—CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Cut through the jargon and get the latest developments in California as lawmakers and industry leaders adapt to the changing climate. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes.     Featured story Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) with other Democrats and climate activists during a press conference Wednesday on the Inflation Reduction Act's anniversary. | Francis Chung/POLITICO Inflation Reduction Act nears toddler age The country's most ambitious U.S. climate law came into the world just a little over a year ago. Now, Democrats want to build on that accomplishment with more climate action, writes Emma Dumain. The hunger for more drastic legislation reflects two truths: that what Congress passed still does not get the U.S. to Biden's goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and that Democrats left much "on the cutting room floor," ranging from a green jobs program to tax credits for building electric transmission lines. For now, the focus remains on defending the IRA from the GOP-controlled House and implementing the sweeping law's $369 billion of clean energy and climate incentives. But Emma spoke with more than a dozen lawmakers and advocates, many of whom pointed out Congress' unfinished business. Climate change is "an existential threat, and the IRA was a modest step forward," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told Emma. "If we’re going to save the planet, we are going to have to work in cooperation with the rest of the world in a dramatic reduction of fossil fuels."   A message from The Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition (CHFC):   Power Centers The Supreme Court is seen on July 13. | Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo SCOTUS OKs Mountain Valley pipeline The Supreme Court has all but ensured the contentious Mountain Valley pipeline can be built and begin operating by the end of the year, write Ben Lefebvre and Alex Guillen. On Thursday, the high court scrapped a lower court's ruling that halted construction of the natural gas pipeline. No relief from the heat As we covered, it's hot. It's not just a U.S. thing — the World Meteorological Organization said July is likely to be the hottest month ever recorded, writes Zia Weise from Brussels. Southern Europe is acutely aware of that reality, with the region enduring one of its most brutal heat waves ever. Antoaneta Roussi reports from Riposto, Italy, that it's "43 degrees in the shade." That's Celsius. The Fahrenheit conversion? 109.4. Give me a spritz, hold the Aperol. But can you beat the heat? A burgeoning push from Congress would have the Federal Emergency Management Agency include dangerous heat as a federal disaster, allowing the agency to unlock taxpayer dollars in the same way it does for floods and tornadoes. But for now, no such authority exists, writes Thomas Frank. Instead, the federal government has a smattering of programs designed to help communities and residents withstand hotter temperatures. In Other News Play the hits: Record heat and wildfire smoke blanketing portions of the Midwest and East Coast are no match for the buzzsaw that is Republican orthodoxy on climate change. Corralling corals: Abnormally hot ocean temperatures threaten coral reefs near the Florida Keys. This laboratory is trying to save as many as it can.   A message from The Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition (CHFC): Clean hydrogen can power the heavy industries our nation relies on with lower CO2 emissions. The Inflation Reduction Act is poised to jump-start the clean hydrogen economy in the US, and help decarbonize critical industries like refining, steel and fertilizer production. That’s why the Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition supports practical clean hydrogen rules. We can bring clean hydrogen to market faster using the clean power sources America already has today, and annually match that power to hydrogen production, while we invest in the clean hydrogen industry of the future. America can’t wait to start decarbonizing the industries our nation relies on. We're working to speed up America’s clean hydrogen economy.   Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission headquarters in Washington. | Francis Chung/E&E News The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission moved to unload a backlog of renewable energy projects that want to connect to the power grid, but punted on approving liquefied natural gas projects. Republicans want to block a Biden waiver on electric vehicle chargers, arguing the president's move to strip "Buy America" provisions allows China to gain a foothold in the U.S. market. Carbon credits may get a rating system this year, potentially bringing confidence to an opaque-yet-booming market for achieving corporate climate commitments. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   YOUR TICKET INSIDE THE GOLDEN STATE POLITICAL ARENA: California Playbook delivers the latest intel, buzzy scoops and exclusive coverage from Sacramento and Los Angeles to Silicon Valley and across the state. Don't miss out on the daily must-read for political aficionados and professionals with an outsized interest in California politics, policy and power. Subscribe today.       Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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