She’s the key to Biden’s clean energy revolution

The power players, latest policy developments, and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing.

Jul 18, 2023 View in browser   By Lauren Egan, Zack Colman and Eli Stokols Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from  Lawrence Ukenye and producer Raymond Rapada Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren President JOE BIDEN’s best shot at unleashing a wave of clean energy projects through permitting reform could be a Corpus Christi native with family ties to the Texas oil industry. Few people have heard of ANA UNRUH COHEN, let alone the Council on Environmental Quality that she works for. But Cohen, a dyed-in-the-wool environmentalist, has the opportunity to make changes to the process that could launch a renewable energy revolution. Those changes could also help achieve the president’s climate goals — even though they may boost the oil and gas industry in the short term. Cohen started in May as senior director of the National Environmental Policy Act team at CEQ. It’s a wonky position, to be sure, but the NEPA team has an important and rare opportunity to reshape how energy projects get approved. That’s because it is tasked with implementing changes to the 53-year-old “magna carta of environmental law” enacted as part of the debt ceiling agreement. How it does could very well impact Biden’s 2024 reelection bid, giving tangible backing to his economic argument with every new job-creating wind farm or solar panel manufacturing plant that’s built in the months ahead. Cohen’s personal and professional lives straddle both sides of the energy debate — where Republicans bemoan bureaucratic hoops to get oil and gas projects off the ground and Democrats have grown increasingly anxious that similar delays will forestall a clean energy boom to tame climate change. She’s an Oxford-educated climate scientist with deep roots in Democratic politics (she was a staffer on the first and second House select committees on climate change) and environmental nonprofits. But she’s also a daughter of the oil patch (she grew up with her father and brother in the business) with the slight Texas twang to prove it. In an interview with West Wing Playbook, Cohen said that growing up in Texas has informed her work. She watched the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill pollute the Gulf of Mexico and its beach communities, including her hometown of Corpus Christi. And although Cohen’s own middle class neighborhood was largely spared, she had friends living in the communities that bore the brunt of the chemical pollution. “I try to think of those neighborhoods and those friends as we are balancing sometimes challenging questions about infrastructure expansion,” she said. The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of their proposed actions, but until now there’s been wide latitude for interpretation. The changes the debt bill made to the NEPA will likely tighten ambiguous definitions, potentially limit what projects require intensive reviews and impose deadlines for those assessments. It amounts to the most substantive reforms in more than 40 years. It’ll also be a major challenge, one which Cohen wasn’t willing to preview how CEQ was going to handle. “We need rules of the road that help ensure that we are able to grow our economy — as we’ve seen Bidenomics successfully doing — while providing that environmental protection and community protection as well,” she said, when asked how she planned to balance competing interests. Cohen and her team are also trying to proceed while fighting off the threats of litigation from industry groups on one side and environmental groups on the other. “They are under the gun,” said ALEX HERRGOTT, CEO of trade group The Permitting Institute and who previously led the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council in the DONALD TRUMP administration. “They actually are motivated to see where there are efficiencies because of all of the offshore wind, green hydrogen, solar and wind projects that would benefit from clarifications as well.” While Cohen’s Lone Star State roots might make her an atypical D.C. climate wonk, her colleagues say that’s exactly what’s made her successful in her field. “She is a very proud Texan. She will talk about family she has in the oil and gas industry,” said a former colleague of Cohen. “She’s not some effete liberal who came down from the mountains of Vermont and said, ‘Let everybody eat solar.’” MESSAGE US — Are you ALI ZAIDI, White House national climate adviser? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!   POTUS PUZZLER Which presidential spouse was given the title “first lady of the world” and by which president? (Answer at bottom.) The Oval DELAWARE, “A PLACE OF HOPE”: Biden’s 2024 campaign announced Tuesday that its official headquarters would be in Wilmington, Del., the president’s hometown and a favorite destination of the White House press corps. The announcement (that all prospective staffers have been no doubt praying for) was no surprise; an effort, perhaps, to show that the bare-bones reelect will eventually start to look like an actual campaign, and that the four people currently on the payroll will soon get an actual office in which to work (in between their meals with reporters on expense accounts at Bardea). Biden tweeted a 12-second video announcing the decision, calling Delaware “a place of hope” (the b-roll for that line was The Charcoal Pit, a 1950s-era Wilmington diner that may go a long way toward explaining the president’s culinary proclivities). Campaign manager JULIE CHAVEZ RODRIGUEZ tweeted it and said, almost convincingly, “Excited to move to Wilmington!” MAYBE NEXT YEAR WE SHOULD DO THIS IN JERUSALEM: Israeli President ISAAC HERZOG was welcomed Tuesday to the White House by Biden, opening a visit that vexed some Democrats long before his arrival. Ahead of their meeting, Biden said the two countries share a friendship that is “simply unbreakable.” The New York Times’ MICHAEL SHEAR writes that the administration used the meeting to show support for Israel without having to deal with Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU.  Many in Biden’s party have criticized the visit, including Rep. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.), who had to walk back her criticism of Israel as a “racist” state. Several Democrats said they plan to boycott Herzog’s address to Congress on Wednesday. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by CNN’s LAUREN FOX and HALEY TALBOT about how Sen. TOMMY TUBERVILLE’s (R-Ala.) hold on military promotions is beginning to rankle conservatives in his home state. Alabama has five military bases and roughly 100,000 active troops, and the state has largely backed Tuberville so far. But some fear the senator is “stepping into the wrong territory” by jeopardizing U.S. readiness over his opposition to the Pentagon’s abortion policy, Fox and Talbot report. White House press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE mentioned the piece at the start of Tuesday’s press briefing. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by Bloomberg’s JENNIFER SURANE about how credit scores are beginning to fall after previously being fueled by government stimulus and pauses on student loan payments. Some of the credit declines have prompted firms to close inactive accounts and restrict card limits, BRIAN WENZEL, an executive at Synchrony Financial, told Bloomberg. The administration is holding its breath for an economic setback after loan payments are set to resume this fall. THE BUREAUCRATS FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: ASJIA GARNER is leaving her position as associate director of communications for the first lady for a new role at the State Department. Garner was toasted yesterday by JILL BIDEN, and White House staff lined the East Colonnade on Tuesday to do a surprise “clap out” on her last day. Garner is an alum of the Biden campaign and she was one of the first lady’s first White House hires. — JOSH ZOFFER is now special assistant to the president for economic policy, DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. He most recently was senior adviser to the deputy secretary of Treasury. Agenda Setting WALKING A TIGHTROPE: Biden is taking heat from both parties over his administration’s willingness (and unwillingness) to use HIPAA to protect individuals who seek, obtain or provide abortions from red states looking to investigate or prosecute them, our ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN reports. The Department of Health and Human Services is preparing to unveil a HIPPA expansion that would bar health providers from sending information to state officials looking to launch investigations. Republicans argue such a move would violate states rights as well as the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling. Democrats, meanwhile, believe the new rule doesn’t go far enough to protect individuals from prosecution, and want the administration to do just that through the use of executive orders. SMOKING, STILL BAD: The FDA has not approved a smoking cessation tool in more than a decade, leading many experts to question the effectiveness of its approach in reducing the leading cause of preventable cancer. The agency plans to roll out a menthol cigarette ban later this summer — yet its bar for authorizing less-harmful menthol e-cigarettes to help smokers quit is so high some feel it may be impossible to reach, our KATHERINE ELLEN FOLEY reports for Pro subscribers. LET’S RUN THE NUMBERS: The Department of Education on Tuesday released a state-by-state breakdown of the roughly 804,000 borrowers who have $39 billion in federal student debt that will be forgiven from the administration’s new income-driven repayment plan. California and Texas topped the list, with each state having more than 60,000 borrowers and a combined debt total of nearly $6 billion. Alaska had the least amount forgiven with only $51 million. After the administration's latest debt discharge, the White House’s next push will be to provide relief to middle- and working-class borrowers, our MICHAEL STRATFORD reports. What We're Reading From NATO’s summit to the economy, Biden is racking up wins (WaPo's Eugene Robinson) Silicon Valley Money Men Are Buzzing About Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (WSJ's Angel Au-Yeung and Berber Jin) Biden’s Hidden Birthday Message for Israel (TIME's Eric Cortellessa) The Oppo Book Everyone has their hobbies — some more niche than others. For JAKE SULLIVAN, it’s competitive speedwalking. It’s one way the Minnesota native stays active, according to the New York Times, although little is known of where he competes (or if he trains). Sullivan also once played on a curling team in St. Paul in 2006, hinting at another unconventional, yet fun habit for getting those competitive juices flowing. Jake, would you curl with us for a West Wing Playbook top? POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER For her work with the United Nations, President HARRY S. TRUMAN deemed ELEANOR ROOSEVELT as the "First Lady of the World.” Thanks to the FDR Presidential Library and Museum for this question! A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it! Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.   Follow us on Twitter Eli Stokols @EliStokols Lauren Egan @Lauren_V_Egan Lawrence Ukenye @Lawrence_Ukenye   Follow us

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