GOP farm bill ensnares climate-minded Democrats

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May 20, 2024 View in browser   By Arianna Skibell Presented by Chevron Wendy Carpenter plants crops April 19 at Christopher Farm in Modoc, Indiana. | Joshua A. Bickel/AP The $1.5 trillion farm bill that lawmakers are expected to advance this week is pitting Democratic climate priorities against the political realities of an election year. About a dozen swing-district House Democrats are facing pressure from party leadership to oppose the bill, introduced last week by House Agriculture Chair Glenn “G.T.” Thompson of Pennsylvania. But jeopardizing timely passage of the five-year, must-pass policy package might not go over well with rural voters come November. Thompson’s farm bill includes a number of bipartisan compromises — including a sizable boost to conservation funding and, notably, a reversal of a provision that banned low-income Americans with a felony drug conviction from accessing food assistance. But it would eliminate the climate focus of conservation programs that Democrats had won in President Joe Biden’s 2022 signature climate law, writes Marc Heller. That has prompted Democrats to rally around a competing bill put forward by Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, which includes the Inflation Reduction Act’s “climate-smart” agriculture funding, along with other climate provisions. Politics aside, the nation’s agricultural industries have already been smacked around by a changing climate. The United States has over 2 million farms. Half the country’s land is used for growing crops and is sensitive to shifting weather patterns and more permanent changes to the climate, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The threats are significant. Temperature changes can upend where certain crops are able to grow, disrupting supply chains. An increase in heavy rainfall can erode the soil, depleting nutrients and increasing agricultural runoff into nearby waters. That can harm water quality and kill fish that coastal economies rely on. Not to mention the threat to agricultural workers, who face exposure to more frequent and intense heat waves. Stabenow told reporters last week that even with the climate stipulation in her farm bill, the majority of conservation projects farmers take on would remain eligible for federal funding. Dismissing accusations that his bill is untenable, Thompson defended the measure, saying it “is the product of extensive feedback” from those with a direct stake in the bill. He told POLITICO reporter Meredith Lee Hill in a recent interview that his proposal puts the “farm” back in the farm bill “in a serious way.” But Democratic leaders have made it clear they will not support the farm bill as Thompson wrote it. That means farm-district Democrats — such as Angie Craig of Minnesota and Jim Costa of California — face the prospect of voting against the main agriculture policy bill. A tough spot, indeed.   It's Monday — 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 Chevron: Chevron knows methane management is critical for a lower carbon future. We’re striving to lead in methane management with innovative practices, partnerships, and new technologies. These are a few ways we’re aiming to keep methane in the pipe.   Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Josh Siegel talks with Andrew Wheeler, Donald Trump's former Environmental Protection Agency chief, about energy policy under a second Trump administration and whether Wheeler would want his old job back. Power Centers The JPMorgan Chase & Co. logo is displayed at its headquarters in New York on Oct. 21, 2013. | Seth Wenig/AP Assessing climate risks ain't easy A federal effort to test whether major banks can model their own climate risk has finally yielded an answer: They can’t — at least not reliably, writes Avery Ellfeldt. That's the conclusion the Federal Reserve drew in its first test of how well six of the world’s largest banks could measure their exposure to extreme weather and the clean energy transition. The banks are JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. An interview with Trump's former EPA head Former Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler is ready to start dismantling Biden’s climate agenda if Trump wins reelection and taps him to join up, writes Josh Siegel. But Wheeler said he doesn’t necessarily oppose continuing to spend the massive clean energy incentives that Congress provided in Biden’s climate and infrastructure laws, some of which could go to technologies that fossil fuel companies favor. The social cost of what now? Federal judges are wrestling with how energy regulators should use an economic tool for quantifying climate damage in dollars when assessing whether to green-light energy projects, writes Niina H. Farah. In the latest case involving the social cost of carbon, judges weighed whether to order a second review of how two liquefied natural gas export projects in Texas could affect climate change and air quality. In Other News Electric future: Charging stations are failing to keep up with the electric vehicle boom. 'Liquid gold': Climate crisis piles pressure on olive oil prices.   A message from Chevron:   Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. Jared Kushner listens as former President Donald Trump announces he is running for a second term as president at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Nov. 15, 2022. | Andrew Harnik/AP A second Trump administration and its anti-climate policies could be bad news for the former president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, whose investment fund has poured millions into U.S. solar projects. Edison Electric Institute members plan to sue the Biden administration over its decision to base a marquee climate rule on fossil fuel power plants using carbon capture and storage. A U.S. Senate investigation found that BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen sourced auto parts from a supplier with ties to forced labor in China, a potential violation of U.S. trade law. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   A message from Chevron: By 2028, our upstream methane intensity target is set to be 53% below the 2016 baseline. To help us get there, we’ve trialed 14 advanced methane technologies including satellites, planes, drones, and fixed sensors to help reduce methane emissions intensity. In the Permian, we have deployed real-time autonomous optimizers that continuously monitor facilities and well conditions to help prevent flaring, venting and well shutdowns. Developing new solutions to provide energy that’s affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner, that’s energy in progress.     Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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