Oil backers welcome Johnson era

Presented by Gas Leaks: Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation

Oct 26, 2023 View in browser   By Minho Kim Presented by The name of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) seen on a sign outside his office at the Capitol on Wednesday. | Francis Chung/POLITICO New House Speaker Mike Johnson is a staunch supporter of the oil and gas industry, but his record of energy accomplishments in Congress is thin, write Timothy Cama, Kelsey Brugger and Nidhi Prakash. The Louisiana Republican hails from a state that is a critical hub for oil and gas and has received more than $300,000 in campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry. But Johnson has built his career fighting for socially conservative causes — like restricting abortion — rather than energy and climate. Still, the oil and gas industry cheered the Louisiana Republican’s victory Wednesday, citing his pro-fossil-fuel voting record, which includes a 100 percent score from the American Energy Alliance. Johnson “hails from Louisiana, and energy is a way of life there, so our best guess is that he is approachable on our perspective and will do his own homework,” Stephen Brown, a consultant and former energy lobbyist, told Tim. But some are skeptical that Johnson could get much done, even if he’s inclined to help the oil and gas industry. The industry is largely focused on fighting new regulations, including proposals from the Biden administration to slash planet-warming emissions from cars, power plants and fossil fuel infrastructure. “The challenges with oil and gas right now are with regulatory agencies, and that's with the administration,” said David Dismukes, a Louisiana-based energy industry consultant. Johnson’s main influence may be in the eight spending bills Congress must pass by Nov. 17 to avoid a government shutdown. The Republican has pledged to work through them, though he left open the option of a stopgap bill to move the deadline into January, writes Emma Dumain. Among those bills are the Energy-Water package and legislation to fund the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. The House bills include deep cuts and have no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate (not to mention, the White House has vowed to veto them) Johnson also pledged to launch talks with the Senate on the National Defense Authorization Act by next month. The GOP-led House version of the bill would bar the Defense Department from implementing President Joe Biden’s executive orders on climate change and requiring defense contractors to disclose their carbon emissions.   It's Thursday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Minho Kim. 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 mkim@eenews.net. Correction: Wednesday's Power Switch misstated how long it has been since a uranium enrichment plant was built in the United States. A plant that opened this month is the first domestically owned plant on U.S. soil in 70 years. A message from Gas Leaks: Are you ready for a horror story? Despite decades of industry advertising claiming "natural" gas is safe and clean, the reality is that it's actually methane gas, and it poses some horrifying threats to your health, safety and the climate. It explodes nearly every day, gives kids asthma and cancer, and makes extreme weather worse. Gas Leaks is exposing the horrors of methane gas and holding the industry accountable for its disinformation. Learn more today!   Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Ben Lefebvre breaks down the Energy Department’s controversial pitch to the fossil fuel industry to take federal loans to cut emissions through new technology.   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.     Power Centers New plans by Hilton and Marriott suggest that electric vehicle charging stations could become a regular hotel amenity. | Hilton Hotels lead the EV transition National hotel chains such as Hilton and Marriott are installing electric vehicle chargers in thousands of locations across the country to attract more customers, writes David Ferris. Industry experts say hotels will play a big role in bringing EVs into the everyday lives of Americans, much like rapid adoption of Wi-Fi helped the wireless technology be weaved into the average consumer experience. Can carbon removal facilities be built bottom-up? Researchers, startups and nonprofits in California’s oil-rich San Joaquin Valley are exploring ways to have local communities lead the building of factories that suck up carbon dioxide from the air, writes Jean Chemnick. The Biden administration is funding nearly two dozen direct air capture facilities that scientists say are crucial to meet its net-zero targets by 2050, but the California project is the only one on which local communities will make decisions. Industry balks at Biden’s power plant rule Republicans and the power sector groups blasted EPA’s proposed rule to curb power plant emissions during POLITICO’s Grid Reliability event Wednesday, writes James Bikales. “Demand is going up. Supply is not keeping up with it. And so our margins are getting thin,” said Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. EPA's rule would require power plants to curb carbon emissions by 90 percent between 2035 and 2040.   A message from Gas Leaks:   In Other News Wind power woes: Siemens Energy shares slid 39 percent after the company sought guarantees from the German government due to losses from its wind turbine unit. Hurricane Otis: A tropical storm treading upward toward the Mexican Pacific coast broke all-time records when it quadrupled its wind strength in less than 24 hours and morphed into a Category 5 hurricane. A message from Gas Leaks: Are you ready for a horror story? Despite decades of industry advertising claiming "natural" gas is safe and clean, the reality is that it's actually methane gas, and it poses some horrifying threats to your health, safety and the climate. It explodes nearly every day, gives kids asthma and cancer, and makes extreme weather worse! The fossil fuel industry has taken a page out of the Big Tobacco playbook: spending hundreds of millions of dollars over the years to mislead the public into thinking that methane gas is “clean.” Addressing the rapidly escalating climate crisis requires being honest with the public: there’s nothing “natural” about methane gas — it’s a toxic, explosive fossil fuel that is heating the planet. Gas Leaks is exposing the horrors of methane gas and holding the industry accountable for its disinformation. Learn more today!   Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (left) meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. | Office of the Governor of California California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping could strengthen U.S.-China ties, as the conversation around climate change opened the door for Newsom to engage on a host of other issues. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) amplified the voices of climate science deniers at a congressional hearing Wednesday, using a document that claims “there is no climate emergency” to question the need for spending billions to reduce carbon emissions. (The vast consensus of climate researchers says otherwise.) Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler hinted that his agency could scale back a climate disclosure rule after receiving pushback over the proposal to make companies report on their supply chain emissions. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   SUBSCRIBE TO 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. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes.       Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

To change your alert settings, please log in at https://www.politico.com/_login?base=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com/settings This email was sent to rouf@idiot.cloudns.cc by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA Please click here and follow the steps to unsubscribe.